Ok, so Noah ages out of his Early Intervention when he hits three. He is currently 2.5. We know we have to continue therapy sessions, the problem is where, when, how much, does insurance cover it, how many times can he go, weekly, monthly.... the list goes on and on. We can try to find a place that will accept him and if they take his insurance. We can pay out of pocket for therapy, but it is very expensive. We could inquire about an inpatient hospital program, though we aren't close enough for that to really throw that in the mix. We can do nothing at all. Well scratch that, he has to have some kinda therapy. We are meeting with our local school district preschool on the 24th of this month. As I understand, he has to "qualify" for services, be delayed enough to get services. They said they main thing that gets children in is speech, well his speech thankfully, is really great for a non eater. He tested at 3.5 year old skill level for speech. Eating issues, g tube dependency, will not qualify him alone. It's, I believe 4 days a week & I *think* 4-5 hrs. a day. So this brings up new questions....he isn't potty trained, will that be a problem? I know some preschools will only accept fully potty trained kids. Will they feed him while he is there? {This might be a legal thing and they have to, again, not sure.} Do we even want him going 4 days a week/4-5 hrs a day? I am not sure. Does he have to go everyday or can we just pick certain days we want him to attend? What therapy is offered? How is he tested to even get in? He may do great on their testing and they say sorry no he doesn't qualify and we have to look else where.
For so long, almost 2 solid years, he has had 1st steps. It's been nice, they come to our house, he has gotten PT, OT, Speech/feeding each 1 hr a week. We have became friends with most of his therapist. Though there was a few in there we didn't mesh well with, that's life. So, it's kinda a scary change. Noah has SUCH a long road ahead of him. It has taken 2 years to get him to bite food into, he spits out whatever he bites into, but he has made progress, just super, duper slow. He still eats/drinks nothing orally. He will have his tube many more years. We want to make sure we do what is appropriate for Noah, help him the best way possible. I don't want to make a choice and it not benefit him the best. Ideally, I'd like to get him in home therapy, less distractions and I can be close by..... ideally I'd love for him to wake up tomorrow and eat everything orally.....not gonna happen.
So, we will now more on the 24th--I will have a big ole pad of paper with questions I am sure. Dr's. probably hate me bc I always take a notepad with me full of questions. I just don't want to forget something and I want them to answered. Any way---if your child aged out of EI services, what did you do? Love to hear about it.....Thanks.
We've been driving up to the Children's hospital once a week for feeding therapy with a SLP. Insurance pays for it. We got a script from GI and the surgeon. We haven't met with the preschool yet since he's born in December he wouldn't be able to go until next year, anyway. I really thought being G-tube dependent and not eating would be enough to qualify for therapies. I wish we hadn't stopped doing Tristan's EI (of course he was NPO, wasn't much in the way of feeding we could do and what they could work with him on I was already doing!) because they had said everything from EI would just transfer to the school. Ah! Don't make me think about this stuff! I'm not ready! lol.
ReplyDeleteLet me know how things go!