Re: Hi. Question on Speech Evaluation. Feeling very frustrated...

[Guest guest]

Sharon my question to you is, do they know you are paying for this or are they under the impression that your insurance will reimburse you for it? Often a therapist will use specific terms in order to get authorization for services from an insurance company. The worse the original observation the more services your child will qualify for. The diagnoses of DS alone doesn't automatically qualify a child for therapy. If she were to list how wonderful your son's speech is coming along for a child with DS, the insurance company might not authorize.

If you are really disturbed by this report, I would tape your child babbling or record your child onto a dvd disk for the therapist to observe. We also invited out therapist into our home for a personal observation, but only after the insurance company had authorized the services.....;-)

Also what you see at home and out in the familiar with your child may not necessarily transfer over to the uncomfortable and unfamiliar situations with new people. What you got back from the therapist isn't unusual at all. It was that therapist's view of "a snap shot in time". My son had private therapy for three years. Not once did one session go like the previous session. Nor did my son carry on the conversations with the therapist as he did at home with family and friends. And we liked our therapist!

The best speech therapy our son has ever received is the daily speech therapy he gets from being in a classroom full of typically developing peers. The worst therapy he ever received was in EI surrounded by developmentally disabled peers all along receiving speech therapy with his developmentally delayed peers. There was absolutely no appropriate peer modeling in EI.

I think you will see a lot of parents responding as I have.nnaMommy to Freddie 7yrsFull Inclusion 1st Grade"We can change the world one classroom at a time" - Gail on

Subject: [DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Hi. Question on Speech Evaluation. Feeling very frustrated...To: DownSyndromeInfoExchange Date: Saturday, December 27, 2008, 3:41 PM

Hi all,I just have to ask a question about a speech eval from private (not school system) speech evaluation.My son is just about 3 years old. He isn't very verbal. Definately has a delay in speech. No questions there. He has quite a few words/signs in his vocabulary, but does not initiate them very often. Needs a prompt. He is starting to be able to repeat 2 word phrases for what he wants. His clarity is getting better. Follows most directions (some of his ignoring us might be typical 2 behavior). Seems to understand a lot -- not as much as my other boys did at this age, but... he understands phrases... like, go get me a new diaper, put your pants on... where are your shoes... put your jacket away, etc.So, we went to start speech therapy privately (we have been doing EI, and Sara Rosenfeld stuff as well as sound therapy). And, I got his report in the mail today. It is

NOT ACCURATE! They scored him VERY VERY low -- severely disabled. They said that Tyson doesn't babble, doesn't have even 5 words, doesn't understand wait, or stop... It makes me angry!!!! YES HE DOES!!! It frustrates me because if I am going to be PAYING for this (Our family qualifies for no state help), then they are going to have to show me that they will LISTEN to me as to what he is capable of, and BELIEVE me. I am so sick of this kind of thing! BUT, my question is... does it really matter what this report says?? Will it make a difference in the speech therapy they are doing? I am thinking they will not be expecting anything of him behaviorly if they assume he doesn't function as older than an 8 month old. It's ridiculous!! ! Should I say anything? Should I ask that they change anything? They keep saying...well, he's going to have to prove himself in other settings... CRIPES!! HE's TWO!!! I

work in the two year old class at church, and there are plenty of kids his age who won't listen to me, or talk, or respond to ANYTHING in that classroom. It is very new to him!!I need to make sure that they aren't sharing info with the school. They did send his PT records to the school, but these are such dismal scores! And do NOT reflect his abilities!what should I do?Thanks,Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon,

I am a speech-pathologist and I must pipe

up. First of all, I work with kids ages 3-5 through our Early Childhood

program. I HATE evaluating kids this age. It’s totally inaccurate. I get

much more information from what a child is able to do by observing them and

listening to the parents. We parents know our kids the best! Don’t freak

out about the evaluation, you know what he is capable of. I am a HUGE fan of

SRJ’s Talk Tools program, it’s is awesome that it is going to be

used. It is one of the best. You will be a part of his individual plan so you

are able to ask for certain goals to be addressed so you will have a say in

that department. Don’t stress about the report. In Missouri, our school systems don’t

even have to look at outside evaluations so it’s up to you whether or not

to even share it. Good luck!

Cammie Heflin

check out our

blog!

www.theheflinfamily.blogspot.com

From: DownSyndromeInfoExchange [mailto:DownSyndromeInfoExchange ] On Behalf Of sharondcaswell

Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008

5:41 PM

To: DownSyndromeInfoExchange

Subject:

[DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Hi. Question on Speech Evaluation. Feeling very

frustrated...

Hi all,

I just have to ask a question about a speech eval from private (not

school system) speech evaluation.

My son is just about 3 years old. He isn't very verbal. Definately

has a delay in speech. No questions there. He has quite a few

words/signs in his vocabulary, but does not initiate them very

often. Needs a prompt. He is starting to be able to repeat 2 word

phrases for what he wants. His clarity is getting better. Follows

most directions (some of his ignoring us might be typical 2

behavior). Seems to understand a lot -- not as much as my other boys

did at this age, but... he understands phrases... like, go get me a

new diaper, put your pants on... where are your shoes... put your

jacket away, etc.

So, we went to start speech therapy privately (we have been doing EI,

and Sara Rosenfeld stuff as well as sound therapy). And, I

got his report in the mail today. It is NOT ACCURATE! They scored

him VERY VERY low -- severely disabled. They said that Tyson doesn't

babble, doesn't have even 5 words, doesn't understand wait, or

stop... It makes me angry!!!! YES HE DOES!!! It frustrates me

because if I am going to be PAYING for this (Our family qualifies for

no state help), then they are going to have to show me that they will

LISTEN to me as to what he is capable of, and BELIEVE me. I am so

sick of this kind of thing!

BUT, my question is... does it really matter what this report says??

Will it make a difference in the speech therapy they are doing? I am

thinking they will not be expecting anything of him behaviorly if

they assume he doesn't function as older than an 8 month old. It's

ridiculous!!! Should I say anything? Should I ask that they change

anything? They keep saying...well, he's going to have to prove

himself in other settings... CRIPES!! HE's TWO!!! I work in the two

year old class at church, and there are plenty of kids his age who

won't listen to me, or talk, or respond to ANYTHING in that

classroom. It is very new to him!!

I need to make sure that they aren't sharing info with the school.

They did send his PT records to the school, but these are such dismal

scores! And do NOT reflect his abilities!

what should I do?

Thanks,

Sharon