Early Intervention - White Plains,NY

Hi J.,

I just went through this with my 2 yr old son too. He is getting a combination of speech and Occupational Therapy.

My world was turned upside down when they told me to seek an EI evaluation. Today, I can tell you that it was the best thing ever. My son is now speaking and communicating with me. He is not so frustrated and he is much more happier. By the way, there is nothing neourologically wrong with him.

When he gets evaluated through EI, he gets various types of evaluations (social, development, speech, etc) all depending on what is recommended by the service coordinator. All the evaluations are then collected and the agency conducting the evaluations, someone from the health dept and the service coordinator will have a meeting with you to let you know what they recommend.

It is all free, voluntary to you and there is no labelling of your child.

I hope I helped you feel better. S.

My son is only 8 months and he is visually impaired which is different than the delay you are having with your son's speech. I just wanted to encourage you - my son has been involved with Early Intervention in Rockland County (NY) for the last 3 months and it has been a very positive experience for us. They came out and did an assessment and then made recommendations based on that. My sons only delays were related to vision. So for now he receives Vision Therapy twice a week for 30 minutes each time. They will come to your house or they will go to wherever he is receiving childcare and work with him. Every one that we have met through EI has been great. Our son loves his vision teacher and she is very loving to him. It has been positive. I know that in our situation we receive progress reports every 3 months and specific goals are set for each year with a formal re-evaluation on an annual basis (or more if you would like).

When my daughter was 18 mos old, I became concerned about her speech. I called the county health department and set up an appointment with EI. I felt silly and over reactive and like I was using resources meant for kids worse than mine.. But the therapist assured me that every kid is entitled to the evaluation, and that doesn't mean that she necessarily qualified for help, but that I should listen to my inner voice and set the appointment..

They sent a speech therapist and educational evaluator to my home, They "played" with Julia. She did some IQ testing, and some speech testing, and a quick hearing test. They explained how and why she qualified for intervention (I don't remember if it was on the spot or if they called later...it was 10 years ago)

We set up appointments for 3 days a week when the speech therapist would come to the house for an hour each session. I had to be there for each session, with no distractions because I was expected to practice the skills with her consistent with the way the therapist taught her.

Julia had speech therapy this way until she started pre-school at the age of 3. The therapist even visited her at the summer camp where I worked to continue the therapy. She was amazing, and to this day, when we see her in the supermarket or around town, Julia still gives her a hug.

At three a speech therapist visited her in school three times a week, and in elementary school she got speech therapy twice a week. She no longer qualified for theaapy through the schools by the time she was in fourth grade.

My daughter's needs might have been different than your son's, but the experience with EI was wonderful and I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.

Since the service is free, you'll have the peace of mind knowing you did all you could. That being said, I had the same concern about my son when he was 2 - his older sister was extremely verbal at 2, and he was not even consistently saying mommy and daddy. First I had his hearing checked - it was fine! I almost did EI, but decided to wait and see if he was just being trumped by his sister when talking (which was happening). Long story short, he's 2 1/2 now and his verbal skills have taken off. I had a friend who did EI and the biggest advice she got from them was to continue to speak to your son, repeat words often, tell him everything you are doing ("I'm making coffee now") so that he associates words with actions. When he says a word, repeat it and reinforce him. If you're driving in the car, use that time to talk to him or point out things outside the window. Lastly, my husband didn't speak much until he was 3, and he turned out to be a very smart guy!! Good luck!