Speech therapy spinoff questions

[ohiomom]

DD is just turning 2 and has speech eval scheduled in 2 weeks. We've been told she'll definitely qualify for EI (expressive, not likely receptive problem in my opinion). Can anyone tell me about speech therapy? Length of session, frequency (per week or month), how long did your DC require therapy? What did it cost? Did your insurance cover at all?

I work FT and while DH has a fairly flexible schedule, he has a small business to run. It's hard to imagine fitting in yet another daytime appt. We will definitely go with the recommendations, but I need to start the mental gymnastics of figuring out how we'll make this work. I've been told by the local county EI services coordinator that there is an 8-10 week wait and that we won't want to wait that long. (Interpreted as go get services on our own!)

Also, DD is in an in-home childcare setting with quite a few kids ages infant to 4 years. Do you think there would be large advantage to moving her at least a few days a week or even full time to a high quality daycare setting where she'd be with kids her own age. (Place DD1 goes has ratio at DD2's level of 1:6, which is better than what she has now.)

TIA!! It's always something, isn't it?? :rolleye0014:

[almostamom]

My DS began speech services at 18 mos. initially for receptive and eventually expressive. For the first few months, our sessions were 30 minutes in length once per week. Once he became familiar with the routine, they were increased to 60 minutes once per week. We began the process privately as we were waiting for EI to process paperwork. At 22 mos., he qualified for speech and OT services through EI. He never received any of those services through EI. We were on every wait list in town! DS will be 4 in November and we are still in therapy, but the growth has been tremendous in both areas. One year ago, my son had just learned to say "mama". Today he is speaking in short sentences and we're working on his intelligibility. It's been a long road beginning with receptive skills, then sign language, and finally forming words, but it has been worth every minute and every penny.

Our insurance does cover his therapy. We are permitted 75 visits per year which we split between OT and speech. We pay our copay for each visit, so we have two copays each week. Our therapists' office charges $200/hour for therapy. Our insurance allows $75/visit which the office accepts.

At three years old he qualified for preschool through our local school district where he is eligible to attend school 4 half days per week and receive speech at OT services. We do continue therapy privately as well. He also attends a private preschool with his peers. I have seen tremendous growth since he started school. He has been in playgroups since he was an infant, but the school setting has really been quite beneficial for him.

HTH,
Linda

[maestramommy]

Hmmm, well when Dora qualified for services, she had 2 weekly sessions at our home. An SLP came and worked with her for 50 minutes. I think we were lucky in getting her, and getting her so quickly, as I found out later that SLPs are in high demand and it's not always possible to get private sessions. All sessions were paid for by the state, so no cost to us. If you decide to get services now, find out if your insurance covers it. Not all companies do.

As for the daycare, I don't really know the answer to that question. Are there any kids there her age? We used to attend weekly playgroups with a whole bunch of kids Dora's age, and I don't know that it really made a difference. She was just not into interacting with other kids that much. The regional center we worked with encouraged us to enroll her in preschool sooner than later so she would get the interaction, but we didn't do that because the situation didn't seem too urgent, and she was only 18 months. Now that she is graduating from state services anyway, we are enrolling her in preschool as soon as she can get in, rather than waiting till next fall.

GL!

[JenaW]

Our preemie daughter (almost 3) gets weekly speech, OT, sensory therapy, and now PT. All are through EI, so we have never paid a cent out of pocket. We did have a bit of a wait for speech and OT, but our EI coordinator told us once she qualified, they would HAVE to find her the appropriate therapists. I guess that is not the case everywhere?? N's speech therapy was weekly for an hour initially. Once her speech improved to where she nearly tested out, the SLP continued every other week for an hour to work on N's oral-motor weakness and feeding/swallowing issues. I am currently a SAHM, so although fitting in 4 weekly therapy sessions was not easy, I am here to do it. However, I know for a fact that both our therapists here in NY and in Pittsburgh went directly to day care facilities to do therapy for their kids. So that should be an option for you. As for moving your DD, it may be something to consider. Once N had her second birthday, her speech just took off. I know a lot of it was the therapy, but I really believe that more of it was her own strong motivation and the impact that her older sibs (very precocious DD who is 11 mos older, and DS who is 2 1/2 years older) had on her. Being around older children who will model language all the time is a HUGE bonus, I think!

HTH.

J

[juliasmom05]

DD's almost 3 1/2 and is just transitioning to the school district for ST and OT. Although she is age appropriate is some areas, she is still delayed in others, so we are still continuing ST and OT. She was referred to EI at 13 months, evaluated at 14 months and started ST with EI at 18 months. So, it did take us awhile to finally get services through EI. I think that is pretty common to have to wait to find an available therapist. Since she was still young, we decided to wait for EI. Initially she was receiving two 45 min sessions/week. After about six months it was increased to three 45 min sessions/week. Now that she is transitioning to the school district, it will be four individual 30 min sessions/week.

For us, EI has been free. Although it is billed through our insurance co, we don't have to pay what they don't cover. Because we have been happy with the quality and amount of service through EI, we never looked into private therapy and really don't know whether our insurance would cover it or not. From what I saw, it had to be coded a certain way for the insurance to cover the charges.

Our therapists either come to our home before work, or have the sessions at daycare. For us, it really isn't inconvienent. I imagine that even if you go the private route, the therapists could do the same and you wouldn't have to schedule any more day time appointments.

GL.

Marci

[Gena]

DS gets speech and OT. He started with Early Intervention once a week when he was just over 2. At age 3 he transitioned to the school district and he gets speech and OT once a week while at the district's preschool. These services are free.

We decided to also get him private therapy. He has private speech and OT once a week for a half hour each. Insurance allows 20 sessions of each per calendar year, so we do the private therapy from late spring to fall. The school district does not provide services in the summer, so this way we can make sure he gets therapy year-round. Our co-pay is $20 for each session. Insurance covers because he has an Autism diagnosis. Before he had the diagnosis we were able to get the private therapy funded through a local grant.

[brittone2]

Payment will vary state to state...I'm not specifically familiar w/ Ohio. In PA, it is free (early intervention) regardless of income. Many other states work that way as well.

By law, children have to be treated (at least, when I was working and more familiar with the laws) in the most natural environment when they are 0-3, so that is generally the home. I know when I was treating in PA providers were also permitted by law to treat the child at a childcare setting. If the therapist treats at a childcare setting, you may be able to figure out how to be there 1x a month or perhaps arrange a treatment in your home periodically (so you can see what they are doing w/ DC...a big part of EI is parent education, so teaching you what things you can do to help DD). You can ask them to leave a more detailed note for you at childcare. You probably will also want the childcare provider(s) to work with her on what the SLP is doing, so you may want the therapist to spend 5 mins w/ them at the end of sessions giving them some tips.

The length and number of visits generally depend on the therapist's recommendations. When I treated as a PT, once a week for 60 mins was pretty typical. (but we did everything from 1x a month to rarely 2x a week.)

dd in lap...forgive any typos.

[SammyeGail]

EI should cover your cost (co-pay), after you get off the waiting list. I would start now if you can, call around and find a pedi speech therapist.

We live in TN, there is no speech therapist under our ins. that does not have a 3 month wait list. My son Jonas with autism has never recieved ST, we finally got in with one who specialized in autism, but her session is only 30 minutes. I know he can go longer, maybe she'll have an hour open up soon at a good time for us.

My other twin is speech delayed, but his receptive is awesome. He received ST in home over the summer and she was awful. He got nothing from her. She worked for the school system and it ended when school started.

Whats sad is EI will only pay for in-network on our ins. They'll pay the $30 co-pay, but not the out-of-network 70/30. Jonas' 1/2 session cost us $18. I don't get it, they'll pay $30, but not $18. Our EI sucks, at least they are with a good OT.

Samantha
Noah and Jonas
2.5 yr old twins

[ohiomom]

Thanks everyone! It is interesting to see the wide range of experiences. Looks like my insurance covers 12 sessions/yr. How generous! :rolleye0014: I'm trying to just wait until we get the therapy recommendations. I can see verbal improvement. Monday she said "Mama home" when I got home from work. This was her 1st 2-word sentence ever, so hopefully with ears clear (and fortunately no other difficult diagnosis that we are aware of), this won't be a requirement forever.

I particulary appreciate thought of services at home of childcare provider. Ours just may be receptive to that!

THANKS for sharing your story to inform me.