Finding Support: Where to Start

I have gotten a lot of questions lately about how I went about enrolling my son in early intervention programs, how I got him into therapies, and my thoughts on seeking a diagnosis at such a young age. In this post, I will share some basic information on how our journey began. Keep in mind, every child’s needs are different, so your journey may look different than ours once you get started.

We started with ruling out any medical concerns. We spoke to our pediatrician about some behaviors we were seeing, had some labs drawn, saw GI, an ENT, and a neurologist. I am happy to answer questions related to why you would see these specialists on a 1:1 basis.

When Jay was 10 months old, we enrolled in a program called Parents as Teachers (PAT). I will provide the link below so you can see if this service is something available in your area.

Once enrolled, we were assigned to an early childhood educator who began monthly in-home visits with my son and I. Nothing was off the table during these visits. We talked about sleep, feeding, milestones, what I was struggling with, what Jay was struggling with, and more… Based off of some of our concerns, PAT sent a referral to our state’s early intervention program, Infant and Toddler Services (ITS).

After the referral was sent, ITS conducted an in home assessment of our entire family’s needs. There was a Speech Therapist (SLP) and an Occupational Therapist (OT) present during this evaluation. It was determined that Jay was eligible for these services and by 12 months he was participating in weekly Speech and occupational therapy services in our home, in addition to his monthly PAT visits with our early childhood educator.

Through these services we were provided vision and hearing screenings, as well as weekly playgroups, monthly events, and other pertinent education, literature, and resources. We also added physical therapy to our regimen.

I think it’s important to note that, aside from our pediatrician / specialists visits in the beginning, we initiated the process independently of our son’s healthcare team. You do not need physician/provider orders to move forward with this process and while my husband and I both have a medical background and chose to see specialists first, it isn’t necessary. In fact, you may not even know that it’s something you should consider until you’ve met with a therapist and they’ve completed an evaluation.

My opinion is that, if you have any suspicion at all that your child may need additional support - or even if you just don’t know - you should advocate for an Occupational Therapist’s assessment. If the therapist determines there is no need, then you simply don’t move forward with therapies.

As far as seeking an early diagnosis, keep in mind that wait lists are typically 9-18 months long for these assessments. The benefit of an early diagnosis is the access to covered therapy support sooner, should you require more support than provided through programs like PAT or ITS. I will say that Jay is in private Speech Therapy in addition to our ITS therapy.

Where Jay was assessed and diagnosed, we were seen based on a self-referral. Which means that our healthcare team did not have to send in an order or referral to start the process. We called the self referral number and they took our information. After that, we received a very detailed packet in the mail that also required forms from our therapists and educator. It took me about a month to get all the paperwork squared away. A few weeks later, we got a post card in the mail letting us know that we had need added to their 11 month waitlist for an appointment. We were seen 10 months later.

I hope this information is helpful, don’t hesitate to email me or DM me on Instagram if you have any questions!

All my love,

Lauren