Early Intervention versus private OT

Our daughter came to us at age 2.5 and ECI services end at age 3 (where we live), so we did not recieve their services for an extended period of time and my experience with them is fairly limited, and my daughter is not diagnosed with SPD (she has other diagnoses) so take all that into consideration with my response. ECI provide PT and OT in addition to the regular "teacher". The OT was much more qualified to address specific concerns in my daughter (including feeding issues and a few sensory issues), I would think if you requested OT services they would at least have to do an evaluation to rule out that it wasn't necessary (or provide the services if she does qualify). We did not seek private services until our daughter had left the ECI program and was under the Special Ed program of our public school system. We had private speech and PT (she quit needing OT after about 6 months) for almost 2 years. Private OT was definatley better than anything offered through the PPCD program at school (and at least equal to the OT we received through ECI, BUT I really liked the ECI OT). I think it probably depends on the therapist you have available either through private or ECI. Private Insurance covered most of the OT (as well as the speech, and PT) and I don't think my daughter had a specific diagnosis. I think it was covered because after an extensive evaluation it was deemed that she would benefit from the services. If I were in your position I would at least investigate private services, or talk to your daughters pediatrician. Best Wishes - Suz

thanks for the reply, can you tell me since you used private services even though she was in school, did they consult with her IEP etc?

They did not "officially" consult her IEP. I think they probably would have if I had asked them to. But we talked about the goals they were working on at school and some of those goals they addressed with the private services. If you have any more questions please post.

HI "Joskimo"... I'm popping in (I hope you don't mind), but my DD is 10 years old, she came home forever from Russia 2 years ago. I have traveled (and still riding) down this road with her school, and doctors. Long story short, I became her ADVOCATE with the school. Even with Specialist(s) (Geneticist, Pediatric Neurologist, Peditrician, etc.) writting letters to the school directly, they did not evaluate (to get the services) until I finally asked why they would not help and teach my daughter, why they where discriminating against her, etc. Anyway, I was the biggest consultant regarding her IEP and temp. 504 plan. Now, it is time for her IEP review to happen for next school year, and my DD in doing weekly visits for Neuro OT. I will NOT sign the IEP, but take it, and let her Neuro OT doctor review, make recommendations, etc. and then return it to the Child Study Team. You may find that you need to become very well versed in your State's Education and Services LAWs! I did, and you need to NOT take no for answer.

One problem I had with Eci was that they had no experience with a child like mine. My daughter as am amputee was referred for PT, however they had never worked with a child like her, so had no idea what to do, but then we got a new PT, she was young and she too had never worked with a child amputee, but she was awsome! she called the hospital that made her prosthesis and spoke with their staff PT's she read books and articles and asked me what my goals for my child were. She was willing to admit when she was wrong, and willing to experiment, the only hard part was loosing her when my daughter turned three!There is something to be said for continuity of services. we did no PT after that becuase she would not cooperate with anyone else. Also about that time she started dance and that did more good than PT anyway. You have to fight for you kid and to find the right people. When we had that awesome PT it didn't matter that the rest of the staff knew nothing! The PT came once a week and we hardly saw the others. Didn't need them anyway, but if that PT had not been there it would have been a waste of our time and taxpayer money.

My daughter started with EI at 6 months old, she had PT, OT and speech. They came out one time a week for an hour. They were great, up to a point. When L was about 2 1/2 I wasn't seeing any progress. So Me and her ped decided that she was at the point that she would do better in a clinical setting. We let her age out of Speech, but discharged her from EI PT and OT. All I heard every week was "keep doing what your doing". And I felt that it wasn't right for them to get paid for nothing. After starting private therapies, she's made huge progress. She's also supposed to get therapy at school, but they havn't started that yet. Getting therapy at school is free and doesn't charge your insurance, so you can get private also. The major difference in school & private therapies are that, you have some type of control of what happens during the private, you can be very active and participate. And you never really know what they are doing at school.

I do have to say though that when I was an aid in an early childhood class we had kids who had PT on thier IEP's. The PT came once a month if that and spent a few minutes, he told us what to do and we did it daily with the kids. I don't know if the parents knew that the PT was not seeing the kids very often. The one mom I knew (they did not allow us to ards and we did not see the kids as most rode the bus, I drove one bus but it was mostly kids in the older special ed class and not my class) told me that she was told that they were getting daily PT and that she had been led to beleive that there was a PT doing the PT every day. She thought one was at the school all the time and was shocked to realize there was not. So if you get it at school be very sure of exactly what it is you are getting. We were not very well trained and were basically doing excerisizes that could have been done at home. For example, one girl had to walk three times arcoss a balance beam, hop on one foot and things like that. All we did was do those things over and over every day. We didn't know if she was doing it correctly or if she no longer needed to do one excersize or what the goal was. Sometimes we didn't see the PT for months. Because we did those excersizes daily though they were saying she had PT daily. I really don't think I was doing as good a job as a real PT would have. The OT had us doing stuff like swabbing inside the mouth and trying a straw everyday. Not real OT.

To add alittle bit more..... Even though I had specialists, etc. and DD was in Private OT & PT services at the local Rehabiliation Center, I still needed the School's Child Study Team to do a complete Evaluation (academic and physical eval) for her to receive services. Now, remember that specialists said, microcephaly, FAS/E, ADHD, also Hypotonia (muscle/balance issues hence the OT/PT).... Well, the OT/PT eval in school stated that she was well within range and NOT SERVICES NEEDED!!! As far as the academics, of course she needed services... she is in the Learning Resource Center class rooms for Math and Reading. Basically, in my school district, it is a fancy way to say BASIC SKILLS, and nothing more. She is in regular science and geography classes along with computers, gym/swimming, art, music, etc. She continued with OT/PT privately, until my insurance ran out for the yearly visits. She is now in Neuro OT, and this specialist will be commenting on the services she needs including additional OT during school (mainly writting). You truly need a team to support and guide you along with your research for your state and district education laws. For my daughter's IEP meeting (setting her up for 4th grade next year), I already have a list going, and with the Neuro's input, she will be afforded more services. YOU ARE YOUR CHILDS BEST ADVOCATE!!!! Blessings................ :wings:

wow, what great information from those of you who have traveled this road before me, thank you. I found out that right now in our town we have no private OT, we did but they are recruiting right now, so I"m on a wiat list. So until then I'm going to really try to make the case for weekly OT with EI. We've only seen her 3 times in the 8 months we've been with EI and really all of those were observation and feedback visits, no real OT time with my daughter. We're also looking at a clinic in Colorado that has an "intensive" program for SPD kids. I'm hoping today to hear back from them.