EI and hearing loss

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with early intervention where the reason is hearing loss.

I have been reading that with Early Intervention the parent chooses the evaluation site. My initial Service Coordinator chose the facility that performed the evaluation claiming there weren't many to choose from. She also wants me to sign a delay of evaluation form . None of the delay was on my part. I am not complaining about the evaluators because they seemed knowledgable and were nice but I don't know a thing about EI. This is all new to me.

Re: EI and hearing loss

Did they give you a list of centers? Suffolk county doh gave me a list of over 50 in both Nassau and Suffolk and i just called one. What county are you in? What services will your child be receiving? I'm not sure if different counties do things differently but we had an eval with a co i chose, then meeting with doh then scheduled the approved services with the center who did the eval. The service coordinators job is to be sure the center is cooperating to schedule the services with them. Ours has had to search down teachers with certain certifications so it took longer.

EI and hearing loss

Did they pick for you or suggest one? I was given a huge list to pick from and had no idea which to go with so I just picked one I'd heard of near my house. She asked if I'd be okay with a certain other agency that would be better suited and I was glad to have the guidance. Did you already have the eval? I think they have a pretty strict timeline for everything to be done so if the agency took longer to complete the evaluation maybe they need you to sign off on it. I'd probably just go with it if you were happy with how it went. If DC was approved, you'll need to pick the agency that does the services too. I ended up going with the one who did our eval but you can ask around for recommendations so you're prepared when you have the IFSP meeting. I'd probably push to make sure the start of services happens on time and there aren't further delays. GL

Re: EI and hearing loss

My son was evaluated for hearing loss, and although we were given a list to choose from, they did steer us in the direction of one because they felt that they had more experience with children with hearing loss. In the end though, I don't think it really matters.

Also this is a very bad time of year because most providers schedules are so booked by this point, so that is probably the reason for delay and even why she may have chosen a specific agency.

Message edited 5/16/2014 9:15:02 AM.