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any info on Childfind?
Does anyone know any info or have had to refer their LO to Childfind? DS's DCP told me that we probably should refer him to Childfind for speech therapy, which came as a crazy shock to me. I am so crazy hormonal with this pregnancy, I had to fight back the tears as she told me this. I always thought DS was pretty articulate and had a crazy vocabulary for his age, but apparently me and DH are the only ones who really understand what he is saying. He was born a little tongue tied, and our pedi told us it was no big deal and wouldn't lead to any speech difficulties, and now I am really upset that we didn't question that a bit more. I am googling the hell out of Childfind, but not finding very much info, and their website isn't all that informative. Oh, and DS turns three in two weeks, so I am not even sure if this is the right place to be looking since they only assess up to 3 apparently. Sorry for the rant, I am just in panic mode at the moment. I would be so grateful for any suggestions or ideas that any of you may have!
Re: any info on Childfind?
DD gets speech therapy through early intervention (under 3 section.) Childfind is what they call the over 3 section of it. After 3, if eligible for services they put them in preschool and receive speech therapy there. Depending on the county is either free or a reduced rate.
I would call them if you feel concerned. It is done through your county preschool system. It took us almost 3 months to get to the evaluation. They did a hearing test and also evaluated her other development (physical, social, etc.) They will look at how much he understands, if he can follow simple directions- put on your shoes. And complex or multi part directions- go get your shoes from the closet and put them on. They also look at how much he talks, if he is putting words together to form sentences, how well he speaks although they didn't focus on that very much.
In order for the child to be eligible for services for early intervention they need to have at least 25% delay (it's either 23 or 25 I can't remember for sure.) From my understanding childfind has a little bit stricter criteria. It is harder to get them in the program and are usually in it for a few years.
For age 2 they were more concerned about how much she was talking and how she was stringing words. Even her speech therapist says some kids don't master letter sounds until 3-3.5 and can be hard to understand. DD is pretty hard to understand at this point DH can probably only understand half of what she says, but her speech therapist isn't concerned about that.
Most importantly remember if he does have a delay it doesn't mean there is something "wrong" with him. My DH felt very guilty when DD started therapy and had a really hard time accepting it. Many kids get speech therapy, in fact I can think of atleast 4 other mom's on here whose kids are in early intervention. Don't beat yourself up about it because it really isn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. My nephew just graduated from childfind at age 10 and he is a happy, healthy, and very smart boy. He never had problems with kids in school or anything like that. His school has been very helpul in giving our family resources and making sure he is progressing.
You can also talk to your pediatrcian and see what they think. Also Shanbrite on here is a SLP and she has been very helpful for us.
If he's that close to three and qualifies for services, he will receive them through your local school district rather than Early Intervention (www.eicolorado.org). Just call for an intake appointment with Childfind, and they'll make sure you get set up with the right people for an evaluation.
My DD1 was about to turn three when we had a private speech evaluation through Children's, and an eval through Jefferson County schools (not Early Intervention, by the time we got in to see them, she'd already turned three). She was determined to need services (speech, OT, etc.) and we got an IEP set up for her. About the same time, we had a private developmental evaluation -- because her issues weren't just speech-related, like we initially thought -- and got a medical diagnosis of autism.
If you can get your pediatrician to make a referral to Childfind, it goes a bit faster, IME. Otherwise it can take awhile, particularly if there are breaks in the school year involved. They will schedule him for a hearing & vision screen first to make sure any issues are not related to those things, and after that you'll schedule an evaluation where they'll basically play with him.
Both of my girls have been evaluated through Childfind. DD1 obviously is receiving services because of her diagnosis. We were worried about DD2 because she wasn't talking much at 15 months -- she had a slight delay, but the evaluation really eased our minds about any other issues, and by 17 months she was caught up and then some.
Take a deep breath. Set up the evaluation to see what professionals have to say and whether your DS needs services. If he doesn't, at least you know. If he does, you'll be on your way to getting him the help he needs. Kids can make progress very quickly at this age, when they have the right support!
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
My experience might be a little different since we were referred after Blake turned three by the special ed team at his public inclusive preschool. In our situation basically the special ed team (Special Ed Teacher, Speech Pathologist and Occupational Therapist) evaluated and observed him in the classroom setting. Then, they along with us developed an IEP outlining goals and what services he would be getting.
(I was also really stress I had no idea B. had speech issues or the other delays he has until the special ed teacher brought it to my attention.)
I'm sorry I'm not more help in the before three facts. Since he doesn't make the cut off for pre-school this year (my district is 3 by Oct 1st) I ASSume they would treat him the same they would if he were two. I don't know what that entails though. Good Luck!
DS 09/08
Very interesting and cool. I know B. has made enormous progress just being in preschool, before he even started getting direct help from the Special Ed team.
DS 09/08
I am in Cherry Creek and I know the school district website and links and information if you need to get in contact with ChildFind. E was in EI and then qualified for services through the school system. They had a Young 3s class for kids that were past the cuttoff. It was an amazing class and he no longer needs speech help. He had no idea he was getting "speech help". It was all integrated so there were other kids in the class that were tuition paid. he loved preschool and it helped tremendously so please don't get too discouraged. I saw it as a way for him to get even more socializing and he learned so much...and I didn't have to pay for it. Total win.
Good luck!
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Tizzle 10/07 ~ Boppy 7/09 ~ Chicken 1/12
2014 Reading Goal: 85
DS is on an IEP (Individualized Education Program) = special ed. He went through Child Find starting at age 15 months for a speech delay which led us to a speech therapist (ST) then an occupational therapist (OT). All of that eventually led us to his Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) diagnosis.
This likely has nothing to do with him being tongue tied so no worries! He'll catch up with his peers and Child Find is really helpful.
Setup an evaluation and they'll take it from there. Tell them your Pedi referred you and they'll call him to confirm.
Since he's almost three, he'll likely be put into the public school for free (IEP). None of the other parents will know he's on an IEP. My DS blends really well with the other kids. In our school, there are 10 "normal" kids and five IEP kids, all with very different needs. DS has seven teachers including aides and therapists in there and he's really thriving.
Speech delays are being diagnosed a lot more these days. Don't stress at all. He's still perfect and brilliant but his therapists will really help him along.
Hugs, first. As LBaker said, I am an SLP. Everyone else has had great info, but I'm happy to help with something if I can. Www.eicolorado.org (sorry, on my phone) has lots of good info about the process, but I can basically promise you won't be able to get in in time for the EI part. Evaluation will be done through your school district by a special team to determine if he qualifies for services through preschool. Every district has slightly different criteria for qualification. However, even if you don't qualify, they should be able to give you the right number for you to call. You can also ask your insurance what speech benefits they cover. Some will cover an eval, like through Childrens, and others also cover speech therapy (but you'll still need a child find eval to qualify for school services).
What you are describing is called "intelligibility." This is different from getting all the sounds right; think of a kid saying "wed cah." we understand "red car," even without the r being right. Even with certain sounds wrong, kids should be 50% intelligible by 2, and 75-100% intelligible by 3 (for people who don't know them. Parents always understand their own kids best, so it can be really hard to know there's an issue). If you want some general strategies you can use in the meantime, email me at shanbrite 1256 @ gmail dot com. Obviously, I can't give any specific recommendations, but I can give you an idea of a few things to try. Also, bein tongue tied pretty much never has anything to do with speech problems. If that is the problem, he wouldn't be able to make certain sounds (t,d, s, maybe sh), but everything else would be fine, so PLEASE don't beat yourself up over this. The hard answer is that usually these things dont have any cause, and while you didn't cause the problem in any way, you & DH can be the biggest things to help him. Good luck and please let me know if I can help.
When my youngest was 18months old, I also used Childfind and found a local county person to talk with on the phone. She e-mailed me the evaluation, which I e-mailed back after doing with DS (and adding a lot of notes). Plus I have my childcare person fill one out b/c honestly, I did understand my kid better than outsiders. And I e-mailed both back. Within a couple weeks she had scored him and wanted to do further evaluations and then set me up with a contract SLP (speech language pathologist). My son was boarderline, so instead of speech, we got info from the SLP on how to help him at home. Then by the time he was 2 1/2 I asked for another eval and got it from the same person. We then moved to MT, but I found them to be really receptive to parents looking for help - at least in Jefferson County.
Good luck.
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