Question about speech therapy for DC under 3

[HIU8]

DD has an initial eval tomorrow, through the county, for speech. I was told it would take about 45 minutes and the lady was going to take a look at DD and speak with me. She decides if DD should go through a full eval (by full eval I mean fine and gross motor and speech. They won't just look at one issue). She did mention to me that speech therapy via the county really consisted of the therapist working with me to help DD. I'm confused. I assumed that if DD needs speech therapy, that a therapist that comes out to my house would actually work with HER (and give me ways to work with her as well).

[MamaKath]

Not sure what your question is exactly. I am outside DC also. In our county, it depends on what your child qualifies for. When my dc qualified for OT, we went to a place and I was able to participate in dc's sessions. So the OT was helping me by showing me things to work on, ways to work with dc, etc. I was very involved. Now that we go to a private place, it is a rarity that the OT allows me into a session, though she meets with me prior to and directly following to give ideas, etc.

[brittone2]

Some of how EI programs run is regional, IME.

I worked in PA and am familiar with how it worked there, but it may be different in your area.

Early intervention is designed to be family-centered. So evaluation reports, etc. should be written in parent-friendly language, etc. Therapists should instruct the parents on how to work with their child...activity suggestions should be provided so parents can work with their child daily. That's what makes the big difference for most kids...consistent parental follow-through with the suggestions given. Is there any chance that's what they meant?

[HIU8]

DS is in private OT, so I am familiar with how that works. I just found it odd that the lady said that they don't actually work with the child, but are there more for giving parents ways to work with the child (and again, this was only concerning speech therapy). I assumed they worked with the child and also involved the parent in learning ways to work with the child. The way she presented it just sounded off to me. I will ask more tomorrow at the initial meeting.

[MamaKath]

DS is in private OT, so I am familiar with how that works.
I only meant it as an example of the vast differences. :) GL tomorrow, hope it goes well and they can provide more/better answers.

[SammyeGail]

Its so hard with Early Intervention, one person tells you this, one tells you that, bla, bla, bla. My experience was not pleasant ;).

Just relax, feel free to ask her about it if you want :). This is all new to you, they aren't going to throw it all on you. I would think in your area they wouldn't. You will eventually learn things from them that you can do with DC yourself, no rush. I learned alot from the one our school system used when the boys turned 3.

The speech therapist thru EI I had was sooo great. Noah's receptive speech was awesome, he had problems speeking. She followed him around the house for an hour a week with this red and white ball she brought asking 'See the ball Noah? See the ball?' Every week I would tell her, 'he knows what a ball is.....'

Our area has a major shortage of speech therapist....

[K-Bear]

I also live in DC suburbs (MoCo) and did speech therapy ei with my daughter. The therapist came to my house and "played" with my daughter. I was with them the whole time and the therapist would give me tips on what to do with her. But the therapist was definitely working with my daughter.

[brittone2]

I also live in DC suburbs (MoCo) and did speech therapy ei with my daughter. The therapist came to my house and "played" with my daughter. I was with them the whole time and the therapist would give me tips on what to do with her. But the therapist was definitely working with my daughter.

This is my experience was as a professional. THe SLPs in EI that I worked with handled appts as described above. THere are definitely variations in how EI programs run but hopefully they meant something like the above.

[hillview]

The therapist came to my house and "played" with my daughter. I was with them the whole time and the therapist would give me tips on what to do with her. But the therapist was definitely working with my daughter.
:yeahthat:
That said the therapist would do an activity with DS (stack blocks) and talk and then she would talk to me about what she was seeing etc. Also on the first visit she didn't care if DS was there, she wanted to talk just to me. Finally, my experience has been that people who run the front of the office have NO clue, they just book appts. My experience was with EI in MA.
GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!
/hillary

[happymom]

I really cannot imagine that your child will receive speech therapy and NOT be treated directly! My guess is that she was referring to what PP's mentioned about EI focusing on "family training" and she just did a bad job explaining that to you. Sounds like she was overstressing the family training part of the therapy. But definitely clarify tomorrow. Good luck with the eval and let us know how it goes!

[annex]

It sounds very much like the services I am receiving for my DS, who will be 2 in December. I knew he was behind in speech this summer, so the county's early intervention program came out and did their evaluation. He was diagnosed as being at mostly in the 9-12 months range for speaking (about 5 words.) Apparently until age 3, they believe the research shows that most toddlers learn to talk best from their parents/regular care providers. So I am currently in a class just for parents where we are being taught by a speech therapist in the Hanen method (the book is called "It Takes Two to Talk"). The kids are all in the next room in what is essentially a daycare, though there is usually another therapist in the room with them. We do "homework" where we are supposed to try the techniques at home, fill out worksheets, etc. They also videotape us working with our kids so we can review the tapes together to see what ideas the therapist has for improving our skills.

My friend whose DS is 2 months younger than mine, and has more delays in speech and other areas ( is probably on the Autism spectrum), is getting one-on-one speech therapy from the same early intervention program, though. It did surprise me a bit that we were only offered this parent class. It is a good idea, but there are some parents in the class who are very defensive, because it can come across as "it was your fault for not doing x,y,z tricks with your kid that they aren't learning to talk better yet" etc.

HTH,
Anne

[HIU8]

The lady that was just here told me there was no way that DD would qualify with a 25% delay. She told me that kids with speech issues like DD (who are hard to understand) fall into a third category of articulation help. She may be eligible for that. If not, then they would guide in the right direction for private speech therapy for DD.

[K-Bear]

The lady that was just here told me there was no way that DD would qualify with a 25% delay. She told me that kids with speech issues like DD (who are hard to understand) fall into a third category of articulation help. She may be eligible for that. If not, then they would guide in the right direction for private speech therapy for DD.
Interesting! My older DD (who is 4) will be retested in December for her articulation issues. How bad does articulation have to be for the kid to qualify?

[AnnieW625]

We had DD in speech therapy through a small group setting from 2/1/2 until her 3rd birthday. There were very few specialists that would come to the house so I ended up having to take almost half a day off once a week (DH did the other day) for six months but it was soo worth it. I too think it would be hard for a child not to be treated directly. Keep an open mind and hopefully things will go well for you.

[maestramommy]

We live in NH. Arwyn's speech therapist comes once a week for 50 minutes. She does work with Arwyn, but I'm there to observe, and sometimes interact, and every once in a while she'll tell me what she's doing, and how I can incorporate it with what we have to work with Arwyn during the week. At the end of the session she gives me things to work on with Arwyn.

This is quite different from Dora's speech therapist when we lived in CA. The SLP came twice a week for one thing. And she worked with Dora alone. I was in another room. Afterwards, she'd tell me how she thought Dora was doing, and what I might like to do with her during the week, what things to watch for. BUT, from what I understand not all SLPs in CA are like this. Ours just happened to be this way.

ETA: When the girls were evaluated it was the full eval, including gross and fine motor, emotional, etc. No separate eval just for speech.