Reply to I have no idea how to find a preschool or what to do next...

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Reply to "I have no idea how to find a preschool or what to do next..."

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[quote=Anonymous]I've been down a similar path as the OP and can recommend some things to do with your child that really helped us.  First, I found a really good speech therapist.  Second, I found a really good OT.  I loved Building Blocks Speech Therapy (they have offices in DC and in Falls Church).  The therapists were knowledgeable and completely dedicated to our child.  A good speech therapist practice will have many connections with other medical providers that they will be able to recommend for other issues that you may be dealing with.  We also found a good occupational therapist, which was a much harder task to do than I would have thought.  We had some good experiences with OTs at Georgetown University and at Leaps and Bounds (in DC).  I would not recommend Lynn Israel's practice group--too crowded and some of the OTs were very rushed and uncaring.   Then, after we had a regular ST and OT appointment schedule we looked into preschools and had difficulty finding the right fit for our child.  In retrospect, I should have not sent my child to preschool while we were doing all of this OT and ST because it would have given me more time to focus on the therapies than getting our child into preschool and then dealing with some of the difficulties that the child had in the preschool.  If you can, it might be wise to bypass the preschool experience now, focus your energies on the therapies, knowing that many of the ST and OT practices have small group sessions that your child could attend in lieu of that first year of preschool.  I learned that when a child isn't ready for preschool, it not only is stressful on the child, but incredibly stressful on the parents, as you are dealing with teachers who can be inexperienced in their ability to handle a child with special needs and may make matters worse.  Depending upon what your developmental pediatrician may conclude, you may want to look into the Katherine Maddox program (in Maryland), should that be something that your child may need.  It has an excellent reputation and I've had a few acquaintances who said that it made the difference for their child.  The downside is that it has a limited amount of slots.  Hang in there--you're on a journey that seems really tough now I know, but it will get better as you connect with the people who will be able to help you and your child.[/quote]

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