Securing Help for My Child: Home Schooling Journey Begins

[milkangel]

i had some people to come and asess him and today we got his #s and found out where he is at in every thing. He is a little bit on the low side. below average. his speech is gradded around a 1 year old kid. ( he is 2). so he qaulifies for speech, education, physical therepy, and also occapational theripy. they will make a individual family service plan. I know i will be getting help for him and thatn i can learn how to hsow him stuff when it ocmes to kidegarten. we will be home schooling our kids. i really do not wnat him to be behind in his grade so i am going to start now. Please pray.

 

[raebates]

I'll be praying. It's scary sometimes to submit your child (or yourself) for testing, but it's always better to know. You can't deal with what you don't know and acknowledge.

 

[BlessedWifeMommy]

i had some people to come and asess him and today we got his #s and found out where he is at in every thing. He is a little bit on the low side. below average. his speech is gradded around a 1 year old kid. ( he is 2). so he qaulifies for speech, education, physical therepy, and also occapational theripy. they will make a individual family service plan. I know i will be getting help for him and thatn i can learn how to hsow him stuff when it ocmes to kidegarten. we will be home schooling our kids. i really do not wnat him to be behind in his grade so i am going to start now. Please pray.

My 3 year old just "graduated" from EI. He qualified for speech. I have to say that it was a great experience. His speech continues to improve everyday. Hope that is an encouragement!

 

[robbiesmom123]

You are doing the right thing, getting his tested at this age. My son, (will be 5 in April) has been in speech since he was 2 and in EI. We have his transition meeting scheduled for next month for him to transition to Kindergarden. Hopefully he'll carry his IEP along with him as long as he needs it. You're a great parent noticing he has a problem and doing what you can to help him. He will respond greatly to his therapy. Stay with it and you will also learn to help him as well. Good Luck to you both !

 

[milkangel]

thank you all

 

[nikked]

I second the encouragement! I wish I had known for my now eight year old that these type of services were available to her. I didn't find out about them until the spring before she entered Kindergarten. Now, our four year old and 2 year old are receiving services, and what a difference it's making!

 

[Chef Kearns]

Will you be apart of a co-op education program when you homeschool? I've heard that really works for parents who may struggle in certain areas, like English or Language Arts. I know of a family who sends their kids to another family for Science and Social Studies lessons while the mom teaches the other subjects. That might be a great option for you!! It will help you with balancing your time for everything.

 

[pcsharon1]

My son is in EI. I had him tested last September when he was 21 months old and I was only concerned about his speach. The tested him as below his level - in the 12/13 month level - for four out of six categories. I was totally freaked out. But I am so excited we did it. It has been very low key and I realized that, because he is our first, I wasn't doing things with him that I should be because I didn't realize that he would be ready for that sort of thing - like playing with playdough. Anyway, we just did the six month follow up and he is still getting services but I know once they retest him in September he won't qualify. It's been amazing and he has just made a real burst in his speech in the last six weeks - he turned 2 in December. Sometimes they just need a little boost and I think it has been a great experience. I hope you have as much fun with it as we have.

 

[pcchefjane]

Did you have a dr check him yet about his sleeping? Maybe doing things with him will help him not sleep so much. My 2-1/2 year old grandson plays with playdough or does an "art project" every day. It is either his AquaDoodle Mat or crayons and paper or a puzzle. He also plays with his blocks. We are putting the 6 month old in an exer-bouncer and she loves it. She is staying awake longer periods of time since we are letting her play and sleeping longer (1-2 hours vs. 30 minutes) in the daytime and staying awake 2-3 hours between naps... I think the more we do with our kids, the more they learn! Glad you got him evaluated!

 

[susanr613]

Good for you to take this step - you have given him a wonderful gift. You have also give yourself time to learn about his special needs so you will be ready when it's time to start homeschooling.

You are a great mom!!!

 

[WLMcCoy]

Congrats on being a good/brave mom for submitting to testing. It's so scary! But at least now you know what you need to do to jumpstart him!
Good Luck & I'm praying for you & your family!

 

[KellyTheChef]

Good that you got him evaluated. Things like speech are best caught when they are young, so they have plenty of time to catch back up before "real" school age!

My Evan (almost 4) was evaluated and put into speech at the age of two...one year of speech therapy that I took him to...then he was accepted into an integrated preschool (meaning a mix of kids, some behind and some right up there where they should be with speech/OT/etc.) and he gets speech there once a week. Since last April when he started preschool until now, that kid has FLOURISHED! Being around other kids his own age has helped to break him out of his shell in his speech as well as his behavior. They also started him in OT once a week this year too, for some delays there. It's all a good thing when they get the help they need!

Good luck with everything!

 

[KellyTheChef]

My son is in EI. I had him tested last September when he was 21 months old and I was only concerned about his speach. The tested him as below his level - in the 12/13 month level - for four out of six categories. I was totally freaked out. But I am so excited we did it. It has been very low key and I realized that, because he is our first, I wasn't doing things with him that I should be because I didn't realize that he would be ready for that sort of thing - like playing with playdough. Anyway, we just did the six month follow up and he is still getting services but I know once they retest him in September he won't qualify. It's been amazing and he has just made a real burst in his speech in the last six weeks - he turned 2 in December. Sometimes they just need a little boost and I think it has been a great experience. I hope you have as much fun with it as we have.

Don't beat yourself up about this! There are lots of things that kids do ON THEIR OWN to grow. I remember when Evan was diagnosed and they asked me all sorts of behavioral questions about him like when did he walk, when did he eat with fingers, a spoon, etc...when did he do "pretend" play like putting his stuffed animals to bed or something like that. I remember telling the therapist that I never thought to do pretend play like that with him...so I thought that *I* had something to do with him being behind. She explained to me that as long as I was interacting with him, continuing to talk to him and show him new things and doing all of the things that I knew to do, that's all he needed. Kids do "pretend play" all on their own...if I never thought to SHOW him how to do it, he should have done it on his own, with NO ONE showing him. Obviously, my example above is just one of many situations like that with kids. Reading your post, it just seemed like you were trying to blame yourself like I did 2 years ago for my son, so I wanted to tell you not to think that!! You are a good mom too!

BTW- if I was reading too much into your post, and you didn't feel the way I did I still wanted to post this so that anyone else dealing with a child being behind won't beat themselves up over it!