Just got back from Pre-K Screening.

MommaTrish

MommaTrish

Well-known member
Bella went in for screening today for the county Pre-K for children with delays/special needs. She's got to go back in August for more in depth testing, which is good (I guess, lol) because only about 30% of the people who go in for the first round get told to come back for more. (They said only about a handful get outright accepted with the first screening.)

They will be retesting her hearing, and if she makes it into the program they said they'll be testing it every other month, because on her right ear she showed response to every sound, but on her left she only responded to the first. They said it could be a lot of different things, and not necessarily something to worry about yet, but that if she is having problems with it that it would explain her speech issues.

As for the speech - They said she definitely has problems there that are probably a combination of her Failure to Thrive as a baby and her overbite being so prominent. (Apparently speech issues are common in premature and FTT babies?) They said she's not only not using sounds that require her top teeth, but that she's trained herself in using other sounds for them so well that she has trouble distinguishing between recognizing them when hearing them. Her sentence structure and completion amount is about a year behind where it should be. Her tendency to replace or make up words for common frequent words is also a problem, and her frustration with not being able to remember words or names of common objects.

Her speech alone gives her a CHANCE of getting in they said, however, it's not guaranteed. They said the only thing that will guarantee it is if her next hearing test comes back showing a loss in one ear again coupled with her speech problems. The speech alone it would depend on how many and how severe other speech/language cases come in.
 
I know it's silly, Trish, but did the speech therapist or audiologist actually physically check her ears? When we thought Aiden had a hearing problem...it was actually a chunk of wax that was blocking him LOL
 
Darcy Baldwin said:
I know it's silly, Trish, but did the speech therapist or audiologist actually physically check her ears? When we thought Aiden had a hearing problem...it was actually a chunk of wax that was blocking him LOL
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The doctor they brought in for that part of the testing just ran a sound/stimulus test, he didn't actually look in her ears. lol I do have to take her in for a physical for all this so I'll definitely get our doctor to double check and make sure there isn't any gunk built up in there. That was probably why they said that lots of things could cause today's readings to be like they were and why they'll retest them.
 
Good luck Trish. I hope she gets some early intervention. My youngest has an auditory processing disorder and speech therapy made a world of difference. She didn't really fail any of the milestones but my mother's intuition said something was off. I requested further testing and we were able to get her a diagnosis and treatment plan.
 
origami said:
What do they recommend to families who can't get into the county Pre-K?
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You know, I'm not sure? They did say all the tests and stuff would stay in her file and we could have it transferred to the regular elementary school when she starts there for Kindergarten in the 2014-2015 school year so that she can get the speech inclusion. But if she doesn't get in to the Pre-K for this year I don't know what they do. I guess that's another thing to add to my list of questions.

I was just sort of shocked when we went in today. I kind of expected them to tell me I was just overreacting and that her speech was all just normal little kid issues since that's what everyone else kept telling me. So I wasn't prepared to actually ask any extra questions. I will say they were all really nice and informative. Each person doing each part of the screening spent an extra 5-10 minutes going over how she did, how her scores were, and what everything meant.
 
I too have a child that had speech therapy for years. One of the BEST things we ever did for him! He was evaluated at age 4 and had speech therapy at PreK and we took him for outside therapy as well.

Listen to your instincts, they are pretty much always right!
 
I went to speech therapy for years when I was younger, kindergarten through 4th grade, because of a lisp. I no longer have the problem, but I still have issues with certain words. My biggie is peculiar. Can not say that word unless I do it slowly, one syllable at a time. My son never had speech issues, but he had to have therapy for a perception loss disorder. It helped dramatically.

I am sure your daughter will do just fine given the help she needs. Push when and where needed to see that she gets it. Good luck!
 
I'm 36 and still have a lisp :0/ It's not really noticeable though unless I'm nervous..then it gets pretty bad

Good Luck Trish!
 
joelsgirl said:
I can't tell from your post. Are you happy with the results?
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:D, lol
Honestly - I don't know.
I want her to be able to get into a program, so I can work again. And I'm happy that I can tell everyone that I wasn't just being overly paranoid or whatever about her speech.
BUT... I don't actually want her to have any problems either. I thought that we had moved past any issues dealing with her FTT and that she was more than caught up with kids her age. I mean all of her baby/early toddler milestones were significantly behind others her age, but like I said, I was sure we were well done with that.
I'm still just all mixed up emotionally about it all, and not sure HOW I feel about it.

Not to mention them saying that the FTT is a part of what is causing the problems is REALLY messing with me all over again.
 
: ( I feel ya. I don't want anything to be wrong with her either. She's way too precious to start off with a big obstacle, but big obstacles build character, and I'm sure she'll really grow when she gets the help she needs.
 
Yeah, I know that conflicted feeling well. On the one hand it's a relief to know exactly what's going on and have a better idea how to help, but on the other hand what you really want is a magic wand to fix things. I'm sure she's going to do great with the right therapy. I hope you're able to get her into the pre-K program so you can work.
 
FlirtatiousBrat said:
I'm 36 and still have a lisp :0/ It's not really noticeable though unless I'm nervous..then it gets pretty bad
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I don't think mine is noticeable any more, but when I was little it was horrible. I could not say "L" or "S" very well, so when people would ask me my name, it came out Orry Tartcher, and the other kids laughed at me, a lot. It is the biggest reason that I was so shy growing up. I mean painfully shy. My first job was as a waitress and my boss came to me after about two weeks and told me I either had to start talking to the customers more or he would have to let me go. I was so terrified of both, talking to strangers and getting fired, I would get so flustered and just rattle on as fast as possible and no one understood me. It was like kindergarten all over. I finally got over my shyness in college. I think it helped that I was in a place where no one knew me or called me Orry. ;)

(Please don't call me Orry now.) :)
 
Where do you live? I'm an early childhood special ed teacher and there's a US law which requires states to provide speech therapy to children 3-5 free of cost through the school systems. If her speech problem also causes her to fall in the developmentally delayed category (which it can if she can't answer questions, etc.) the state is also required to provide pre-K services for those children. That can look different from state to state and also school district to school district, but they can't say "There's a waiting list" or "Our slots for those services are filled." They have to provide them.

I know this not just because I have a master's degree in special ed, but because by the end of the year I was serving 15 3-5 year olds with severe autism in my classroom that is meant for no more than 12 students. We can't say no to parents and if the child qualified for services on May 10 and the parents wanted the child to start May 10, then we couldn't say no... even if there were only 10 days of school left.

Lots and lots of kids with just speech delays qualify under the developmentally delayed category between 3-5 but by the time they start kindergarten, they no longer qualify because they've caught up. That's why we do early intervention... the earlier we catch the delay, the better the chances we can close the gap and get kids where they need to be. Great things can happen in pre-K. Good luck!
 
MissKim said:
Where do you live? I'm an early childhood special ed teacher and there's a US law which requires states to provide speech therapy to children 3-5 free of cost through the school systems. If her speech problem also causes her to fall in the developmentally delayed category (which it can if she can't answer questions, etc.) the state is also required to provide pre-K services for those children. That can look different from state to state and also school district to school district, but they can't say "There's a waiting list" or "Our slots for those services are filled." They have to provide them.

I know this not just because I have a master's degree in special ed, but because by the end of the year I was serving 15 3-5 year olds with severe autism in my classroom that is meant for no more than 12 students. We can't say no to parents and if the child qualified for services on May 10 and the parents wanted the child to start May 10, then we couldn't say no... even if there were only 10 days of school left.

Lots and lots of kids with just speech delays qualify under the developmentally delayed category between 3-5 but by the time they start kindergarten, they no longer qualify because they've caught up. That's why we do early intervention... the earlier we catch the delay, the better the chances we can close the gap and get kids where they need to be. Great things can happen in pre-K. Good luck!
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I'll have to look up our laws. Right now I'm working with a friend who has taken her child to several speech therapists here to find one who my insurance actually covers. :cursing: I really hate our insurance... but that's a whole different kettle of fish.
Right now, the farthest we have planned, is if she doesn't get into the school we're going to a few different doctors, get their opinions, and then try to use those to get them to let her into it. Knowing there's laws might help in getting her in with an outside doctors opinion than just going by the school's screenings.
 
MommaTrish said:
Right now, the farthest we have planned, is if she doesn't get into the school we're going to a few different doctors, get their opinions, and then try to use those to get them to let her into it. Knowing there's laws might help in getting her in with an outside doctors opinion than just going by the school's screenings.
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http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/ei.index.htm
"What is early intervention? What does it include? Does my child qualify? What should I do if I am not happy with evaluations, programs or services?"
 
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