ECI Today

Today the boys had their early childhood intervention assessment. It pretty much went the way I expected it to. I felt as though after the evaluation the specialist and therapist thought that I would be upset or more concerned, but the truth is what I was told was what I anticipated. Due to the boys being premature they were measured on an ability scale of a 3 month old. The following are the scores the boys scored

Jason
Cognitive: 4 months
Communication: 4 months
Social Emotional: 4 months
Adaptive Behavior: 2 months
Physical: 3 months

Reece
Cognitive: 1 month
Communication: 2 months
Social Emotional: 2 months
Adaptive Behavior: 1 month
Physical: Birth

A score of 3 months means they are on target for their corrected age, a score over 3 months means they are slightly advanced or in Jason’s case where he should be for his actual age, and below 3 is considered behind. In order to qualify for service you have to show at least a two month delay in one of the five areas listed above. Jason didn't qualify, but Reece did in cognitive, adaptive behavior and physical development.

Of course if you don't know what the above mean it doesn't do you any bit of good when it comes to understanding. Cognitive deals more with the neurological thought process and the ability to process information. Social Emotional pertains more to developmental milestones such as awareness of hands and how the baby responds to people while adaptive behavior is how the baby responds more to its environment and situations. Physical is the babies ability to move and show strength, while communication is the babies ability to communicate. (Kind of a given there)

With ECI I get to pick and choose what and how much of the service I want to take advantage of and use. In Reece’s case I could have him seeing a speech therapist, physical, occupational and a ECI developmental specialist. After talking it over I went with just the occupational therapist for now. The reason being is the most they come out is one hour a week. I went ahead and went with that option even though I had the option of 1,2, 3, or 4 times a month. As for the other therapists and specialist I can always request their services later, but for now these area will be covered by Texas Children’s. In addition to the occupational therapist said that therapy for one hour a week wouldn’t be enough and Texas Children’s would offer something much more intense. So for now we are sticking with what we have and will adjust as needed. Our first session is December 3rd.

If you are wondering, what good one hour a week do then no worries. The intent of ECI is to see what the baby is currently doing and then show the family or mom what types of positioning and exercises can be done while not in a therapy session. Its an on going process and more than anything is just another sting of support!