We had EI (early Intervention) today and we talked about the fact that the twins are coming up for their re-evaluation in a couple of months. Amazingly enough, the EI workers feel that they may not qualify next time. This is such great news, but it also stink in the fact that I have loved having people to come in and help with the kids speech. At least, I now know what to do to help them get their vocabulary going.
Michael is coming up for his evaluation at the same time, only the biggest difference is that he is going to age out of EI at his next evaluation. He will then be evaluated by the school system and I am really hoping that he will get picked up for pre-school through the schools. He is progressing, but is at at least the same point as the twins and maybe even a little behind them. Given that he is 10 1/2 months older, I am assuming that he should be further ahead than he is. EI is going to do an evaluation also prior to the schools evaluation, I think. They are at least going to do their own evaluation before Michael turns 3. Hi EI worker doesn't think that he'll qualify for pre-school since he really only has speech delays. She does think that he may qualify for speech therapy, but that may be it! It will certainly be interesting to see how things go over the next couple of months!
Amy
If anyone has other suggestions for helping with speech, I'd love to hear them. Anything else that I can do to continue to get the kids to progress is great!
What great news that Eva Rose and Thomas may test out of EI soon. It can come with such mixed feelings though. I was both excited and nervous when Buba tested out of EI last summer. I was worried he might not continue to make progress without the supports in place, but he's been doing great.
ReplyDeleteIf Michael doesn't get picked for the public pre-school, but does still qualify for speech/language support, how will he receive services?
Oh I TOTALLY understand!! It was mixed blessings when Burke tested out of the public speech help...I was doing the happy "He's AVERAGE!!" dance. LOL!
ReplyDeleteI have a few suggestions...depending on how you feel about TV, the DVD Baby Babble seemed to really get Burke out of his shell. I loaned it out and didn't get it back, so I don't know if Logan would have benefited from it (and I can't loan it to you!).
Also, when Maggie tested out but didn't qualify for public school speech, my EI therapist came back on her own to work with her. She has a private practice on the side and it's covered by my insurance. (woot!) If your EI people don't do anything on the side, and you want someone to keep coming in, I'm more than happy to give you her number - just let me know :)
And to answer reanbean's question: The preschool has to provide the service, but they don't have to be going to the school to get the service (Logan is in this situation right now - he goes to his own preschool, but every Friday goes to the public one for his session). If there are two or more delays, they'd probably get Michael into an integrated program at the preschool (it's easier to yank him from class now and again than to have you bring him in for multiple sessions)...but it doesn't sound like he has multiple delays.
Good luck!! And let me know if you have any more questions - I'd be more than happy to help :)