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We're doing speech and developmental therapy with our youngest. We started the process about two months ago. On our doctor's urging, we called for an evaluation. He was evaluated in December and started in January. Our county is very responsive, so we got started right away.

He had a hearing test at the beginning of the year too. Since I've been seeing an ENT for sinuses, he responded to my request for evaluation right away. The hearing test was fun to do with the animals. My mom said it was the same test they had me do as a kid.

I'd love to be a part of this thread!

My youngest is one year old and has been in EI since September. They say she has a three month delay with gross motor skills. I have found EI to be a wonderful service and I'm so pleased that we initiated the process last summer. However, we also see a private physical therapist who is covered through insurance and I find her to be more knowledgable and skilled than our EI therapists have been.

@bubblegum: Of course!

I initially set up an appointment with a private therapist because I was impatient and anxious, and wanted her to be assessed right away. Our doctor sent a Rx and a torticollis diagnosis code to my insurance company and they immediately started covering the weekly appointments. I have to pay a weekly $40 copay, which definitely adds up over time, but I really love our private therapist. It was she that suggested we reach out to EI so LO could get an extra session each week.

So then I called EI in early July. There was an initial meeting with a coordinator to review the process and my rights. Then two therapists came to the house separately to evaluate her. Once LO officially qualified for services, we were given a local service coordinator. She worked with us to find an available therapist. We had her first EI therapy session in early September.

Thanks for starting this thread!

Our LO is currently in EI for some behavioral issues. He was going through a tough stage where transitions were hard for him (getting dressed, leaving the house, etc), as well as general attention span issues - like sitting for circle time. We discussed it with daycare and they suggested having someone come in. He now has an awesome woman working with him once a week and it has been great! He is doing significantly better, even with only about 6 sessions under his belt. It is hard to ask for help, but it has been so worth it!

@bubblegum: He does have some sensory issues, so I"m not sure if her specialty is geared towards that or just general behavior. All I know, is that he has been much, much better since she started working with him. We use a lot of timers, routines and toys (bringing them with him) to help him transition now. He's having a rough week this week (ear infection ugh) but he's doing so much better than he was! Does your LO see a SI specialist? I have been wondering if he needs more/different specialists.

@Mrs. Toad: I wonder sometimes if we should have done signs. He has about 30 words, but he does not use them consistently. I've heard him say lion twice, but it has been weeks since and I can't get him to repeat it How'd you find out about the communication class? Any tips?

@bubblegum: 'cry until you get it right,' boy does that sound familiar! The fact your son is already speaking in sentences is huge! You're probably right that I'm only going to regret not getting the ball rolling. If he's transitioning to the state program at 3, what is he in now?

Hi all!

My 4yo is doing private OT right now for fine motor, sensory, and motor planning.... We've been in for about 4 months or so, and i've seen a lot of great improvements. A lot of his sensory issues seem to be going away on their own, but he definitely still needs help with fine motor strength in his hands (especially to get him ready for K in two years and writing more), and working through motor planning, he gets stuck in a 'rut' thinking of only one way to play or do something so they're helping him break through that cycle and learn to play better with a group and independently...

Now, my little guy is almost 16 months and is barely talking at all. I think he only has 3 words, but he's got great receptive language, and he uses a lot of his own sounds & gestures to let us know what he wants. Hoping he starts talking more soon. I have his 16 month visit next week so we'll see what they say.....

@bubblegum: Thanks! She's doing well but it can feel like progress is slow. Sometimes she'll cry through a whole therapy session and we hardly get anything done. And our two therapists often give advice that contradicts each other. I try to do a little for both!

She is nowhere close to walking yet but starting to cruise on furniture, which is awesome! Definitely getting stronger on her legs. She's also getting SMOs for her ankles to help stabilize.

The important thing is she's always improving. Baby steps!

@jackiedavis87: For us, we had about 4 therapists at our house for the first appointment - a developmental therapist, speech, PT, and OT. I can't remember if our case worker was there, too. They will ask you tons of questions about everything from your pregnancy to the present. Then they have your LO do some activities, depending on his age. For us, it was things like stacking blocks, looking at pictures in books, etc. The PT looked at how he moved and sat. We also had (primarily) feeding concerns, so the speech pathologist watched him eat a snack. At the end we sat around and they talked about what they saw and whether they thought he would need services in each area. I don't remember how long it was, but it was definitely a little intimidating (and I'm a special ed teacher who's pretty comfortable with all this stuff). All the therapists were very nice and encouraging. I hope that helps!

@Jackiedavis87: Our original coordinator
/therapist came out and asked about DS from pregnancy to current and had us sign the consent forms for testing. DS happened to be eating, so she did that part of the assessment. A few days later, we had two different therapists do the assessment, speech and PT. They covered all areas of possible delay. All in all, it took about an hour each time. We had speech concerns, so they made sure to send the speech therapist. Between the questions and an evaluation of some age appropriate activities, they determined that he probably qualified for services. We found out for sure later when they completed scoring.

Our case worker became the speech therapist that did the testing, though it could have been any therapist at the office. When she first came out, we agreed to therapy, signed all the forms, and determined how often it would be.

Hope that helps.

@bubblegum: thanks again, I'm so anxious about this I've already read through the handbook lol.

@hellobeeboston: thanks for the info, and I also have a high deductible plan I know I'm jumping the gun but, im waiting to find out if or how much EI will be, and I'm just trying to keep PP in the back of my mind in case.

Hello! I am an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher (also known as Developmental Interventionist) and I work in Early Intervention. Every state is different in how they implement EI services but typically it's as described already, you have a service coordinator who coordinates your intake, evaluation, and therapists either come to you or you go to them for the evaluation. In some states you actually go to the local school district for the evaluation (called Child Find- this is how my state, Colorado, does it). EI is also free in many states. There are many funding sources for EI from state and federal funds, to billing insurance, to state trust funds, to medicaid. Often if EI is not free in your state then it is offered on a sliding scale. It is definitely true about being asked a million seemingly personal questions, especial about prenatal history and even at times if baby was conceived via IVF or other methods! This is due to correlations in research denoting possible higher rates of "disability" or needs in babies/children who had certain prenatal experiences. There is actually some current research out there showing that babies are not actually as oblivious as once thought to traumatic birth and post birth experiences and that some needs may stem from those experiences. As an EI professional this information is helpful because it can provide clues to the bigger picture of why a child might be experiencing the delays or struggles that they are. But on the other hand the why is truly most often not important because rarely does it impact therapy or support, children receive what they get because it is needed. The amazing thing about EI is that it is a whole family approach, hence all the personal questions that pertain to your life now. If a family has a basic need for groceries then EI will help the family to access these basic needs. Going through the process can be scary because it's all so unfamiliar but EI is such an amazing service! I wish more parents and families who had concerns for their children would go through the evaluation process because it can be so informative and catch delays before they are too great. I hope it goes well for you!

@eimama: thank you so much for chiming in, I had noticed on another post you made that you had said you worked in EI, so I was hoping you would give me some insight! I do know that Texas is on a sliding scale, so well just have to wait and see how that goes.

@Jackiedavis87: my son definitely needed to be present for part of the evals. We did a majority of the unrelated to him stuff on the phone or I filled out forms on my own time prior to in person evaluation. The first time they also observed him in daycare and at home.

@eimama: thanks for this explanation!! I was also curious at first about all of the labor and delivery questions, really interesting about it being related.