TS and anyone else interested...speech eval results...

[njmama]

...of course, she qualified.
Now, let me be more clear. She was 25% deficient in two areas, speech and then they all it "cognitive communication".
So, cognitive communication is a long name for "Mimi doesn't listen well".
LOL
She did not follow their instructions/directions all of the time, and when she got frustrated with something, she just either a) threw it, or b) walked away.
She also seemed to be stuck on the fact that the lady had crayons in her box (with a see through lid), and Mimi wanted to color ("I color" was the exact wording...LOL), and so as long as those crayons were in her view, she was not very cooperative.
She was more deficient in the cooperation part than in the speech...I guess I thought she was more behind than she actually was.

They did mention that Mimi did listen to all of my commands, but not as much to theirs.
What do you think? My husband, who is a SpEd teacher, thinks I'm nuts and is very angered that I am agreeing to therapy for her. I feel like as long as it's non-invasive, free, and she enjoys it (which I'm sure she will because she is the Center of the Universe, as all of you know ), I don't see the harm, and it can only help her.
Advice?

[CarrieW]

Definitely go for it. She will love it. I have a friend who's son went through speech and it made a huge difference. He loved when it was his turn for school and improved greatly in a short period of time. Especially if it is free, it can not hurt.

[TSQUARE]

I say go for it. I don't understand why your DH wouldn't want to help his DD, especially if it's FREE for Pete's sake?!?

I also don't understand why they didn't let her color. I know mine loses interest quickly. You know, get it out of their head and they can focus on the next thing? Sheesh.

My DH had me call to set up therapy the minute we thought K was qualified. Of course, that's when they put the kabash on it. With any luck we'll have a breakthrough in her speech during the next three months...or we'll be joining you in therapy after her next evaluation!

Thanks for the update!

[Tia38]

we qualified (at ~16 months) but had to pay a few hundred dollars... we did it.

i don't think they did terribly much on the speech during our sessions (even though that is where she qualified) but i'm glad we did it. they changed the rules in MA (not sure if it's national rules or not) and you retest every 6 months. DD tested ahead across the board that go around so no longer eligible. we did transition to a play group on SAt ams (mostly so I can do something fun/organized with her -- i work during the week). DH thinks it's a waste.

do i think (in hindsight) that the therapy helped? not sure. dd did have great improvement, especially on speech -- but she might have done that anyway.

we'll never know.

but i would do it again (even paying as we did) and i would do it w/o hesitation if it were free.

the part i liked best were the concrete suggestions the therapist gave us for doing things the rest of the week. many of them were things i was doing anyway, but having a professional say them gave DH some motivation to try them. (sigh)

so perhaps the therapy was most effective on DH? lol.

i think having someone else consistently working with DD was also helpful.

-tia

[njmama]

so perhaps the therapy was most effective on DH? lol.

i think having someone else consistently working with DD was also helpful.

-tia

LOLOLOLOL
DH is skeptical because he is a special ed teacher, and he knows how the system works: they do "pad" their programs in order to keep funding coming...he feels that she is not even 2 yet and many of her "not listening" behaviors were because of her age, not because she is deficient.
I think he's just ultra sensitive due to the nature of the kids he works with that his Princess Daughter may have a slight problem with something, KWIM?
I understand how he feels, but that's not a reason to NOT get her assistance with it.
I spoke with him last night, and he and I agreed that if the therapy starts to take a "nonsense" direction, then I'll stop it right away.
So, he's on board, but only with one toe.
LOLOLOL

[Tia38]

i think my DH also feared 'stigma' or 'implication' that we were using EIP...

in our case the 'cognitive development' (i forget the actual name for that category of test) was 'better than age' so clearly DD's brain is working fine... she's just potentially not taking in the speech (receptive lg) and/or potentially choosing to put it out (expressive lg).

i also think it's a lot like saving for retirement and compounding interest.... the sooner you start the better your return. ;-)

-tia

[HollyB]

I hope it's OK if I share my story with you as well... My DS started showing delays at 9 months when he would not babble any consonant sounds. He only made vowel sounds. Also around that time, I noticed he had trouble moving food to the back of his mouth and suspected some type of oral motor delay. I had him evaluated through birth-to-three and he was not eligible at that time. I took him to a private speech-language pathologist who immediately recognized his delays and we started in private therapy with her. His feeding issues improved in a matter of weeks with some oral-motor therapy, but he continued to be signficantly delayed in his attempts to make speech sounds and was not saying anything. At around 18 months old, he was evaluated by birth-to-three again, and this time he qualified. He now gets therapy once per week through my private SLP, and once per week through birth-to-three. He has made HUGE gains as a result of all this therapy! He is still considered "delayed" but he is attempting to communicate with language now which is something he did not do for a long time!

My DH was very supportive of this therapy, but the rest of my family was not. Everytime I would tell them that DS said something or made a gain, they would say, "See?? I TOLD you there was nothing wrong with him!" They just didn't understand and no one knows a kid better than his or her parents. I got tired of explaining that I didn't think there was anything "wrong" with him either, but that I didn't want to miss an opportunity to help where I could. What I have finally started telling people who don't understand is that you cannot go back and do early intervention.

I agree with the others that there is absolutely no harm in pursing therapy and it can only help! And I totally agree with Tia too about the sooner you start the better your return!

Good luck!!

[Hopeful2006]

Glad to hear you are getting some assistance, albeit a bit hesitant on DH's part. Sounds like you are on your way to a chatty cathy (or Mimi), LOL!

[Basherte]

I'd say go for it, Michele....keep us posted on Mimi's progress!