[ourdreamcametru]

Anybody had a two year old evaluated through Early Intervention? Our ped is going to send Castle to be evaluated in the next couple of weeks and I just wondered what to expect. She turned two May 24 and although she does talk and says several words she just dosen't talk that often. We are not worried but will get the evaluation just to be sure. She has always been a very quite child since birth and since she is the youngest of three~ two brothers who are 16 and 11, I just figure she doesn't have to talk!

[proudmommyof 2]

We had our son evaluated through Early Intervention. They came to our house. Mostly, they asked us questions, like: What words does he have, does his facial expression change when you mention something he likes, etc.... They asked him some questions as well. They gave us an age for him for both receptive and expressive language. He did qualify, but at almost 2 (at the time), he had no words...

[roselee]

I don't know about your state, but in Ohio the Early Intervention person that came to our home to evaluate our son's speech, cognitive skills, behavior, etc. This person had a B.A degree in a completely unrelated field and I have a psychologist degree and an undergraduate degree in speech pathology. I was upset when I got back the report. First of all, the person who wrote it couldn't even spell the basics of words. Secondly, the person did not even ask good questions (we provided those question because I knew what he needed, so I felt I was doing his job - and I already knew our child qualified).

This person did have years of experience "evaluating" which I commend, but still doesn't have the expertise needed. This was just my experience, your experience and the way it's done in your state may be completely different.

I decided to see a Master's Level speech pathologist (as you need a masters to practice). They tested him and told me a lot more and also disagreed with the early intervention person. We also were covered for more services through them, Children's Hospital, then early intervention. All early intervention could provide was once a month. What good is that really going to do, come on! Children's hospital provided once a week. The biggest problem, however, was that our son had to be placed on a waiting list.

Proudmommaof2 did seem to have a better experience, it sounds. If the services are any less then once a week, I would seek out a speech/language pathologist to do more testing. At age two, our two year old hardly spoke either. Know he is speaking well, but does still have an articulation problem, which may improve with time. He has a very large tongue which may have an affect with his articulation. Maybe he just needs to "grow into his tongue" if that's possible?? Don't know

Oh, I had to laugh about the "not needing to talk because of older siblings." I have seen that a lot. Also, my mother told me that one of my brothers was the same way. He had a brother that was 18 months older and did ALL of the speaking for him. Anytime the younger brother wanted something, the older would speak for him. He was delayed but it didn't affect him in the long run.

In your situation, though, the siblings are so much older so it's hard to tell. Also, since your child is more quiet anyways she maybe just the type of child that will just take off...perhaps she is taking it all in. I had another friend that happen to. Her two year old would barely talk at age two, but you could tell she was very intelligent. About 4 months later, she just started talking in sentences.