Early Stages

[Anonymous]

Did anyone use Early Stages to start the IEP process after getting an initial diagnosis from a private child psychologist or dev pediatrician?

[Anonymous]

Yes. I used early stages to develop my daughters IEP after being diagnosed with a developmeNtal delay. I strongly encourage you to seek an advocate. I know that advocates for justice is a great resource, ask for Carmen stay away from ms.Wallace. Make sure you request transportation. Its a huge help and Be assertive and persistent regarding scheduling your appointment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I used early stages to develop my daughters IEP after being diagnosed with a developmeNtal delay. I strongly encourage you to seek an advocate. I know that advocates for justice is a great resource, ask for Carmen stay away from ms.Wallace. Make sure you request transportation. Its a huge help and Be assertive and persistent regarding scheduling your appointment

OP here: thanks, did Early Stages accept your doctor's diagnosis and evaluate from there or did they start from scratch with their own psychologist? I understand that Early Stages will test for various delays through OT, S&L, etc. but I don't want my son going through the whole initial diagnosis process again (I don't want to either--we have seen enough doctors/specialists).

[Anonymous]

What is Early Stages? Is it a private agency that helps us to start IEP?

[Anonymous]

I just met with Early Stages and yes, your child has to meet with their team. My ds has had numerous evals from private providers. I think you need to look at it like in order to get services you need to be evaluated by their team. How old is your child? My ds is usually compliant in the testing process because I present it as "you are going to go play some games..." He has only refused one eval but the therapist was able to work with it and reschedule him for another day.

For the pp, Early Stages is like early intervention for preschoolers. They do IEPs and help kids get started in school. While I wasn't impressed with Early Intervention (almost 3 years ago when I had contact), I really like Early Stages so far. Very impressed!

[Anonymous]

What is their number/web site?

[Anonymous]

Www.earlystagesdc.org

202-698-8037

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just met with Early Stages and yes, your child has to meet with their team. My ds has had numerous evals from private providers. I think you need to look at it like in order to get services you need to be evaluated by their team. How old is your child? My ds is usually compliant in the testing process because I present it as "you are going to go play some games..." He has only refused one eval but the therapist was able to work with it and reschedule him for another day.

For the pp, Early Stages is like early intervention for preschoolers. They do IEPs and help kids get started in school. While I wasn't impressed with Early Intervention (almost 3 years ago when I had contact), I really like Early Stages so far. Very impressed!

OP here: Thanks--my child just turned 4. I am worried that my child won't be compliant and because he has seen so many specialists he gets anxious and upset about doctors. I guess we will just have to see and present it as playing games as you mentioned.

[Anonymous]

I would try! They are professionals who work with children. I know your child isn't the only child out there who isn't compliant and overly thrilled to be "playing with" yet another evaluator. It will tell you a lot about their professionalism how they deal with a child who isn't compliant, too.

[Anonymous]

My kids did so much better at Early Stages than they did with the developmental team at Georgetown Hospital. My twins were 2 when last evaluated at G-town and close to 3 at Early Stages - so that was undoubtedly part of their increased cooperation. Early stages has very attractive, light filled, large evaluation rooms. The evaluators were all very positive and happy. We had a good morning there.