https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 12 May 2026 09:20:21 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830997 Fri, 22 Aug 2014 11:39:18 +0000 Applesandbananas 1830997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Also, the teacher of the deaf/HOH who actually visits with us 2x/month is AMAZING. So hopefully even if your initial meetings were awful (which was the case with us) your actual visits will be better! </p> <p>My understanding of the questioning (our EI calls it "the personal family narrative") is to try to identify other areas in which EI could help. My LO is an established risk, meaning he qualifies regardless of how far delayed he is or isn't and I felt strongly that his only real needs for EI were to work with the teacher of the deaf/HOH (and for us as parents to glean information/strategies from her on things like hearing aid usage, encouraging listening, etc. and we have!) and now, at 17m, we are introducing speech therapy as well, but for kids that have more of a universal delay, the personal family narrative can help tailor services to meet the needs of the child/family when it isn't super clear-cut exactly what they need. </p> <p>We never really looked beyond EI for services, our insurance doesn't cover any of it. If you aren't happy with anyone on your team, you can ask for a replacement. I did this with the service coordinator after she made a nasty remark about how I didn't realize that this was all for my son's benefit (she was mad because I was giving some pushback on meeting in person, I was extremely busy at work and told her a phone call was the best I could do until the following month because I was working out of town and 10+ hours/day!) So don't hesitate to ask for someone new if you just don't like them, it happens all the time! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830966 Fri, 22 Aug 2014 11:26:13 +0000 Applesandbananas 1830966@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@spaniellove: oh mama. I felt the same way! Our service coordinator made me feel like crap when we did that and at his annual, as part of the renewal process, I declined to update and they said it was my right to decline to answer those questions and it would NOT affect his services! Ask what your rights are and what you HAVE to answer, some of that stuff was so invasive, it was awful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830800 Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:37:14 +0000 autumnlove 1830800@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hugs! My LO 2 was a lot older (15 months) when she was evaluated and a lot of the questions made me uncomfortable! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830215 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:46:07 +0000 jhd 1830215@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can definitely see how the questions would make you uncomfortable. Our case manager skipped over some of those questions about routine (i'm sure she's not supposed to!), but yes, they do make you feel a bit silly. Of course I feed my baby and change him and talk to him.<br /> I think you are doing a great job taking care of your LO and getting him all the help he needs. I am sure it is very overwhelming at times. I hope that once all this planning phase is complete (so much paperwork and so many questions!) that things will go much smoother. :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830173 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:10:55 +0000 Chuckles 1830173@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It was a lot of people! And the case manager came towards the end, too. It was weird for me because as a special Ed teacher, I'm used to being on the evaluator side. I have a newfound appreciation for my students' parents. It's intimidating to be the parent surrounded by people talking about your kid.<br /> The feeding therapy is going only okay. We switched therapists after about 6 weeks and the new person is much better. She has a lot more varied ideas and suggestions about what we can try. I did talk to our case manager about my concerns about the first therapist and she was very receptive to us switching. A work in progress :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830172 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:10:54 +0000 rattles 1830172@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That must be so hard when you're still in the newborn, make-it-work-however-you-can stage! My DD was older when she was evaluated (15-16 months), but I felt like the first interview had a lot of detailed questions about our interactions and routines. I remember feeling somewhat defensive too. The evaluation was overwhelming - like @Chuckles, we had a whole team (developmental therapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and her case manager). Now that she's receiving services though, it's only her speech therapist I see and we never get questions about my interactions with her. In fact, I wish she gave more guidance as to how to help in the day-to-day.</p> <p>ETA: We have a family history of hearing loss, and DD has a speech delay. It doesn't seem like she has a hearing problem, but I've always had a soft spot for your LO as a result! She was also evaluated for gross motor delays, but she wasn't so far behind as to qualify for services. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830160 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 22:02:24 +0000 spaniellove 1830160@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Chuckles: That is a lot of people at once doing the evaluation! Just curious, did you find EI helpful for the feeding? (Oh we must have been typing at the same time!)</p> <p>@beaker: We had those questions too...how many minutes do you let him cry between being put down for a nap and falling asleep. Sleep training or lack of can't possibly be relevant to his hearing loss! I was asked so many times how I soothe him, how I put him down at night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830149 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:53:52 +0000 Chuckles 1830149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wanted to add that most of our therapies, definitely at the beginning, revolve around what we can/should be doing with our LO. Now that we've been doing them for awhile, it's more of a collaboration with the therapists but at the beginning they did a lot of talking and reviewing different ways to work with him.<br /> And second what Beaker said, you can go through your insurance and do private therapies. The nice thing about EI at least in my state (IL) is that you get as many therapies as you need for the same cost. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830116 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:29:45 +0000 Mrs. Tiger 1830116@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@spaniellove: I definitely got asked questions I thought were borderline offensive (do you talk to your baby? Do you respond to him when he cries, etc) during the eval, but I think that they have to ask everyone those questions, and perhaps some people (like, maybe, teenagers) need some help with more basic parenting, especially if their child has special needs. </p> <p>Also somewhat related, when DS2 got NEC, they investigated us for child abuse since it was unusual of him to get it at that age, and he had bruising on his belly (from it being distended, the surgeons said). I was super rude to them because I was pissed to have to go through that on top of everything, but I complied with all their questions and after interviewing DH and I they dropped it. </p> <p>We also get PT through our insurance, you can ask your ped tobrwfer you guys to a developmentalist if you want to pay to take him somewhere instead of relying on the state stuff. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830080 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:17:41 +0000 Chuckles 1830080@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our LO was evaluated for gross motor and feeding delays. We had a developmental therapist, speech path, physical therapist, and nutritionist all at our house at the same time for the evaluation.<br /> They did ask some questions about our routines, but mostly regarding sleeping and eating. I'm trying to remember if there were any questions like what you are describing. Maybe a couple that made me uncomfortable but almost nothing. If you feel like the evaluators are being inappropriate or going in a direction that is making you concerned, can you talk to your case manager? Maybe he or she can clarify why they asked those particular questions. Sorry you aren't having a great experience! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830070 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:15:17 +0000 spaniellove 1830070@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ladybee: That must have been why she asked about child care. I hesitated a while before answering I didn't need any because I wasn't sure how they could help. When the OT and Teacher of the Deaf came over the other day they were going over things we could do and the answer was always that I'm already doing that because I've researched things or talked to other parents, so it made me wonder what else was out there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1830009 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:54:44 +0000 ladybee 1830009@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@spaniellove: I am not an EI parent but I did just finish my masters in EI. The IFSP is family based and services are designed to help the family. If the family needs daycare, there is a goal for that or if mom needs a ride to doctors appointments, etc. I think that's why the questions are so detailed. Some parents honestly need help knowing how to parent, especially if their child is high needs. I didn't go through EI for PT. I went straight through insurance. At 3 your LO would move to an IEP which is much more child based. </p> <p>ETA: I was shocked when I learned what services could be offered through an IFSP if the family needed it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1829996 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:50:09 +0000 spaniellove 1829996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>And one more question! What is the minimum we have to work with them in order to get their help transitioning to preschool? The only preschool option for us is in another state, so that will take some work! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-early-intervention-parents#post-1829975 Thu, 21 Aug 2014 20:44:26 +0000 spaniellove 1829975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This week we had our EI evaluation and other meetings and Monday we're doing the IFSP. I'm growing increasingly uncomfortable with the questions and interactions and am not sure how to handle this.</p> <p>If you started when LO was very young, did you find that the intake stuff focused a lot on how you cared for your infant? And regardless of age did you find that the services you received were all about teaching you how to interact with your child? Did you ever feel that you had an alternative in terms of receiving therapy through other means? </p> <p>I ask this because I'm having a tough time with the questions they're asking me...like getting very detailed about our routine, how often I change his clothes, etc. When I wasn't interested in giving specifics she pressed further and seemed to think I actually didn't change his clothes or something. I feel like they're pressuring me to follow some kind of perfect parenting best practices, and I'm sorry but that doesn't happen for most parents even with the best of intentions. But he's not neglected! Other parents don't have all kinds of visitors from the state coming into their home during the newborn days and interrogating them on their parenting skills and with my PPD it's bothering me a lot. </p>