early intervention evaluation - what to expect?

[Anonymous]

We are in Montgomery County and just called to schedule an Early Intervention evaluation for DS who is two and not speaking. They told me it will take about 2 hours in our home. Would anyone mind giving me a bit of a clue about what this is going to be like? Is this testing or just observation? Should we be in the playroom or somewhere else? DS has never done any kind of therapy before, so any information or recommendations would be hugely appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Playroom. They did my son's eval on our living room floor. They will play with him while they test him. My ds had a blast. They bring toys and stuff. You should then receive a poorly written eval in four to six weeks.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP that they will play with him while they test him. They will also ask you a number of questions about what you have observed about his development and when he met/did not meet certain milestones. For speech, that includes when he said his first word, babbled, babbled consonants, put two words together, etc. Play may include blowing bubbles, playing with chewy toys, looking at toys,books, etc.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't ready for the questions. I had no idea when my DD started eating with utensils, or helped dress herself, but it helped me start thinking about those things. They were very nice about it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! This is really helpful. I will get a little timeine together to be ready for the questions, because I never remember stuff like that.

[Anonymous]

My experience with infant & toddlers has always been positive. Keep in mind if you don't qualify for services, it doesn't mean there's not a delay, just not big enough to qualify for services. If you're still concerned and don't get services, consider going for private speech.

[Anonymous]

LOL re: poorly written report-so true!

It's all play, but for my kid it was intimidating having 3 or 4 people (I think they had a trainee too) there. Defitely think about when your child hit crucial milestones so you can give ages.

Some kids love it, some hate it. Mine hated it and was uncooperative. I fell apart when I found out how poor the results were, but he refused to do anything so I should have expected it. When they re-evaluated after 6 months or a year he did much better. He knew the ST who evaluated him (and OT) and it was even more laid back. If she knew he could do something/had seen the skill many times before, she gave him credit even if he didn't do it right there.EI of course attributed the astounding improvements to their incredible services rather than giving any credit to the fact the testing situations were drastically different.

Our ST was decent. I was not impressed with either OT we tried. If they tell you NOBODY ever requests a change, that is bullshit. I did and turns out everyone I know who has gone this route requested a change of ST or OT at some point.

It's a good starting point. I was much more impressed with the progress once we went private, but early on EI was nice because I was overwhelmed and they came to my home.