I will say that my experience with Infants and Toddlers is that the program is only as good as your individual therapist. We had some truly excellent people come to our house, but there was definitely a lot of the "we don't offer that" when they do etc, as you describe. We did have speech therapy, which was the only thing keeping us in the program, before 2 years old. It just wasn't from a "speech therapist" so there is a perfect example of what you are describing. When we did get a speech therapist at 2, she was a person who was clearly burned out and not interested in her job anymore. She eventually got reassigned to a different role but was stuck with us as we were somehow grandfathered in with her. She definitely tried to get us out of the program, with just casual observations and no testing, since that would have revealed a continued delay. I ended up agreeing to quit the program, simply because working with her had become a waste of our time and I thought a private therapist would yield better results. But had we simply switched to someone else in Infants and Toddlers, we probably would have had a different result. So something to keep in mind.

I would hire an advocate .

Anonymous wrote:If your child isn't even 2 and can speak in short sentences, count to 20 and knows the alphabet, I'm genuinely surprised as to why he's still being seen by the infants and toddles program. Seriously.

I understand that he's been diagnosed w ASD but as you yourself recognize it's called a spectrum for a reason. There are people who have autism and struggle to function and there are people with autism who are neurosurgeons. MCITP is meant for the kids who are delayed relative to their peers. Your son doesn't qualify anymore. It's pretty straightforward.

+1 Also, the title of this post is misleading. Infants and Toddlers graduated one kid who no longer met the threshold for delays. That isn't a trend - it is a natural and predictable effect of the child gaining the skills he entered the program to gain.

If your child isn't even 2 and can speak in short sentences, count to 20 and knows the alphabet, I'm genuinely surprised as to why he's still being seen by the infants and toddles program. Seriously.

I understand that he's been diagnosed w ASD but as you yourself recognize it's called a spectrum for a reason. There are people who have autism and struggle to function and there are people with autism who are neurosurgeons. MCITP is meant for the kids who are delayed relative to their peers. Your son doesn't qualify anymore. It's pretty straightforward.

Many children at 18 months appear to have ASS but with time their language develops, eye contact improves, joint attention, etc. I think it would be hard to diagnose before 3. Is it normal to diagnose that early? I'd want my child reevaluated to make sure the proper diagnosis is given. If it's in question from professionals in the county I'd go back to the developmental ped for an eval.

OP, I cannot fathom for the life of me why you think your child still needs services. The Infants & Toddlers program is wonderful but it is designed to help kids who are really behind catch up to a certain point. Your child sounds like he'd be a great candidate for continuing private services. There are a lot of families, mostly in the red zone part of the county, who cannot afford co-pays for private services, don't have good insurance coverage or who just don't understand the process. This is where the money should go.

If your child continues to be very behind try for PEP later or try to figure out a way to get an IEP when your child starts school. Graduating from Infants & Toddlers doesn't mean you can't get services later.

I wish my child had gotten a diagnosis at 18 months. He had very pronounced repetitive movements and a family history of ASD. But my ped's ignorance, and belittling of my concerns, kept us from a diagnosis until 3. OP says she is confident of the diagnosis...

OP -- you will hear many stories on here of school systems trying to remove supports too early for ASD kids. The brutal truth is that while some goals are met, these kids get totally tripped up by new challenges as they grow: making and keeping friends, attending to group instruction, holding pencils, remembering how to make the letters and numbers, etc, etc, etc.

Mainstream pre-k was a disaster for my ASD kid: he ran away from the playground, couldn't sit/attend to group time, major need for OT for fine and gross motor, and more.

At 6, a lot of that is better. But we now have other issues. I will fight tooth and nail to keep the most supportive IEP I can get. You should too!

A developmental pediatrician diagnosed your child at 18 months as autistic? That seems early to diagnose...

My son with a global developmental delay received much needed free services from MoCo Infants and Toddlers from 14 months until 3 years old, when he was deemed STILL delayed BUT NOT DELAYED ENOUGH.

They have limited resources and must distribute them to the neediest patients, so I understand and accept their decision. My son had made great progress under their care, and apart from a so-so speech therapist, all their therapists were excellent.

He obtained an IEP when he arrived in public Kindergarten and we paid for private speech and OT in between. I also worked with him myself every day on social interactions, speech, fine and gross motor skills.