SoonerStart is Oklahoma's part C of the IDEA.
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Attention all parents in SoonerStart:
SoonerStart tells families that they are a parent education program only (which is not a bad program just not great for ALL kids). When you ask for direct services (1 on 1 therapy), they tell you that direct services are not consistent with SoonerStart philosophy. THIS IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH FEDERAL LAW!!!!!
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I was prompted to leave this post after reading one from another parent
in Oklahoma. She had an assessment through a SoonerStart psychologist.
They had recommended ABA. She was upset that she didn't qualify for
state insurance because she couldn't afford it on her own. SoonerStart
should have provided an ABA program or contracted with a provider that could. They
probably gave her some handouts and a video to watch. (That is what they offered me when I asked about ABA)
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My son is 31 months old. He was diagnosed with Autism in Oct. '06. From April '06 thru October '06 SoonerStart provided parent education. Each week they brought me a new handout and many ideas on increasing my son's speech. We tried to teach sign language but he didn't pick it up. He started babbling but his words did not increase. My son made no progress. SoonerStart made no attempt to have an evaluation done. They kept encouraging me to take my son to private speech therapy. Giving me phone numbers of speech paths to contact and pay for on my own since I did not have state insurance.
I paid for private testing to get the diagnosis. When I provided the evaluation results to SoonerStart they told me that they disagreed. (They had been telling me that his communication was delayed because he focused on his motor skills... he is a very active. That ended up being sensory problems.) Another assessment finally coordinated through SoonerStart confirmed the results. I fought and finally received 4 visits of direct speech therapy each week. (We also supplement this with private speech therapy) He went from 1 word to 30+ in the last 3 months!!
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