Speech Therapy and IFSP Meeting - September 10, 2009 (Ella Marie 4 months 10 days old)

Today Ella Marie and I went to Birmingham to meet with Kelli our Auditory Verbal Therapist and Jackie who is our Early Intervention Service Coordinator. The first thing that we did was to write our IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan). At this meeting we discussed our goals for Ella Marie. These goals will be updated every six months. I should receive a copy of our IFSP soon. I also asked for funding for mileage through early intervention to get to Birmingham weekly since there are no AV therapists in our area. I will get funding for every other week/session to birmingham.

After completing the IFSP there was still some time for speech therapy. Here are the things we discussed today:

• Play tickle games with Ella Marie placing a consonant in front of vowels ex. ba, ba, ba, beeeee. You should have great contrast in pitch with the sounds that you are making.
• We are continuing to sing nursery rhymes or songs with Ella Marie but replacing the words with consonant +vowel sounds. This week we will work with the m sound and next week with the b sound.
• We discussed that Ella Marie will have a CT scan at a later date and this will really look at her cochlea.
• We discussed looking at the Advanced Bionics website. Go to the Listening Room
• I asked for a list of toys that would be helpful for our therapy at home. You will notice that all of these toys are toys that hearing babies would use too, we just truly do therapy with them so I need to make sure I have them. Here is a list of a few of them:

hand-held noisemakers
activity toys (with lots of buttons, mirrors, etc.)
board books Y cloth books, squeeze toys (some make noises)
stacking toys (especially blocks)
stacking ring
textured balls
shape sorters (the EASY ones - she may around 7-9 months enjoy taking things out)
other containers to fill/empty
nesting toys
snap beads
pop-up toys
early role-play toys - play telephone, baby, etc.
pull toys
puppets
musical toys
playset w/ animals (farm, etc.) - 12 months or older
Other enjoyable toys are those that encourage physical development, such as walking

Early Intervention Services - Setting Early Goals For Our Daughter and Working Daily On Reaching Them

Early Intervention...What is it and what can it do for my child?

Early Intervention was set up under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA ). If your child receives special education services this is the same law that regulates their services. Our state's (Alabama) Early Intervention Services are listed on this website. http://www.rehab.state.al.us/Home/default.aspx?url=/Home/Services/AEIS/Main

Eligibility
Infants and toddlers from birth through age 2 are eligible to receive appropriate services if they are delayed by 25 percent or more in their cognitive, physical, communicative, social, emotional or adaptive development, or if they have a diagnosis of a physical and/or medical condition that will likely result in developmental delay.

So because Ella Marie is deaf she definitely qualifies for these services. Although Ella Marie is very young, I have already learned some very valuable information.

1. It is up to you as the parent and the family to be an advocate for your child.
2. Call many different places to ask about information on what services you can receive through early intervention.
3. Check into what other states offer through their Early Intervention programs and services. Does it compare to what you are getting in your state.
4. Don't wait for someone else to guide you through the process. You must learn everything you can learn.
5. Involve family and friends in the process.

Our journey through early intervention services:
We are still learning daily about the ins and outs of Early Intervention so I can only post about what we have personally been through. After Ella Marie was a couple of months old one of my friends Katie asked me if I had contacted the state about services for Ella Marie. In her pediatrician's office, she saw a flyer about this. I had heard of Early Intervention but to be honest we had been through so much of a roller coaster and it seemed as though we were at the doctor all of the time that I had not had a chance to call about services for Ella Marie. Once things slowed down just a little bit and she was around 3 months old I contacted numerous places about what they had to offer for Ella Marie. Each place told me about their services but in my opinion the services were not as specialized as I would like to have for my daughter. Each place that I called I asked the same question..."Could I receive the services somewhere else if I want a certain type of therapy?" Each place continued to tell me NO. I was bothered by this because this is a federal and state program. I believe that the goal for early intervention is to provide excellent services for all children who qualify and need it. After talking to some other parents in our area who had children with hearing impairments I found out that they did receive early intervention services out of town. They told me to continue to ask for it. Although our small community is willing to help Ella Marie, I just felt like she needed more. I wanted Ella Marie to have auditory verbal therapy and there was no one in our area who provided this service. I wish there would have been so we would not have to travel as much as we do. At this point our early intervention services include:
1. Auditory Verbal Therapy Weekly - whatever our insurance does not pay, such as a co-pay Early Intervention will pick it up.
2. A special instructor once a month to come to our home and monitor Ella Marie's progress.
3. Gas mileage every other trip to Birmingham, AL for Auditory Verbal Therapy.

If I would not have kept pushing for more services, Ella Marie would have only received a service once a month through early intervention which I do not believe is enough.