My little guy is about to turn three years old.
That means he will be "aging out" of our county's Early Intervention Program and into the Intermediate Unit.
The Early Intervention Program services children from birth to three years of age.
Today was the last visit from his Speech Therapist provided through the county.
There have been frustrations along the way.
I'm not sure how much the sessions have helped with his speech and language. Many of the sessions were spent trying to get my son to calm down so we could get to work.
I often say that the Early Intervention (EI) model for 0-3 did not necessarily work for us. The EI model for 0-3 in Chester County, PA focuses on teaching families - the parents - strategies for helping their child learn, to work toward a specific goal.
The goals are outlined in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).
I felt that the EI strategies for much of what our son needed was what I was already implementing. The same strategies I used with my other children.
Although I didn't know them as strategies; they were just part of how I parented.
I did learn some new strategies and some great new ideas, but I feel what we really needed for him was something different. As mom in the same room, in the same house, I was getting in the way.
In retrospect, I should have investigated other (i.e., private) services sooner.
But I digress.
Today's session was one of the best.
Did he somehow know that it would be the last session with this Speech Therapist? That he wouldn't have to endure the demands made upon him with her every week?
I will miss the weekly interactions with her for myself. One of the benefits of her visits has been personal support for me. I learned so much from her and our other therapists about the system, our options, the process.
She was one of his three therapists provided by the county. She was one of a handful of people I was able to speak to candidly about my son and his issues. And his diagnosis, his label.
I could not have survived the past half-year without any of these ladies.
The Early Intervention Program services children from birth to three years of age.
Today was the last visit from his Speech Therapist provided through the county.
There have been frustrations along the way.
I'm not sure how much the sessions have helped with his speech and language. Many of the sessions were spent trying to get my son to calm down so we could get to work.
I often say that the Early Intervention (EI) model for 0-3 did not necessarily work for us. The EI model for 0-3 in Chester County, PA focuses on teaching families - the parents - strategies for helping their child learn, to work toward a specific goal.
The goals are outlined in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).
I felt that the EI strategies for much of what our son needed was what I was already implementing. The same strategies I used with my other children.
Although I didn't know them as strategies; they were just part of how I parented.
I did learn some new strategies and some great new ideas, but I feel what we really needed for him was something different. As mom in the same room, in the same house, I was getting in the way.
In retrospect, I should have investigated other (i.e., private) services sooner.
But I digress.
Today's session was one of the best.
Did he somehow know that it would be the last session with this Speech Therapist? That he wouldn't have to endure the demands made upon him with her every week?
I will miss the weekly interactions with her for myself. One of the benefits of her visits has been personal support for me. I learned so much from her and our other therapists about the system, our options, the process.
She was one of his three therapists provided by the county. She was one of a handful of people I was able to speak to candidly about my son and his issues. And his diagnosis, his label.
I could not have survived the past half-year without any of these ladies.
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