Of Tools and Therapy

I've filled out paperwork for an Early Intervention assessment for the toddler. Which is odd timing as she has progressed from failing to meet milestones to now meeting them. (Yay!)

But with adding OT into the mix and the fact that each PT session is already $250, we can't afford it. We've never been able to afford it. We've just been hoping it will all work out.

Further, she still falls, even at PT. She also fails to extrapolate her success in PT to any other venue, i.e. the rest of her life in the real world.

She flunked ice skating.

On top of that, the specialist is a tool who has rescheduled our February 2011 appointment twice, making it now late June. So when I called to ask for the OT prescription (per the PT's instructions), the doc refused to give it to me as they haven't seen the toddler for a year.

Never mind it's their fault, not ours. It is kind of criminally irresponsible, in my mind, to deny a child help just because a doc can't manage their calendar. The ped won't write the script because it should come from the specialist, although they can probably be persuaded given that the specialist is so pathetic.

(Note: I don't think the specialist is terribly concerned about the toddler. She has no diagnosis. They can't find anything wrong. So who cares, right? I do. Because when she is in a puddle at the bottom of the stairs, bleeding and sobbing, it falls on me. Either have the balls to tell me you don't want to provide care because you don't think anything is wrong or tie on a sack and do the right thing.*)

So for all those reasons, it seems like a good time to see if EI has anything to offer. PT and OT is expensive. The toddler needs support to integrate her improvements into her life (I try to help her, but all I get from her, at this stage of development, is loud opposition).

My only concern is I think the toddler is pretty borderline, in my opinion. For example, the preschool couldn't believe she was in PT. They also don't have stairs and probably chalk the falling up to tripping, failing to notice there was nothing to trip over. I mean, she's had problems since she started walking at 11 months yet I didn't notice until she was 2 1/2 and I'm her momma.

She compensates well and she's not in the picture that pops into most people's minds when the topic of kids with special needs comes up. So I will be surprised if she qualifies for any public resources.

*The PT has given me the name of another specialist and I got the nudge wink from them that tells me the current specialist really is a tool.