06 January 2010

speech therapy - chapter 1

good grief. (my new 'b approved' swear that I can use around ginny.) the saga begins. it was a cold and windy day on the upper east side...

after numerous phone calls, wrong numbers, unreturned messages, and a HUGE dose of frustration, I finally made contact with a human. go figure. there's nobody to talk to about your child's lack of speech.

I live in manhattan. new york city. EI (early intervention services) are paid for by the city. FINALLY my tax dollars at work. they hardly plow my street when it snows but it's their mission to have my child speaking in no time. hopefully. once I got through all the referral bullshit I met with our coordinator. and she came to me -- MY home! I scanned a list of 93 contracted evaluators and randomly chose one. seriously. how can one tell the difference between First.Step and City.Pro Group and Metro.Therapy and Right.Start Inc? close your eyes, point and hope for the best.

and then it happened. the question we've all been dreading. "so... what is ginny?" white? asian? what do you think? hmmmmm. we left that particular box blank. good fucking grief. so after even more questions, additional paperwork and 283 signatures we are all set for our official evaluation. hopefully, next week.

4 comments:

Orodemniades said...

Oo, this is good timing now I can read what Speech Therapy entails as my pediatrician's wanted to sent the Chieftain to ST since he was 12mos old, and he's 22 mos as of Friday.

He says:

'enh' = yes
'dan-doo' = thank you
'da/da-da' = Mr Oro, cars, and dogs

...and that would be it. Very frustrating when other kids his age or younger are speaking in phrases and the like. I'm so torn between leaving him alone - because he very clearly understands and responds to the things we say - and getting 'help'.

It's a dilemma.

lastchanceivf said...

I'm happy you found someone and hope he/she is a good one. How DO you pick? I don't know, but I'm glad your tax dollars are working for you.

One of my blog buddies, Mrs. Hope (five cycles, and then success) is a speech therapist. If you ever need someone off of whom to bounce anything...

nickoletta100 said...

Good luck Ginny!

becoming-mom said...

Nothing is easy with these kids right? I hope it goes well, keep us posted!