Child developmental evaluation-first available appointment December!!! Any advice to get in earlier

[Anonymous]

Our child is 26 month and has been evaluated and accepted in the early intervention program. His expressive speech is only at 10 month and his receptive speech is only at 7 month. He had his hearing evaluated and he passed with no issues. Both EI and his pediatrician recommended that we get him a child developmental evaluation; however, the first available appointment at Children's is in December. We would like to get him evaluated sooner so we can help him catch up. Is there any place else we can take him for an evaluation? TIA.

[Anonymous]

Focus on getting speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

I would post in the special needs forum. I do have friends who were able to get evaluations within weeks, but don't know who they used - the moms over there should be able to direct you.

[Anonymous]

Well that's unfortunately normal for that specialty. I called in November and got one for this August. Best you can do is call frequently seeing if there's cancellations.

[Anonymous]

You should also call Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Kennedy Krieger In Baltimore has a cancellation list where they call you day of or the day before to come in to an appointment. I only waited 3 weeks after submitting paperwork before getting called off the cancellation list, so if you have flexibility to drop your job for 2 days and run to the evaluation, you could get in much much faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kennedy Krieger In Baltimore has a cancellation list where they call you day of or the day before to come in to an appointment. I only waited 3 weeks after submitting paperwork before getting called off the cancellation list, so if you have flexibility to drop your job for 2 days and run to the evaluation, you could get in much much faster.

Second this. We got in within 2-3 months, would have been sooner if I'd been able to take the first 2-3 cancellations they called with (the one we could take was a tad further out than normal, a few days, which helped). Children's also told us we could call them for cancellations, but that seemed like a lot of effort for unlikely payoff. Also if you're doing one of KKI's clinics (multiple specialties/evaluators) often they can get you into a portion of the clinic before a full appointment opens up, and then you can speed things up. So we started with behavioral psych, and they referred for developmental and speech two weeks out. It worked out better that way since there was no way my 3 year old could handle more than 1 appointment at a time anyway. Basically once you're in with one element of the clinic, you have faster access to the others.

Not sure if Children's works that way - but our wait for them was 6-8 months, 6 if we were willing to drive to a satellite office (you have to call those offices - Rockville, and maybe Fairfax? directly to see about availability). And they never call with cancellations.

Those may really be the only options on insurance...

Can I ask why you need a developmental eval to help him catch up? I mean, I think it's a good thing to pursue, often adds something to the picture, but there's lots you can do in the meantime, and it's often easier/faster to get piecemeal evaluations for each specialty (speech, for example) and start private services there. I guess it may be best to look at why the eval is recommended - what questions they're supposed to be answering/information they're supposed to be giving you, and then see if you can get any of that from individual providers/areas in the meantime.

OH...also, to the extent EI recommended a developmental evaluation, THEY have to provide it - it's part of their evaluation responsibilities, if they think it's necessary to identify needs/whats going on. DC indicated we needed an autism and neurological/developmental evaluation, and sent us to Weinfeld Group for it (they don't do them in house). So I might really push back on that... (but expect them to back down from the recommendation, rather than provide, unless they're DC in which case they actually seemed to be on top of things, I didn't have to push at all)

[Anonymous]

When does speech therapy start with the EI program? That would be my concern that you are getting immediate weekly services while you wait for the developmental evaluation. You can also do private speech to supplement EI if your insurance and/or finances allow -- just look up private speech therapists on your plan and you could likely find someone that is convenient to you and has openings pretty quickly especially if you (or a caregiver) can go during work/school hours (ie, 9-3).

[Anonymous]

There will be a cancellation sooner. Get on the waitlist at KKI as well and take the first appointment that opens up. Odds are, you'll get one in 3-4 months.

[Anonymous]

While we waited for KKI, we went and made an appointment with a developmental pediatrician (took us within 2 weeks)-she did a basic assessment but we got the formal diagnosis so could start speech therapy immediately and insurance would cover it. You could also go to a clinical psychologist fo an eval-pretty detailed and 1/2 day assessment. It was also informative to start targeted speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Dr Susan Pratt in Gainesville, VA. She was a developmental pediatrician with Children's before starting her own practice a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

I got a next day appointment at Children's (Laurel) with a cancellation. Keep calling the office and tell them you will take a cancellation. Get so the front desk people know your name and have your phone number. Call every week and ask for cancelled appointments.

[Anonymous]

They should start services before the Dev Ped appointment. I used to work in EI and I never heard of waiting for that. I think they want you to get a diagnosis because they are not legally allowed to give you one. That's why we usually referred kids to Dev Ped's but we treated plenty of kids with just a regular ped's Rx.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should start services before the Dev Ped appointment. I used to work in EI and I never heard of waiting for that. I think they want you to get a diagnosis because they are not legally allowed to give you one. That's why we usually referred kids to Dev Ped's but we treated plenty of kids with just a regular ped's Rx.

It depends on the insurance. I had several ped's put in speech therapy for me (HMO style) and it was denied. We were private paying. Finally went to a developmental ped. and he put the referral through and it got paid. When he was on extended leave, several ped's tried again... it was denied. We had to break and when he came back, he put it in and it was paid for.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. EI has already started services, but it is not the speech part. They are working on his behavior first since he does not respond to direction and gets frustrated often. He also has an oral fixation and would chew on everything (mulch, rocks, other kids shoes, etc). We just had a parent teacher conference at his daycare and they mentioned that they have never seen a kid like him. He is very independent and won't follow direction unless it is something he wants to do. Otherwise, he acts as if he does not hear you. We had a lot of difficultly with him when he was an infant (he would not let us hold his hands to help him walk, he won't go in a crib because he hates the feeling of confinement, he won't let you swaddle him, etc.). When he was younger and did not respond to speech, I tried teaching him sign language and he would not even look at me or let me move his hands to teach him. However, he is very affectionate (loves getting hugs and giving them too, comes up to kiss people he likes). I am beginning to read "Raising a Spirited Child." I guess we would like to get him evaluated (and have been recommended to get him evaluated) because of his behavior issues.