Well it finally happened. Ryley came home today from school with this in his knapsack:
He is very excited that he has been invited to a party. A party for a girl in his SK class – Not a friend of one of his siblings, not a friend of the family, but a girl who he now calls a friend. Tomorrow we will go buy a present for this girl and he has told me that she likes make up and Barbies, so of course we must buy these for her. Apparently she also likes foxes and Little Red Riding Hood so we need to find these as well…………. at least that is what Ryley has told me.
Those of you who read my blog are aware that we were to start an assessment on Ryley due to some behaviours. However, after our first visit I was informed that at this point it would be extremely difficult due to his speech issues. His articulation of many sounds is very poor and although he was in speech therapy since the age of 3 with a place called Erin Oak this year threw us into a difficult situation. As soon as Ryley entered SK and turned 5 he was no longer eligible and would have to be dealt with through the school. Now I was aware of this last year so I was proactive and requested he be evaluated by the schools speech therapist while in JK so his name could be put on the wait list. He was evaluated, and it was of course determined that he needed speech therapy. This is where the fun begins. He was evaluated at the beginning of the school year. He has yet to receive any type of therapy. Other children don’t understand half of what he is saying and this has most likely led to some – not all – of his social issues and less than favourable behaviours. He is frustrated and showing his frustration in the best way that he can. So now I am forced to call Heman communications (this is the company that is outsourced by the school board) and explain that this is seriously affecting his daily functioning and can they please move him up on the list.
People have told me to go private. I have insurance to cover a private therapist but given the rates for private therapy he would only get in a few sessions as that is about all our benefits would cover – and we have an excellent plan. I did speak with our principal and she is a true gem, she has started making some calls and trying to have him seen faster. Tomorrow I will be calling the superintendent of special needs in hopes that she can help.
The whole system is so frustrating. It isn’t just about speech therapy it is about everything. Occupational therapy, psychoeducational testing, psychiatric counselling, psychotherapy, the list is endless. We are told “your child needs help” only to be told “sorry but you have to wait.”
On a positive note though, the psychologist did inform me that Ryley is very bright and may actually be bored with children his own age, and with school. He is showing signs of OCD (this runs in the family) so we are working on attempting to stop some of these behaviours. At this point though it is not believed that he has a ASD (autism spectrum disorder) like his two brothers. So I am happy with this, but we cannot have him fully assessed until we fix the speech issue. I am trying everything I can to help, but I can only do so much.
What about you? Have you been put on a wait list for some type of service for your child in need?
Until next time
Chantel, momof8crazymonkeys
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Thanks Julie – He is so excited and we went and got the present yesterday. He wouldn’t wait! At least it is a girl present so we have less of a challenge in keeping it wrapped!
Wow Christine that is so awful! I cannot believe the CCAC (they provide to our school as well) wouldn’t treat Cuyer because of his dx that is ridiculous! I didn’t have this issue with Joshua – he received speech therapy for a while through them despite hi sdx. It is such a shame that we the parents are left to deal with it all on our own. They tell us that early intervention is the key to successful treatments yet they make us wait for years!
Hi I understand your pain/frustration. My daughter also went to ErnOak and was kicked out at the ripe old age of 5. She would have benefited from more speech therapy but we could not afford it at that time. She has since been diagnosed with a learning disability. We paid for her psychoeducational testing. Since then she is progress well in our poor educational system. She works very hard and has been blessed with some fabulous teachers. She uses a computer in the classroom at school but its old and slow. I wish the government had put the money into special ed programs that they put into the all day kindergarten program…
Julie, we lost the speech therapy BECAUSE of the autism diagnosis. He rec’d speech and OT through ErinOak when he was labelled “developmentally delayed”. Once autism came into the picture he lost it. Had he not received the dx, he would have continued to receive services.
So it was up to us to go private. When insurance ran out, it was out of pocket. And it was a waste – we needed someone specialized in autism related S&L issues. We couldn’t find anyone.
Oh God oh God oh God. This just gave me anxiety. Whose helping then??? What the hell happens if they are not diagnosed with Autism but still have a language or developmental delay….then who the hell covers speech therapy?
Ha. Yes.
We were so proactive that Cuyler rec’d his Autism diagnosis at age 2. At that point we lost speech and OT through ErinOak. Because of the autism dx, he no longer qualified for services and we were put on the autism services wait list (3yrs long). So we were to do nothing but hurry up and wait.
The school board, or rather CCAC who provides services to the school, won’t provide any type of speech services for him because his problems are language based (neuro) and not speech based (easy fixes). They didn’t come right out and say that but we could easily read between the lines.
He qualified for 8 OT consultative visits in kindy and we fought a battle to get more this year – he got a measly 3…three visits are not even going to scratch the surface of his sensory issues.
The entire system is a joke. I’ve just taken it upon myself to remediate as best I can.
how frustrating for you, i’m so sorry. i can only speak to my 2nd hand info that it took a long time for a friend’s son to be looked at. there’s just not enough money to help our children. sounds like you’ve done a good pre-emptive strike there and got a leg up. hope he enjoys the party!
Tracey it is so great! He woke up this morning and asked if we can go buy her present this afternoon! I just hope I can find some Red Riding stuff lol!
Isn’t it so frustrating! Have you approached the school your son will be attending in September? If not, I suggest you do and ask to have him put on the waitlist NOW so he will be assessed early in the fall. If you have any documentation from Erin Oak bring that along, if you don’t – request it. It is great that you are having your son assessed early, that way if he is diagnosed with an ASD again you can let the school know so they can take the necessary steps to ensure he has a TA in place for when he starts! I am reaching out and holding your hands………. good luck with the assessment:)
Wowza, Chantel… how frustrating this all sounds!! I don’t even know what to say. I REALLY hope he can be fully assessed soon so you can move onto the appropriate next steps with him.
But, HOW AWESOME is it that he’s been invited to his first birthday party?! He must feel so good inside… that’s wonderful!!
This is us. My son is 4.5 and will be kicked out of ErinOak in the summer. He starts SK in September (we held him back from JK) and no one can understand him. We’re halfway through our autism assessment.
Let’s hold hands……