[bmarsicano]

Hi. My daughter just turned 3. I had her evaluated when she was about 29 months old. They said she was in the range of about 4 months behind, coming from Russia when she ws 20 months old. I went to our town's early intervention today and was told that she did not qualify for it because she doesn't have at least two problems in the below 33% range or one below the 25% range. All she needs is speech therapy and not alot. she comprehends more than she can talk. At school, if she is playing with a toy and another kid comes and takes it, she can't express herself so she just hits and says "mine". Did anybody else go through this? I have a call into our local hospital to see if I can just get speech therapy from there. They said that if she is not speaking by kindergarten they can put her in just a speech class. She is getting her t's and f's confused. She wants to play in my father's pick up truck and it comes out *uck. We try not to laugh, but it's cute. My mother said I had the same problem with going to the beach, it was going to the *itch. Any advice.

Thanks

[hg808]

Barbara, I think we met at a Russian adoption reunion when you were just planning to adopt. We brought our son home in Feb 07 and were seeking help of a speech therapist. It takes quite a lot of time and effort to get speech therapy in NJ through Early Intervention. We ended up contacting Dr. Lori Roth - she is in Cedar Knolls, close to where we live. I will e-mail you her website, as I'm not sure if I can post it here, but you can google it too. She has a lot of useful links and advice there. We had to wait a while to get an appt. with her, but now are very happy with her. She helped our neighbor's kids too. Hope this helps.

Helen

[angelkisses0102]

Have you gone through the school district? At age 3 she should be able to be evaluated through them...or is that what you meant by 'town?' You can do private ST but it is typically not covered by insurance and I know around here...the wait are very, very long for any type of therapy.

Good luck...I can so understand knowing and wanting to get your child therapy and not having anyone listen to you. It took us 11 months to finally get DS the help he needed.

[Russiamomto3]

We too are in NJ. Since your child is 3 yrs old she should have been evaluated through your local school district not Early Intervention. At 3 years old they age out of EI and are then considered Pre-school disabled (general term for all special needs...speech included). The Preschool disabled program can be wonderful, but your child had to qualify. I am pretty sure the range is 1 year in 2 areas (which is about 33% or 2 years in 1 area...areas are considered speech, OT, PT, Developmental. If you child doesn't qualify for the preschool disabled program totally, they can STILL qualify for speech. In our district if a child only needs speech and the dealy is not enough to put them in the PSD program they will get speech services at the one of the local elementary schools on a weekly basis (1x per week for 20 minutes or 2xs per week for 20 minutes).
Here is a website for NJ. It is for the transition (going from EI to preschool), but it has the names of the contacts for each county's Office of Special Education (its on about page 41). Contact them and see about having your child tested through your LOCAL school district.
http://www.njeis.org/EarlyIntervTransition.pdf

I am in Mercer County, so if I can be of any help please let me know.

[bmarsicano]

I did have her evaluated through the school system and they said that she didn't qualify for the therapy because she doesn't fall into their "range" of needing help. They said the kids in their class have about 10-20 words, mine has about 75, but is having problelms with putting sentences together. She won't need a lot. I am waiting for the hospital to call to see if I can get it through them. I am in Somerset Co.

[tiggerville]

Originally Posted by bmarsicano

I did have her evaluated through the school system and they said that she didn't qualify for the therapy because she doesn't fall into their "range" of needing help. They said the kids in their class have about 10-20 words, mine has about 75, but is having problelms with putting sentences together. She won't need a lot. I am waiting for the hospital to call to see if I can get it through them. I am in Somerset Co.

Even though she doesn't qualify for the speech class would the school let her come in for an hour or so a week just for speech therapy? My daughter is in a private pre-k but she receives two hours of speech therapy and half an hour of occupational therapy at the public school every week. She is not enrolled at the public school and only sees the therapists there. It may be different in your state but here the speech therapist said that they are required to offer speech services to every child that needs it.

Like someone else said be careful if you go the private therapy route. We started off going this route then all of a sudden insurance decided to stop paying for the therapy!

[bmarsicano]

No they won't let her come in for just speech. If she's not speaking better by kindergarten, then she can get just speech therapy. Tax dollars at work!!

I have an appointment at the hospital on 11/27, first one available. I have it through Medicaid since I have no full time job and am a single mother.

[tiggerville]

Oh no. Well I hope the appointment at the hospital goes well. It always takes a long time to get an appointment around here first.

Oh one note, you may want to ask if they require a hearing exam prior to the speech appointment. When we had our daughter evaluated they required a hearing exam before the private therapy eval and again before the school eval a couple of years later. Around here they will not do speech evals until they see a clear hearing exam.

[ddahl]

This is just the most ridiculous thing! Why can't these children get help??? Political nightmare. Can you contact the Dave Thomas foundation as see if they will give you a grant to pay for it? Will your pediatrician refer you to a speech therapist?

[kakuehl]

Have you checked with Easter Seals (or whatever they call it in your area these days)? Also are you eligible for Head Start? In PA, the Intermediate Units (state funded) provide some early intervention. Those are the only ideas I can think of off the top of my head.

[2Bulgarianbeauties]

Any chance these is a college near you with a speech therapy degree? The students learning to become speech therapists have to "practice" and their sessions are usually free. I know the college by us does this, and their sessions with the kids are watched closely so they do not screw up.

If not, could your school district at least give you tips on how you could help your daughter? Perhaps there is a book that you could use, or some kind of daily exercises you could do?

[Abdulina]

You will indeed need the hearing checked before you get a speech eval. School should have done that already. Be warned though...the school's hearing tests are basic and won't catch things. Yana had one done at the school. Had her privately tested(insurance paid all but a $20 copay). She has a very mild hearing loss and severe CAPD(central auditory processing disorder).

With her just turning 3yo though, I don't know if I'd be too concerned yet. My sister growing up did similiar things. She was fine by kindergarten. I didn't even babble my mom said until I was over 2yo. Each child's different. BUT that being said, if it will help her then definitely pursue it. It is very difficult to get help sometimes and sometimes, you'll have to go thorugh a "back door." We had to do this recently. Talk to other folks w/ similiar issues in your area. Other parents and see what they've done. I wish you all the best as I know how fustrating it is not to get the help you need for your child. Good luck.

Take care,

[MominPA]

I understand your frustsration. When Adam came home, age 3, I noticed when he started to speak English he was unable to say certain sounds. He was 3 1/2 by then. I called the school district and got referred to CDD. CDD evaulated him and they wouldn't accept him since he passed on everything besides speech and since he was newly in the country they felt his speech would catch up.

Our school district has a pre-k program. I signed him up and he got evaulated and accepted into the program. Also during this time I went through CDD once again for speech. CDD agreed with me that his speech isn't coming along like it should be and we went into more evaluations. At the end he was not eligible for help.

School started and I meet his pre-k teacher and she asked me if I had Adam's speech tested at CDD. I told her yes and he was not eligible. She was shocked. I asked since he is in the school now could he get speech therapy while in school. She replied that the pre-k program is a state program and he won't be eligible for speech therapy until he start kindergarten next year.

I even spoke to the principal about this and she stated the same thing. They did test him to see if he was eligible for ESL, but he wasn't eligible which I knew he wouldn't be.

We are now looking into private speech therapy.

I wish you the best of luck. It is extremely frustrating when you know your child needs help.

[Aphi86]

Have you considered taking matters into your own hands? Ava was the same way. She still is about 4 mos behind in my opinion. The best thing for her, has been school. Her language is exploding through songs, and play. But, we also have done a lot at home. She may just need the words. I bought some really great DVD and cards. One is a Fisher Price one on animals. It came with a deck of real pictures. I also bought a vocabulary flash card deck as well. Then, while she is on the potty, I sit and reveiw them with her. I have also done this for the alpahbet. I am not looking for her to respond in the begining. I introduce the cards like 25 times. Dog, Cat, Hat, Box, Bike, Pen etc. I just say the word and flip to the next. After about 25 times, I break them down into about 4 cards. I then work on only those. Dog, Cat, Hat, Box. and repeat a couple of times. Then I look for her to see if she can say it. After about 50 reps she can repeat it at anytime. Once she has mastered those four, it is on to four new ones and then back to the previous 4 for review. It sounds tedious, but not really. I learned this technique back in the late nineties when "Brain Babies" was a big deal. This is how they taught children to site read at 3. Where most people end up frustrated is my not getting the response from the child. But, remember you are just exposing her to new vocabulary in the beginning. So, that when her verbal does catch up, she will then have the words to use.

[DCD]

You can contact your school and ask them to recommend a good speech therapist. There are a lot of therapists around. Your insurance will cover a certain amount of visits. Not sure how far you are from Chester, but Kid Therapy has great programs.