My biggest problem is waiting on the insurance company to approve his speech and occupational therapy...I've been waiting a month already. I feel like I'm wasting precious time waiting on these people...to top it off I have to here comments from my family such as "you really need to get on the ball with your son.." I feel like screaming...
I was wondering, do autistic children not like to play? I cannot get my son to play with toys...he only wants to throw them and also he loves to push chairs around...he would do this for hours if I would let him...
SheriAnne,
Your state should have an early intervention program for children with delays under 3 years. If he is in this program then why is this program not providing speech and OT for free???? If he is not in this program you need to contact your states program and start the process of evaluation with them because it is free. Usually when they turn 3 years of age...this program also sets up and gets him transfered into the public school system for preschool. I know that you are frustrated and its not fun when family members are pressuring you.
As far as the playing thing. Yes a lot of autistic children have a decreased interest in playing with toys appropriately or no interest at all in them.....meaning that they might play with them but it may not be appropriate. They also tend to lack some pretend play also. Don't know if this helps...hang in there.
Karrie
Hummm that doesn't sound right. But who knows with Florida. If you went to an outsider provider then of course the insurance company would have to pay. Plus early intervention services is state funded and I believe federally funded
http://www.helpforkidspeech.org/articles/detail.cfm?ID=520
obtain a copy of Early Stages: Service Delivery Policy and Guidance, from Children's Medical Services and the Florida Department of Health. This is the working manual for the upcoming restructuring of the Early Intervention Program (soon to be called Early Stages). Early Stages will be effective as of July 1, 2004.
On page 16 of the manual, under the heading "Justification of Services Not in the Natural Environment", the following are listed as information which must be included in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) in order for alternate services to be considered:
The manual goes on to state that, "Service decisions in early intervention are made during the development of the IFSP." According to the manual, "A decision to provide services in places and activities other than those that are typical and routine for the family or child cannot be based on family or provider choice alone." Finally, on page 17 of the Early Steps manual, it is stated that, "Early Steps bears no responsibility for early intervention services that are selected exclusively by the family, outside of the IFSP team, or those services that are selected outside the bounds of natural environments without clear justification of why the functional outcome(s) cannot be achieved satisfactorily if early intervention services are provided to the family or caregivers in the child's natural environment."
Basically, Early Steps services will be directed toward teaching the parent or caregiver how to manage the child's development. In reviewing the manual, there is a process for obtaining a different kind of service (i.e., direct therapy with a speech-language pathologist), but the parent and/or provider will have to demonstrate the need for this during the IFSP process.
SheriAnne,
Welcome to the board. I have a 3 year old son with PDD-NOS. As far as what to expect it just depends on the center you are taking your son to. I have heard of that center but don't really know much about it. I would think though with it being a center that it will include a "team" of people that will evaluate your son. These people may include all of these or just a few....a psychologist, a speech pathologist, a developmental pediatrician, a neurologist etc. I know that at vanderbilt university they have a "full team" that includes all of these people and a few more....and then here where I am it is a lot less with the psychologist being the "team leader" They will probably have you fill out a history before you get there. Sometimes centers will evaluate the child alone and in a situation with each parent...sometimes they just evaluate the child alone. If I were you I would call the center and ask as many questions as you can to include: who all will be doing the eval? How long will it last? What are the steps involved? What ever questions that you have they should be able to answer. I'm sorry that I really can't tell you what to expect but it just all depends on where you are going. Your very fortunate though to have a center near you. From what I have learned and heard most people have to depend on their child's doctor or get an eval to one specific doctor to do it. This way your son should see more than one person and they should really be able to pin point exactly where on the spectrum your child is....If in fact he is. Well anyway...Welcome to the board!! Keep us posted and let us know what you find out on the 21st. Take care,
Karrie
Hi Sherianne and welcome to the board!