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@Mrs. Toad: that's such great news!! Congrats
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@codeitall: great news!
so cute when they mimic
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@hellobeeboston: thank you
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So my 23 month old twins were evaluated and approved for the Birth to three program. They are both significantly delayed in communication (both in expressive and receptive). Everything else was on track or normal. We just finished the paperwork this week and therapy will start in about 2 weeks and will be every week.
The babies are picking up words since they got evaluated. Just asking them different question and different approaches. We have started sign language since DD is throwing tantrums due to frustration. She picked up the sign for eat/hungry after a few days.
@looch: I just got an email that said the Birth to Three program has not been impacted by state budget cuts! That's good!
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So we've started the Birth to Three program and the speech therapist has come out a few times already. We also got a new au pair (around the time the therapist started) that is South African so english is her primary language. (Our last au pair was mexican so the twins weren't exposed to english as much as we had wanted.)
My new au pair is amazing though (so much better than the last two we had). The speech therapist is good but now that we have the au pair, I'm wondering if we'll need her. My au pair is great. Looked into development plans and sets up social activities. The twins are learning a lot and saying a lot. Not sure if they are quite up to speed yet so maybe I'll continue with the weekly sessions with the therapist for a little while.
The speech therapist is really good for us (the parents) if we didn't have an au pair. She gives us a lot of good tips and things for us to remember. It's still good because our au pair is off on the weekends.
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I'm jumping in/bumping
My LO is 2.5, he had a lot of speech regression over the summer and has never had great play/social interest . He has a lot of red flags for asd so it's a bit scary but I'm trying to take it one day at a time
We just started the EI process... for those who have been through it, I'm wondering what the next step is. It's
Looking like he will receive speech, we are still waiting on an OT evaluation. Did anyone get a private opinion/evaluation after getting the EI evaluation done? Not because I disagree but because the EI eval doesn't seem very in depth . Any thoughts would be appreciated! -
@magnolia: my DD has a speech and language delay. She was in EI from 18months to 2yrs. I did not get a second or private eval but wish I had. At 2 when she was released form EI it took months to get another eval to get more help. I just feel like it doesn't hurt, the more help the better. She is currently 4.5 and is in an inclusive preschool with typically speaking children her age as well as several other children in OT or speech services. She has a speech pathologist there a few times a weeks in a group setting and then we also privately see another speech pathologist once a week just one on one. What has helped DD the most though is being in the preschool setting with the typically speaking children.
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@pinkb: yeah I think more information is better too. But it's overwhelming!! My LO just started a nursery school class and is doing well so far. I hope it will help. If he qualifies for a preschool iep he can go to an ict/developmental preschool next year.
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@magnolia: I suspect that the teachers and therapists who perform the evaluations see so many children right at the same age that there is more going on in the evaluation than meets the eye to us parents? Because I agree - my 10 month old's evaluation was a lot shorter/less intense than I expected.
I'm in the process of having my daughter evaluated privately (for insurance reasons - EI in my state doesn't take insurance, but my insurance will cover the physical therapy for a gross motor delay recommended by our pediatrician/the EI evaluation if we go to private outpatient PT), so once that happens I can let you know if it was any different.
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@magnolia: Hey lady! Welcome. I hope you find this board as helpful as I did. DS had a speech delay and was not very social when we decided to finally get EI involved. Although it seems like the speech therapy he was receiving was not enough, we didn't get another opinion because we wanted to give it time. He received speech therapy for about 7 months before he aged out and went into the next level of the program. Throughout that time he was diagnosed with mixed receptive expressive language disorder (talk about a mouth full) but I'm so glad we gave it time! He's still receiving speech with the older program and honestly is a whole other kid. My best advice/tip for kids with speech delays is to get them social interaction with other kids. This was hard for us but once we did it, we saw such a change!! Good luck mama!!
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@PinkElephant: yes. I'm in a weird place because I work in special education so I am part of evaluations all the time (of older children). So strange to be on the other side. I guess EI is the first step so that's why it seems so preliminary. Please keep me updated on your results! I'm guessing we will go to a developmental pediatrician or neurologist who specializing in sensory processing and ASD next.
@bubblegum: thank you for the welcome. I've been feeling rather lonely! I'm so happy your kiddo has made progress. I hope therapy plus our recent preschool enrollment will help. I just signed the paperwork for the preschool aged Evals so I guess that comes next since he will be aging out of EI soon
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@magnolia: Hi there.
As a mom with a daughter on the spectrum, I just wanted to say 'hi.' Ellie got her diagnosis from a developmental pediatrician, and it was a really helpful and positive experience for us. Occupational therapy was also amazing. At ten, she doesn't go regularly anymore, but we are constantly using strategies and tools we learned there. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but you and your son are not alone. At all. If it helps, I'm happy to privately give you my contact information, too. Sometimes it's nice to know someone in a similar situation.
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@Mrs. Twine: thanks so much. It's hard not to feel alone as most of my friends and family have "typical" kids. My son is fairly "high functioning" as far as we can tell, so to the untrained eye most friends and relatives don't see our concerns right away. Of course no one wants anything to "be wrong" but dealing with other peoples denial is exhausting. I'd love to be in touch, and hear more about your experience
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@magnolia: Aww I completely understand and I hope you're able to feel comfort here.I'm positive that you'll see a huge change in your LO especially by the end of the school year.
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@bubblegum: thanks so much. It's great to be able to vent to mamas who get it!
OT eval was today. He was well behaved and didn't have any tantrums
They said he's at 20-24 months so almost a year delayed in fine motor skills.. 
but he will qualify so that's good I guess. As soon as they are done with the reports we can start services. I'm nervous for that but I hope it will help
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@magnolia: welcome! EI will definitely help.... my older son (now 5) was evaluated when he was 3, so, too old to qualify for the state but i don't think he would have qualified, so we did a private EVAL and got him started in OT for some sensory issues and fine motor delay. 6 months of OT for him worked wonders. We pulled him out (so expensive) and might start again this winter in advance of him going to K. I also had the school system do an eval on him last spring and he came in 'normal' on their standards.
NOW we have my younger son, almost 2, doing EI. He was evaluated a little ways back and qualified for services for a speech delay. We're a few months into the home visits and it's going well. Like others mentioned we're getting him into some groups to get more social interaction because he's just home with my older son when he's not in Pre-K, and our nanny.... So next week he starts a group through the EI every Monday, and another play group on Friday. Hoping that helps!
Good luck.... The OT helped SO MUCH with fine motor issues for us, and taught us so many things we could do at home that were fun and helped build his hand strength and get a better grasp (haha, pun intended) on things.
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@hellobeeboston: thank you SO much. It's great to hear success stories. I'm currently in the waiting game period of getting the reports back and having the meeting to recommend the services officially. It feels like a game of hurry up and wait, and I'm rather impatient. My son has been showing a lot more social interest even from just a few weeks of being in "school". So that's exciting. Even with his limited speech and play skills he has been making friends and having more fun with social interaction . I hope your younger son enjoys the new play groups!
I'm also considering family therapy for my husband and I to get support and help in making decisions together. I feel pretty drained at thinking about all of this stuff and while he is very supportive I don't know if he is as accepting as me regarding possible diagnosis. I guess everyone has their own process ...
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Good morning everyone! It's been a while since I checked in. I've been sticking my head in the sand in denial, but after some really good crying sessions, I'm coming to terms with what will be, will be. I have just a few questions if anybody has any experience. DS is significantly delayed in expressive and receptive language. At 21 months he has no words and really only understands what NO means. I will say that if I stand in front of the high chair And say want to eat lunch DS? He understands what the high chair is, but if I was to say that same sentence away from the high chair, he'd have no idea what I said. Does that make sense? He also has a lot of red flags for autism, but I don't know if that's because he's so delayed or if he's so delayed becuase he's autistic. Anyways my question(s) are, if your LO was delayed, how delayed month wise and how many times a week did that translate into therapies. I think DS will be behind about 50 percent in language and 50 percent in feeding. and I'm trying to gauge how many times that means he'll have speech therapy Week and OT. Do they do them on the same day or back to back? And for my next question does anybody else live in a state where you have to pay? Does being diagnosed with something make. Difference in the cost? Thank you all for letting me babble. There's a lot going through my mind right now and I do better when I have a solid plan for the future.
The hardest part in all of this for me is not DS and his possible autism, but my husband and his family. They are Very old school and it's going to be a Constant battle with all of them. Anytime I even slightly mention anything about ds not speaking I get the ol "he'll talk when he's ready speech" (from IL) truth be told DH isn't even around DS enough to see the things I see. He leaves for work at 5am and doesn't get home untill 6:30pm and we go to bed at 8:30. Weekends aren't much better. I notice that my friends notice DS is behind, but they won't say anything. I feel very alone in this, there's no one cLose to me that will understand. Thank god for you all sorry this turned out so long, I'm going to stop now lol.
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Anybody have any updates they want to share?
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@arosebyany: Please don't feel alone! We are your EI family! How old is DS now? My DS had the exact same issues. I want to say this...please do not get yourself wrapped up in where they place him age wise according to his skill set. I believe it was my DS's OT skill sets that they placed him at 6 months old, he was 2 years old. I cried and cried, I was so wrapped up in the fact that he was so behind. Here's what I'll say DS had maybe less than 10 words in his vocab at 2 and almost none were used appropriately. We thought autism...but nope. Just a MREL disorder. He's now 3 and has so many words in his vocabulary I can't keep count. I know he's behind in comparison to other kids his age but you know what he's my kid, and he's the only kid I want to worry about. Not even worry but just enjoy!
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@arosebyany: I agree please don't feel alone! But I can understand how you feel. I only had 2 people that didn't say "she will talk when she is ready" when I voiced my concern. She only ad a couple words at 2, momma and dads. My mom still makes comments that just don't sit well with me about DD and her speech. I cried when they said Abi qualified for help because it justified the way I had been feeling and what I had already known. I was so frustrated and just didn't know how to handle situations where she was so frustrated she was biting herself. EI was a slow process for us because Abi wasn't always a willing participant. But it helped so much! Once we got a few signs down and she could sign what she wanted it cut down on our frustration by half, at least. Just know you are your child's only advocate and help never hurts them.
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@pinkb: @bubblegum: thanks ladies! I don't feel alone per say, it's more of a the weight of the world is on my shoulders because I know no one will or wants to believe me. I understand that most people, when you tell them you think your child is autistic, try to reassure you that's not it. But it honestly just makes you feel like an even worst mother because obviously your a failure when your child is so delayed. I've told 3 close people what I suspected and only one of them didnt essentially tel me to fight my motherly instinct, and she's a 4th grade science teacher. I know he's autistic and I've spent the better part of two weeks crying and coming to terms with it. I called EI today and I'm going to be telling my husband tonight. I've decided that what happens happens but I'm done being a chicken just because I'm afraid of what his reaction may be. I thank god everyday for this community. You ladies are an amazing support and outlet that has allowed me to voice my fears and doubts, and for that I will forever be thankful. I wanted to share something with y'all if you find the time to read it. It's a blog by a grandmother who watches her autsistic grandson and her way with words is beautiful. This particular post she wrote really hit home. http://www.gmawandnoah.com/427411595
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@bubblegum: forgot to mention DS is 22months almost lol
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@arosebyany: I just wanted to respond here too. I know it's hard to get pass everyone's opinion especially when you know you're child best. As far as the autistic situation, have you attempted to take him to a center to get diagnosed? I did this with DS because with his "loss" of words (one week he would say a word and then forget the word all together, which is a red flag).
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@arosebyany: Also you're DS is around the same age as my DS when I began EI. I know it seems so tough right now but I promise it will get better.
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Thanks @bubblegum: for the support! I haven't attempted to take him anywhere because one, I'm just coming to terms with it and two
, at his 2 year well check I'll have to fill out the MchatR, which he'll score high on so I know we'll be referred to a developmental pediatrician. I haven't looked into day care centers with speech. I didn't even know that existed lol. I believe you that it gets better, it's just the being in limbo right now that sucks. The way I see it though it can only get better from here! How's your son doing? -
@arosebyany: I get ya! With a diagnosis, it may open the doors to free programming! I don't know if it exists either to be honest, just wishful thinking!! I totally understand what you mean. He's really learning so much daily it's mind blowing. At two years old I could barely get him to mom and last night he said goodnight mom I love you see you tomorrow. There are times like that, that I just cry because I can't believe how far he's come. I never thought we would get here.
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@arosebyany: I just replied to your other post but wanted to say you're an amazing advocate for your child, regardless of the diagnosis your son is so lucky to have you for a mom
It's so frustrating when well intentioned people try to reassure you that everything is ok. Trust your instincts! i realized one of my biggest fears is how others see me as a parent and how they will treat my child... it's really hard to deal withMy son recently got a preliminary asd Diagnosis From EI. We are having our meeting tomorrow
and hopefully will start services soon. My motto right now just one day at a time. Up next is the preschool evaluations in a month.
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@magnolia:
you are also an amazing advocate! It's so strange to me that I would never have considered myself a mama bear, but this has really brought out the crazy mama in me, and truth be told has alloted me so much more patience. I just keep telling myself that he feels things differently than I do, so I take a deep breath and assess the situation from that view point. I can only imagine how you feel from your preliminary diagnosis but I hope the best for you him and your family on your alternate journey I'm linking a great blog post by a grandmother of an autistic child that really helps me when I'm hurting.
http://www.gmawandnoah.com/427411595 I also like to read the post on themighty.com
Just one more thing, isn't it crazy that everybody always tells you "trust your motherly instincts" but when it comes to this one thing "oh no do NOT trust your instincts, abort mission, avoid at all cost" people are crazy 🙄 -
Hi, all! I'm new here, so I hope you don't mind if I introduce myself:
DS turned 2 this summer and since about a year and a half, I have noticed that he is behind in speech. I come from a family of late talkers but I couldn't help but be concerned, so I gave him a few months to "catch up" but nothing happened. At his 2 year appt with the per, I mentioned it but the ped said we should revisit at 2.5. I ended up calling for a referral anyway because services will come to your home until age 3 and I wanted to get started right away.
He had the evaluation done (it was so long and so late poor guy) and they found out he is nearly a year behind in both receptive and expressive language. They didn't find anything else concerning besides speech. And after a long wait, we got approved. We finally got a call yesterday but the speech therapist could only do sessions while I was at work and he was at daycare (with 3 babies.) I really want to be there so I can learn, too. Anyway, so now we wait for a different speech therapist who can come after work.
I still have people tell me that I'm being a little too "hyper-vigilant" and should let him "catch up" ummmm...what do you think I am doing? 🤔Anyway, that's our story. Oh and, as for me, I am on my first cycle of infertility treatments after having no trouble conceiving my son...so I am feeling a week bit overwhelmed.
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@arosebyany: Just reading your last posts, what an amazing mama you are!!
I hope you get some answers soon. This whole momming thing is rough.
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I'm really sorry if my intro is on here a thousand times, I keep trying to submit it and it isn't showing up.
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@crazydoglady: thank you
I don't see any Intro 10000 times, so I think your good 
So turns out I'm not done being a chinken after all
. DH and I have a small weekend vacation trip we're taking this weekend and he's so excited about it. Is it wrong that I want to let him live in ignorant bliss for a little longer? I know our lives are fixing to drastically change, that I'm like "what's one more month" , regardless stills chicken lol
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Hi ladies, new on this board. I didn't read through the whole thread but has anyone gone through EI for feeding issues? My 10 month old doesn't put food in his mouth on his own at all and it took months to get him to accept purees from someone else. At best, he was up to maybe 1 jar per day but he has regressed and is now eating 1/2 jar at daycare but none from us at home. As of today, he hasn't eaten solids in 5 straight days.
I have an intake appointment with EI on Friday but we haven't even scheduled his assessment yet so I have no idea what to expect. We also have an assessment scheduled with a feeding team at our hospital next Monday so we will be starting with them at the same time. Just feeling very anxious about it all.
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@catlady: I don't have experience with EI treatment per say, but this is/was DS. Couple of questions does your lo gag excessively (not choke) when given anything thicker than purées? Also has your lo ever watched another child thier age eat? Does your lo regularly put toys in mouth?
Ds did not eat anything but stage 2 purées until 14 months old. Before that time he would gag to the point of throwing up if anything thicker touched his tounge. I was advised by EI and his ped to add cereal to the the purées slowly until he wasn't gaging/throwing up.
By 14 months He could eat a full array of textures. With that being said he was obviously spoon fed since all he had ever ate was purées hand fed by me. He Did not want to pick anything up with his hands and was totally unconcerned with putting anything in his mouth, and he would scream bloody murder if you tried to bring his hand towards his mouth. I was so happy he was eating regular food that I didn't push the issue until I noticed that he started putting more and more things in his mouth. Toys, blankets and such.
Still though no food, it wasn't until he started a preschool program(Mother's Day out) and watched other kids that during his lunch period, he picked up a cheeto and put it in his mouth! His teacher filmed it, because it was very monumental for us
he was 21 months at the time. So to make that clear my child didn't eat anything with his own hands until 21 months old. He's only 22 months now and already he's doing pretty good with the spoon, honestly better than with his hands. At one point DS was evaluated by EI (16 months old) and he did qualify for services because he was at a 9month old level for feeding. We ended up refusing services due to the outrageous cost and the fact that I had already made excellent progress with him on my own.
It never hurts to call EI if your in a decent state, even if your lo doesn't qualify they have really great tips on things you can do to help them along. Also there is the wonderful blog written by a speech/feeding therapist. Yourkidstable.com I hope this helps!
ETA: for DS its become obvious to me that he has some sensory processing issues and that's where his feeding issues stem from, so all the above is just based on what I've experienced with that
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@arosebyany: Thanks for sharing your experiences. Yes, DS has been in daycare since 3 months old so he sees other babies eating almost every day (and I know that the other babies in his room regularly eat solids on their own). He does have a strong gag reflex too although I believe it is getting better. What concerns me is that he won't even allow us to spoon feed him at this point. I have also been given the tip to slowly thicken his purees but it doesn't matter because he refuses purees. Thank goodness he continues to eat a little at daycare and to grow well on breastmilk.
I am in MA so I think we have a strong EI program (I also have great insurance luckily so I bet we will be fully covered if he qualifies). I'm sorry your program would have cost so much. I can't believe this type of thing varies so much by state, it really stinks and I feel so bad for people who don't have the advantage of being in a state with a good program.
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Hi, all! I'm new here, so I hope you don't mind if I introduce myself:
DS turned 2 this summer and since about a year and a half, I have noticed that he is behind in speech. I come from a family of late talkers but I couldn't help but be concerned, so I gave him a few months to "catch up" but nothing happened. At his 2 year appt with the per, I mentioned it but the ped said we should revisit at 2.5. I ended up calling for a referral anyway because services will come to your home until age 3 and I wanted to get started right away.
He had the evaluation done (it was so long and so late poor guy) and they found out he is nearly a year behind in both receptive and expressive language. They didn't find anything else concerning besides speech. And after a long wait, we got approved. We finally got a call yesterday but the speech therapist could only do sessions while I was at work and he was at daycare (with 3 babies.) I really want to be there so I can learn, too. Anyway, so now we wait for a different speech therapist who can come after work.
I still have people tell me that I'm being a little too "hyper-vigilant" and should let him "catch up" ummmm...what do you think I am doing?
Anyway, that's our story. Oh and, as for me, I am on my first cycle of infertility treatments after having no trouble conceiving my son...so I am feeling a wee bit overwhelmed.
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@arosebyany: how'd it go talking to your husband the other night? Was he on board? Oh wait, i just scrolled back, are you waiting until this weekend to talk? Don't build it up too much if you can help it. You're just trying to do the best thing you can for your son. And getting on top of it now will only help in the long run... I agree with others, trust your mama instinct and you'll be good.
@catlady: good luck with EI, we haven't done it for feeding issues, so I can't speak to that but we are doing EI with my younger son and it is totally covered in MA (up until 3)!
@crazydoglady: Sorry to hear with the infertility struggles... hopefully the treatments do the trick! I've posted before but we've got my now 2 year old on his 5th or 6th week of EI for speech delay. After his 18 month visit the Pediatrician agreed we should call for an evaluation. He did great in receptive but very poor in expressive... Even after just a month, i'm not sure if its the services or something just clicking for him, he's talking SOOOOOO much more. They have given us a lot of great tools and tips to coaxing more language out of him... We're probably in it for the next year, so I can only imagine what a great help it will be if we're already seeing an improvement. Good luck to you!
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@crazydoglady: Hey EI mama! Welcome!
I want to applaud you on doing what felt was right for your son and not waiting. My fingers are crossed that you are able to land a late evening therapist ASAP!! It really does help if you're able to be there for some sessions. Sending so much love throughout your EI experience and your IT process.
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@crazydoglady: we had a similar timeline to you with our DS, and how many people said we were crazy and Einstein didn't talk til he was 5?! Well we weren't crazy as DS has a motor speech disorder and wouldn't have 'caught up' without extensive help. He has made so much progress and can string 2 and even 3 words together whereas a year ago he pretty much said 'guh' for everything. Trust your gut, you're doing the right thing. And if your son does catch up on his own, there's no harm from doing therapy in the end anyway!
ETA: I should add that we did some private sessions before being in the public program because the wait is quite long. Our insurance covers a small amount ($500 yearly) so we spread it out until we started public. Depending on your wait and how anxious you are to start, you could maybe look into it...I'm in Canada so it might be different there. Now we see private 1x weekly, have blocks of public every 6 months or so for 1-2 months and applied for disability tax credits to help.
They said he's at 20-24 months so almost a year delayed in fine motor skills.. 
but he will qualify so that's good I guess. As soon as they are done with the reports we can start services. I'm nervous for that but I hope it will help
and hopefully will start services soon. My motto right now just one day at a time. Up next is the preschool evaluations in a month.
he was 21 months at the time. So to make that clear my child didn't eat anything with his own hands until 21 months old. He's only 22 months now and already he's doing pretty good with the spoon, honestly better than with his hands. 
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