Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Time to Transition

As the girls approach the age of 3 (less than two months!!!), they will age out of the wonderful CDSA (early intervention program). The state still generously provides options for kids who still require extended services that will help prepare them to succeed in school.

This involves a meeting and evaluation with the Durham Public School system therapists: speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and the psychologist who administers the cognitive tests. It takes several hours and involves a battery of tests disguised as play to see where the child is developmentally.

The girls did very well. I have to give kudos to our therapists, Elizabeth and Lindsay, who prepared them so well. For the most part, tested at average or above average on most tests. (I will have full details in a month or so). The only area they fell short in was speech, which was expected and actually desired. I really wanted them to be able to qualify for speech therapy, and was concerned they would be delayed, but not delayed enough. Their comprehension and vocabulary were fine, but their articulation is very poor. It's often very hard to understand them.

We get more details at the recap meeting in a month, but for now we can look forward to speech therapy in the fall. Soon we will be able to understand all the funny little things they say!

2 comments:

Anne said...

The IEP meeting is always fun! In NY now a child needs 33% delays in two areas in order to qualify for continued services. NC sounds a bit more liberal with their services post-early intervention.

Laraf123 said...

I used to work in both the birth to three EI program and the public school's 3-5 program. I know the hoops you have to jump through. Glad to know that the girls will get the services they need in the fall. Take it from me, you will always be their very best advocate.