Paint-covered TLE
At three years old, The Little Empress will no longer be covered by the county’s Early Intervention and her special education needs will be covered by the local school district. So today, I met with her current program coordinator, early intervention coordinator and a representative from the district’s special education program to discuss beginning the transition process. Basically, she’ll be re-evaluated by the school district in the next few months to see if she qualifies for services. The program coordinator at her current school and the early intervention coordinator agree that she does need speech therapy but whether or not she gets it will all depend on whether or not the school district agrees. And if they do, she gets a half hour per week with a small group of kids. Eventually, I’ll be provided with a list of local preschools that may be options for her. (Though the co-op preschool seems to be universally recommended and may very well be what we go for.)
And now begins the uphill battle, which I haven’t been looking forward to. Unlike our early intervention coordinator, I’m not getting warm fuzzies from the lady who is handling TLE’s transition to the school district. I don’t know, that may just be a first impression and hopefully, I’ll find out differently in the months to come.
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Another thing that has been on my mind is whether or not to get her assessed for anything beyond her speech delay. It’s been driving me crazy wondering if her speech delay, especially when paired with her social delay and sensory issues, may be indicative of being on the spectrum. If anything, I’m just hoping they’ll rule out the possibility of being on the spectrum so I can put my mind at ease. It looks like getting an assessment may also be an uphill battle. The EI coordinator said that, on paper, they’ll just see the speech portion and not really look at the social since her cognitive levels are developmentally appropriate. But, she said she’d fight for an assessment so I’ve got my fingers crossed that hopefully, I’m closer to an answer (or at least a resolution) than not.
Hey Michi, I really appreciate the chats we had about this issue. We had our initial assessment with Connor a week ago and they expressed some concerns. They were concerned that he’d get upset when asked to do something (umm.. he’s 3 and he didn’t want to do what you told him). Also, his speech was a bit of a concern. They told me that it should take about a month for them to get back. I will have to do a more formal assessment that will involve the nurse, psychologist and the speech pathologist. This time around, I’m asking the hubby to go with me so Connor’s more comfortable. He had a heck of a time last Friday. It was a little bit embarrassing cause he was spitting at them. He hasn’t done that in a long time. I think it was because, there was me and him, and there were 3 other strangers in our house asking him to “play.”
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I can relate to the things you’re going through.