Early Intervention NEEDS Our Intervention

I am a mother of five children, two of which have used Early Intervention services due to developmental delays.  This program was a substantial part of their learning and development.  It was also very important in my own learning of how to better work with my children!  It's a program I am forever thankful for.  Here are Adrien and Jonathen's stories...

Adrien was 18 months old and barely saying mama or dada, his temper tantrums were unlike anything I had ever seen before, he refused to let me leave him anywhere, he didn't play with other kids, and he just wasn't good at any kind of social behaviors that he should have been doing at that age. 

When he was evaluated, the original thought was that he had Autism.  So, we created a plan to help him, help us and begin better relationship with him.  Though, after just a couple months of working with his therapist, we saw astronomical improvements in his language skills and social behaviors.  Though, he still needed a lot of help in specific areas.  However, we lost services because of funding.  We were in Germany.  It was good that he just so happened to qualify to attend the Sure Start preschool the following year.

Now, we have Jonathen.  After an illness when he was nearing his first birthday, he regressed and struggled to regain the skills he once had.  He had started to say mama and dada, but quit after that.  He had started to walk, but then had trouble crawling after that.  Again, I thought Autism, especially the way it seemed to happen.  At 18 months old, he still wasn't able to say basic words and barely even did much babble. He was still struggling to walk again and just didn't do what other kids his age (or even kids much younger) were doing.  Early Intervention came in and, once again, helped us put the pieces together.  His progress was VERY SLOW.  I did begin to wonder, after a few months, if he would ever hit some of the milestones we set goals for (and believe me, our goals were very small for him).

He received physical therapy for a year, but did catch up in that time to at least not require services.  However, his speech/language ability was still largely delayed after a year and is currently receiving services. And even now, almost 2 years of services, he still really needs it.  But, apparently they are no longer being funded.

It's good for us that he goes into the school system soon, but other kids are not so lucky.  Kids are losing their educational assistance through Early Intervention because they don't have funding...???  Why in the world does this incredibly important program not have funding?

I don't know who is at fault, and frankly, I don't care.  We just need a solution.  Families NEED a solution - a solution that gets this program funded and back running to assist the families with children who need services.

We need to be the voice for these children that can't speak for themselves.  We need to stand up and let the state know that our children deserve better! 

If you are interested in helping this fight, here are some pages to visit and find out more about what you can do to help support this fight:

I NEED EI -- Southern IL Action - https://www.facebook.com/groups/896483647092155/

I Need EI - https://www.facebook.com/ineedei?fref=ts

Illinois Developmental Therapy Association - https://www.facebook.com/Illinois-Developmental-Therapy-Association-311153305572207/timeline/

Families, Friends & Fans of IL EI Children - https://www.facebook.com/illinoiseichildren

I Support Illinois Early Intervention - https://www.facebook.com/groups/isupportei/


JOIN THE FIGHT!  FOR THE CHILDREN!