Rich - EI Question or anyone else

[LisaL]

I was wondering if you could help me out a little bit. My daughter is almost 14 months with a LOBPI. She has had two surgeries at TCH. We are trying to get her in the system. The EI people are coming to evaluate her at our house in two weeks. I don't think that she will qualify for therapy because she isn't developmentally behind. Since the Mod Quad she can do so much more than before. She definelty has deficits in her arm and the range isn't the same as her unaffected arm. I was wondering what activities are important for her to learn that I can bring up to these people that she can't do.
Thanks for your help,

Lisa

[m&mmom]

It is my understanding that if your child cannot supinate it's enough of a delay to get them to come for ot.
Not sure where you're from but if you're from Monroe County PA I can give you valuable information to help you out.
Cindy

[Stacey]

Hi, All states are a little bit different in their guidelines, however, she should be able to qualify based on her diagnosis, she does have limitations with the L upper extremity. The definition in Maine for Birth-2 or under 3 for eligilbilty states "a diagnosed physical or mental condidtion that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay, with the condition being such that the child needs early intervention services OR developmental delays as measured by both diagnostic instruments that are criterion based or norm referenced and appropriate procedures, in one or more of the following areas, cognitive dev. physical dev. including vision, and hearing, communication development, social or emotional development or adaptive devleopment, with the delay being such that the child needs early intervention services." You should have enough justification even if she is functional. Without the therapy she is likely to regress and will continue to have muscle imbalance and tightness which all affects function. You could list the muscle imbalance, bilateral coordination skills, tightness, ROM etc. all as areas of concern if it does indeed apply to your daughter. You may have to educate the person coming to your home regarding her condition because when they do their screening it may appear that she is doing ok but you can highlight the areas she has and will cont. to have difficulty with. It is a team decision as to whether she receives therapy or not. Team members would include yourself, your pcp, your OT or PT and the Early childhood specialist from the EI system. Not sure if this helps or not. If you have other questions you can email me. Good Luck. Stacey

[Cara]

Before we moved our service coordinator was a freind of the family. (It just happened by the luck of the draw). Stacey echos what I heard from her. Even if there is not a major delay, the child should qualify because lack of thearpy can cause a loss of funcion. Another thing that helped was that we had a "perscription" (It looked just like the paper the give you to go get medicine.) for therapy from our specialist. This helped to establish the necessity for therapy to continue even though she was at or near bench marks. Make sure the do bilateral testing. Some of the test they use to asses children only adress if the can do the task with one or the other hand, not both.

[christy]

what about when they leave the b-3 program? doesn't it have to be educational related then? How do I educate them on how this injury affects that area?

[Karrie in MD.]

Rich,
Can you tell me exactly where in the law does it state the part about getting therapy to prevent regression & deformity. Kyle had his IEP and he lost his direct services. He is just getting OT consults from the OT. She is supposed to check in with his teacher periodically to make sure he is keeping up with the rest of the class. Which so far he is able to(but it is only kindergarten). He will be repeating kindergarten again next year(my choice...he is a Dec. b-day)but he will be in the public school system and I am going to fight to get the direct OT services. Now he is in private school and that was part of the reason he lost services. Our county only offers speech for kids in private school. I would like to have that specific law when I go back to fight. Thanks for all the info you have given me in the past it has definitely helped me.

Karrie

[admin]

If you tell me which state you are in, I can probably find the exact reference. I will give you the federal reference also. Most of my info is on my Comp. at work....so I can give you the links on Tuesday...just let me know which state....

[Karrie in MD.]

Maryland