Seeking a Good Preschool for My Son and Some Parenting Advise

Hello,
Since you and your pediatrician have concerns it would probably be a good idea to have your son evaluated through Early Intervention. The state provides services to children ages 0-3 for those with either birth trauma and resulting special needs or children who get a little behind. The evaluations are free, unbiased, and they will recommend services if appropriate. Not sure where you are living now but this is for Illinois. You can do a search online to find a service coordinator in your area. My 1st son had a stroke in utero and has been receiving services since he was 4 mos. His therapists are wonderful and we have continued our services with them now that he is just over 3. Your insurance may cover some and the state charges based on a sliding scale. Good luck to you!

HI S.,
You might want to check with your ped. and see if they think your son is developping slower than normal. I am not sure where you are moving but Warren Cherry Preschool in Evanston is great and they can help you find out if you need to due more to help your son develop.
HTH
R.

Hi S.,

I think you are on the right track with getting early intervention from your local school district/special education department (I assume that is what you went through to start the intervention help at home). If you are doing it out of pocket, then I would recommend that you contact you local school district and discuss early intervention with them. There is funding through state and federal programs for just this thing. If they have not done a comprehensive evaluation, you may want to request they do that. The earlier the intervention the better for the long term outcome, especially if your son has a pervasive developmental disorder (one of them being autism). If your early childhood intervention program through your school is good, you may not need to go to any other specialists at this time. Their evaluation should/might give you all the information you need at this time for them to devise a good program for him. You will also want this information documented for when you move to a new area, so he can start services there too. I want to make sure I am clear on saying that children with only speech delays are entitled to this support, so these interventions are not based on only if he is found to have a pervasive developmental disorder of some kind.

If I can be of any help, email me. I am a school psychologist so I can maybe help you with some questions about intervention supports and some of what you should be entitled to from your residing school district.

S.
____@____.com

I am surprised that your doctor mentioned autism and then didn't refer you to either a developmental pediatrician or Early Intervention so that your child could be evaluated. Especially considering you told the doctor about your brother having autism. Autism can run in families and that should have been a sign to the physician along with the other things that you mention that it is worth having your child evaluated by a developmental pediatrician. You are right to be concerned because not pointing is certainly a milestone that many children on the autism spectrum miss. This does not mean that your child has autism but you should definitely get him evaluated. Ask your pediatrician for a referral to both a developmental pediatrician (it takes about 4-5 months to get in to see one...there are only about 5 in Chicagoland that I know of, hence the wait) and Early Intervention. You can get started with Early Intervention as soon as you make the phone call to them. They will come to your house with a group of trained professionals who will be able to evaluate your child.