Your Child and Early Intervention.
When our second son, Trent, was 28 months old, he was still not making full sentences, and his vocabulary was very limited. But we weren’t alarmed because we figured each kid develops at their own pace.Â
And our pediatrician told us that it was fine since he hears three different languages at home…English(90%), Korean (5%)Â and Vietnamese(5%).
But a family friend told us we should look into Early Intervention, it doesn’t hurt, right?! I was skeptical at first, you know how it is with your own children. You don’t think that anybody can tell you how to raise your own kids, and also feeling guilty because you might have done your child a disservice for not enrolling him in help sooner. Since we’ve been through it, I’d like to share some information with you:
- What is Early Intervention?
- How do I know if my child requires EI service?
- Is it covered by insurance?
What is Early Intervention?Â
Early Intervention is certified by your state’s Department of Public Health. Early Intervention’s primary focus is family education and support. They help assess the developmental needs of your child, implement educational and therapeutic techniqes and they offer intervention strategies specifically to the family’s needs.Â
Early Intervention is offered to children from birth to three years old who are experiencing difficulty in developing their motor, language, social and learning skills. Some children might have slight delays in one of the skills aforementioned, but early detection and treatment will prevent some serious developmental problems in the future.Â
How do I know if my child requires Early Intervention services?
This link is a good reference to use to find your “child’s developmental milestones by age”.
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/devmile.htm
After referring to the link above and you find that your child might be a candidate for EI, check with your State’s Department of Public Health for the local EI office in your town. They will send the specialists to test your child in your home and will determine if he/she requires EI service or not.
Is it covered by insurance?
Most health insurance will cover up to $3200 annually for EI services and Dept of Public Health covers any costs over that amount. So, there will be a minimal fee based on your income.
Once your child turns three years of age, EI will transition your child to the public school in your town. As is the case with Trent. Since he just turned three recently, we have scheduled a two half hour day for his sessions with the speech therapist and we’re starting this week.
We’ve seen a good progress from Trent. He’s talking in full sentences more now and he’s using more words to express himself or when he wants something. Â
He’s starting to call me “Mommy” now instead of “Mama”, shedding his toddler’s speech for a pre-schooler’s, I think. I can’t wait to have a more in-depth conversations with Trent very soon. 
When our second son, Trent, was 28 months old, he was still not making full sentences, and his vocabulary was very limited. But we weren’t alarmed because we figured each kid develops at their own pace.Â
And our pediatrician told us that it was fine since he hears three different languages at home…English(90%), Korean (5%)Â and Vietnamese(5%).
But a family friend told us we should look into Early Intervention, it doesn’t hurt, right?! I was skeptical at first, you know how it is with your own children. You don’t think that anybody can tell you how to raise your own kids, and also feeling guilty because you might have done your child a disservice for not enrolling him in help sooner. Since we’ve been through it, I’d like to share some information with you:
- What is Early Intervention?
- How do I know if my child requires EI service?
- Is it covered by insurance?
What is Early Intervention?Â
Early Intervention is certified by your state’s Department of Public Health. Early Intervention’s primary focus is family education and support. They help assess the developmental needs of your child, implement educational and therapeutic techniqes and they offer intervention strategies specifically to the family’s needs.Â
Early Intervention is offered to children from birth to three years old who are experiencing difficulty in developing their motor, language, social and learning skills. Some children might have slight delays in one of the skills aforementioned, but early detection and treatment will prevent some serious developmental problems in the future.Â
How do I know if my child requires Early Intervention services?
This link is a good reference to use to find your “child’s developmental milestones by age”.
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/devmile.htm
After referring to the link above and you find that your child might be a candidate for EI, check with your State’s Department of Public Health for the local EI office in your town. They will send the specialists to test your child in your home and will determine if he/she requires EI service or not.
Is it covered by insurance?
Most health insurance will cover up to $3200 annually for EI services and Dept of Public Health covers any costs over that amount. So, there will be a minimal fee based on your income.
Once your child turns three years of age, EI will transition your child to the public school in your town. As is the case with Trent. Since he just turned three recently, we have scheduled a two half hour day for his sessions with the speech therapist and we’re starting this week.
We’ve seen a good progress from Trent. He’s talking in full sentences more now and he’s using more words to express himself or when he wants something. Â
He’s starting to call me “Mommy” now instead of “Mama”, shedding his toddler’s speech for a pre-schooler’s, I think. I can’t wait to have a more in-depth conversations with Trent very soon.Â
Good information. Just FYI - the Early Intervention in my state is completely on the state’s $$$ (Tennessee), and my insurance would not cover ANY speech therapy unless my son had an “acute illness” which caused the delay (he did not). However, our child had to qualify for early intervention, but they covered all the evaluations, whether he qualified as a result or not.
We hope to start his speech therapy soon (he’s 25 months). My ankle is fractured, and we were to start therapy last week. Hopefully we can reschedule very soon.
Great post! So much useful info!!
Though I am a bit upset with the “school” step. It seems that because my son is 33 months old, EI is ending soon, so I have tried to get him into the school program here. However, he’s doing better in the speaking area. However, he’s 33 months old and only using 30ish words on his own, and does not say sentances much. (even if he does there 2-3 words MAX, and thats only with our prompting.) Also, he does not say ending sounds of words, so things like eat is EEEE, things like grandpa, is banppp…he does not say several sounds.
The process is soooo frustrating!!!
[…] has come a long way from the Early Intervention kid to quite a chatter bug overnight! The things that escape his mouth is pretty amusing. There was […]