How Young to start EI?

[julevizamom]

DD is 15 months and has no words at all -- not even mama or dada. She understands much of what we say, can point to body parts, etc., but has no interest in mimicking words at all. It gets very frustrating when she wants something because it's a lot of grunting/pointing, and often she'll get so mad she hits herself in the face. The pediatrician was concerned at her checkup yesterday and referred us to a speech therapist. I'm also going to call EI, but I know the wait can be long and I'd rather start sooner than later. Any similar experiences? Do you think she's too young to start therapy?

[BabyMine]

We started at 2. The Ped told us that some are late talkers so she wanted to give M some time. If your Ped suggested intervention then I would go for it. It took us some time anyway from sign up to actually therapy.

[mousemom]

Not too young for EI. DS (now 16 months) sounds just like your DD and we just found out that he qualified for EI. Our pediatrician, however, was not concerned at his 15 month check-up because his receptive language was so good, wanted to wait till the 18 month check-up to pursue anything, so opinions certainly vary. We feel better getting him help earlier, since there's no way to know at this point how his expressive language will develop without that help. The EI process, here at least, was very painless. They came to our house to do the evaluation (and will also do all the therapy there) and worked around our schedule to set up meeting times. For us, it will be about a month and a half between when we called and when therapy will start. We haven't actually started the therapy yet, so can't comment on that.

ETA: Our pediatrician did refer us to a private speech therapist when we said we did not want to wait on this issue. She did not think we would qualify for EI. However, we opted to do the EI eval before/instead of seeking out private speech therapy. This made sense for us both cost-wise and because we would much prefer that services be provided in our home, where DS is most comfortable. Had he not qualified for EI, we would have then considered pursuing private therapy.

[sidmand]

Both DCs started EI at 15 months. Well, I guess I had them evaluated at 15 months and then they started services soon after.

At least in our state (MA), I believe they have to come within 45 days of when you first call. Ours went pretty fast for both DC and we had actually started within 45 days.

DD gets once/week speech therapy as well as a 2.5 hour playgroup that works on social interaction/speech/OT/PT or whatever else is necessary.

In MA you can self-refer (I think it's true in most, if not all, states?) so even if your ped doesn't think it's a problem you can call yourself. We happened to have a great pediatrician for DS who was worried even before I was ready to admit anything. For DD, I had said if she wasn't walking or talking by 15 months I would call. She started walking right after I called. Her receptive wasn't great then although it is now. And now she has a handful of words (still no mama) but she's good at signing and obviously understands us. It hasn't eliminated the frustration (for both of us!!!) but it has definitely helped.

It can't hurt to call and can only help or alleviate your concerns.

[poppy]

At our 18 month checkup, my ped recommended EI services, since there were no words. Ped said studies showed that if you start at 18 months as opposed to 2 yrs., they usually need less therapy and learn faster.

[JBaxter]

I raised concern at a sick visit at 20 months. Ped recommended we see what he did by his 2yr check up. I did know from my older 2 there is a big language jump around 2. He did not so we had the eval done right at 2yrs.

[julevizamom]

Both DCs started EI at 15 months. Well, I guess I had them evaluated at 15 months and then they started services soon after.

At least in our state (MA), I believe they have to come within 45 days of when you first call. Ours went pretty fast for both DC and we had actually started within 45 days.

DD gets once/week speech therapy as well as a 2.5 hour playgroup that works on social interaction/speech/OT/PT or whatever else is necessary.

In MA you can self-refer (I think it's true in most, if not all, states?) so even if your ped doesn't think it's a problem you can call yourself. We happened to have a great pediatrician for DS who was worried even before I was ready to admit anything. For DD, I had said if she wasn't walking or talking by 15 months I would call. She started walking right after I called. Her receptive wasn't great then although it is now. And now she has a handful of words (still no mama) but she's good at signing and obviously understands us. It hasn't eliminated the frustration (for both of us!!!) but it has definitely helped.

It can't hurt to call and can only help or alleviate your concerns.

How has your DS done since therapy? Is he caught up?

[AnnieW625]

DD didn't start until she was 2 yrs. old, however if your ped. has already made the recommendation then I would just start it right now. DD had ear issues so I know that affected her speech (at 2 on a good day she was tested at 15-16 mos. old speech; a bad day (DD is quite shy) she was tested at 13 mos. old), but I do agree that there can be a huge jump in language abilities from 15 mos. to 2 yrs. old and if it were me I'd just watch the situation, but maybe your ped. has been turned on to something else that you aren't seeing.

[mousemom]

DD had ear issues so I know that affected her speech

That reminds me that the other thing we did after the 15 month check-up was to go to an audiologist and get his hearing tested to rule out any problems there that might be affecting his speech development.

[sidmand]

How has your DS done since therapy? Is he caught up?

DS actually ended up with a diagnosis of PDD-NOS (autism spectrum) but he has done AMAZING. People who meet him today don't realize there is anything at all going on. And people who meet him today have said to me, "I can't imagine a [DS] who doesn't talk." And it is very hard to imagine because now he talks nonstop! A couple of months ago I said to him, "Could you please just stop talking for 10 minutes?" And I never ever would've thought I would ask that! But at 2, 2.5, he wasn't saying much of anything. FWIW his vocabulary is also amazing now (and he reads too) but I strongly believe that EI (and ABA) made a huge difference for him.

I also do know that many many kids have a language explosion around 2 years old. The problem is that you don't know if your child is going to do that or not and by the time they are two and it hasn't happened, and then you get evaluated for EI, etc. you're getting very close to the cutoff of age 3. The earlier they get help (if needed) the better!