Meeting the needs of New Jersey’s youngest citizens’, one mother’s story

No parent wants to admit there is a problem with their child; some developmental milestone they just aren't reaching.

Our youngest of three started to worry us at around15 months old when she still wasn’t making animal sounds. I know this sounds trivial but I am a teacher an early childhood educator at that, and something just seemed off. I spoke with my pediatrician first, who tried to reassure me that the youngest of three often was a late talker but whether it was the parent or teacher in me I wasn’t sold. I knew of a state funded organization called Early Intervention. It was the organization I would refer my own young student’s parent to when I thought something wasn’t quite right. And here I found myself calling for their help. A few weeks from the initial call we had our in home evaluation. A team of two professionals, one a speech pathologist and the other a case manager, met with our daughter.

They conducted a standardized test called the Battelle Developmental Inventory 2, which assesses 5 areas of development (Personal-Social, Adaptive, Motor, Communication, and Cognitive Ability). As they conducted their assessments I watched intently, knowing full well what type of responses they were looking for. To most my daughter just seemed quiet but to the trained professional she was a young child struggling to communicate. By the end of our initial meeting we were informed that our daughter more than met the requirements for services and a plan would be put in place. Less than 3 weeks later she began speech therapy.

Our in home speech therapist, Miss Robyn, came weekly for less than six months when she informed me that our daughter’s speech may be affected by some other developmental delay. She immediately requested an occupational evaluation in the hopes to uncover any underlying areas that might be affecting our daughter’s speech. Again another round of evaluations and the outcome, yes there was true merit to our speech therapists’ concerns and occupational therapy would begin shortly thereafter. Pan forward 18 months later and my daughter will turn 3 in a week.

Where I look forward to most birthdays in my children’s lives I dread this one. For when my daughter turns 3 on March 2nd she will lose her in home speech and OT services. Early Intervention is for children birth to age 3. Upon age three you are referred to your local school system, a transition that early intervention also assists with. Although I know my local school district is more than capable of continuing where Early Intervention will leave off, we have come to respect and love our daughter’s therapists like family. Miss Robyn and Miss Virginia have come to our home, routinely, over the last 18 months and have forever changed the course of my daughter’s life.

The therapy my daughter has received and the education and support my family has received are invaluable. There are no words that can express the gratitude I feel for these professionals. Often the newspaper will highlight some state agency and what they are doing wrong and the cost ensued by the taxpayers of New Jersey. I would like your readers to know that there is at least one agency having a positive impact on the youngest of New Jersey Residents, Early Intervention.

-Stacey Savage
Holmdel