My 15 month old had an evaluation by ECI today for a feeding and speech delay. They have suggested I get her hearing tested to be sure there are no problems contributing to the speech delay. Does anyone in the dallas area know of somewhere that will perform a hearing test on my daughter for free? I was recently laid off and our medicaid paperwork has not gone through yet so to take her to the pediatrician would be expensive.
call all of the audioligist some do it on a sliding scale. when i had my oldest tested it was on a sliding scale based on income otherwise its not going to hurt to wait her medicaid. shouldnt be more than 2 months. good luck. I will be doing the same thing in december
You can have her tested, for free, thru your local school district. Federal law requires that the school district evaluate (test) and provide treatment for any condition that may affect success in school. They accept for testing babies on thru school age. The school district will also help you with speech delays too. You can accept or deny whatever treatments you want.
In some states the office is called Early Intervention. In OR we went thru the County Intermediate Education Service District office. You can find your local number by looking in the phone book under the school district heading.
Perhaps ECI is the same program. If so I don't understand why they didn't tell you how to get a test. Federal law requires that they provide testing and treatment. My grandson had a series of tests and treatment thru the school district. He's also had testing and treatment thru his health insurance too.
You might want to call the Calleir Center for Communication Disorders, and see if any of their graduate students need practicum hours for hearing tests. These would be graduate students, and I am sure you could confirm that their supervisor reviews the results. The Center is located on Inwood (near I-35), there is also a branch at UT Dallas in Richardson, but I do not know if they have the same audiology equipment there. Please be sure to follow up on this. I have been practicing speech-language pathology for almost 20 years, and cannot emphasize strongly enough how important this information will be to you and your baby (whether the results show a hearing loss, or not - either result will help you and any involved specialists create an appropriate plan of action for your child).
I don't know anything about your child but it seems kind of early to diagnose a speech delay. Is this at the suggestion of your pedi? I would get a 2nd opinion. Good luck!!
