Is Therapy on Hold?

Will children who are three years old on December 31st enter pre-kindergarten programs?

The rule in Early Intervention is that children are about to age out. Given that COVID19 is here and that the “aged-out” age group of toddlers have no current vaccine of which to take advantage at the writing of this blog post, there are some parents who will be opting to keep them home. They will not have their children in school and remote treatment options may not be available. If you are a parent of a disabled child who may be in this position there is something that you can and should be doing, Research shows that 90% of the brain develops in the first five years of life.

What Can Be Done????

The whole basis of the early intervention, no matter where you are located is that activities can be embedded into daily routines. Hopefully, if your child was enrolled in the program you came to understand that you as an adult are your child’s first teacher. You have learned the “tools” for how to teach language within the context of daily routines.

Toys! These are the tools for children to learn from so if you have blocks, balls, boxes, unisex doll houses, mini brooms and dusters, babies or action figures, teach your children how to use them in imaginative ways.

Target - Melissa & Doug Let's Play House! Dust, Sweep & Mop 6pc Set
Target - Tinkertoys Classic Retro Building Set
Hey! Play! Dollhouse for Kids – Classic Pretend Play 2 Story Wood Playset with Furniture Accessories and Dolls for Toddler...

I personally loved blocks, as a child. You can learn so much from them (and don’t forget the wooden family figures too!!) Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs and blocks teach children counting, balancing, colors, size concepts, prepositions so they know where things are in space

Board games can teach basic concepts

Guess Who teaches children to use descriptive terms and answer/ask questions. It facilitates problem solving and reasoning.

Guess Who?

Hi Ho Cheerio teaches preschoolers (three years and up) turn taking, counting, following directions.

HiHo! Cherry-O Game by Hasbro

Chutes and Ladders: When playing this game, your child is working on counting, prepositions, turn-taking, social skills, and following directions.

Reading Skills – preschool aged children learn phonics. Phonics is essential for children to become successful readers and spellers/writers in the early years of schooling and beyond. Introductions to phonics through engaging learning experiences can start from the ages of 3 and 4.

They can also look at magazines and should be exposed to “real” (non-electronic) books. Some resources, aside from the public library are Books Scholastic book Highlights Magazine

I hope that these suggestions are helpful. The situation we are faced with due to the pandemic is nobody’s fault; but it has its consequences. I hope that this blog will empower you and leave you with knowledge of some ideas for helping your child grow. If you have any questions or additional ideas that may be helpful to share, please leave them in the comments section below. Stay well!

Explaining Coronavirus

These are scary times and a number of parents online are asking for guidance in terms of how to explain the reason why their children are not in school.  There are ways that you can do so and I saw an article online that will be helpful https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/   

Some have voiced online concern about what will happen to their child when school is closed.  So that you can plan,  an option may be teletherapy.

 

Considerations With regards to Teletherapy  Message for Consumers:

If you are a New York State resident receiving speech-language pathology or audiology services in New York State, your Speech-Language Pathologist or Audiologist must be licensed in New York State.speech- pathology or audiology services in this State, as long as such services are performed for no more than thirty (30) days in any calendar year and provided that such services are performed in conjunction with and/or under the supervision of Speech-Language Pathologist or Audiologist licensed under Article 159 of the New York State Education Law.

According to the American Speech-Language Pathology Association https://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/ASHA/Practice_Portal/Professional_Issues/Telepractice/Telepractice-for-Speech-and-Hearing-Services-Brochure.pdf


(a) An insurer shall not exclude from coverage a service that is otherwise covered under a policy that provides comprehensive coverage for hospital, medical or surgical care because the service is delivered via telehealth, as that term is defined in subsection (b) of this section;  provided, however, that an insurer may exclude from coverage a service by a health care provider where the provider is not otherwise covered under the policy. An insurer may subject the coverage of a service delivered via telehealth to co-payments, coinsurance or deductibles provided that they are at least as favorable to the insured as those established for the same service when not delivered via telehealth.  An insurer may subject the coverage of a service delivered via telehealth to reasonable utilization management and quality assurance requirements that are consistent with those established for the same service when not delivered via telehealth. (b) For purposes of this section, “telehealth” means the use of electronic information and communication technologies by a health care provider to deliver health care services to an insured individual while such individual is located at a site that is different from the site where the health care provider is located.

Citation: N.Y. ISC Law § 3217-H

	

Preparation for Schooling After EI, If not Done Already

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Parents tell me that in one moment the services are all in your home and you have a coordinator keeping very close touch with you who will organize everything. Parents are being required to research schools that may be available to children when they prepare to research appropriate programs for their child. Now it is all up to you and it is “so overwhelming. This appears to be the biggest cooncern during the transition period. I’l hear from parents that “I am so stressed about this right now…how will I ever find a school?”

GET INVOLVED: CONCERNING HEALTH ISSUES

Some parents have found schools but now the laws – at least in NY State and I believe others have changed. You are being required to have your child vaccinated; but are choosing not to do so – for any of a number of reasons. Here is what the law indicates https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/vaccinations.html

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/preschool/program-list-nyc-region.html

As a result of not vaccinating your child and for those in the NYC area this is a youtube video that may help you understand how to get home schooling for your child. I found it on youtube – searching for home schooling in my city and you may be able to find this for your locale.

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Maybe your child is starting or has started already. They HAVE been vaccinated.

Here are sometips .

Please do not rely on the school system to have uploaded all of the information about your child into their computer system. NYS Education Department has its own requirements and must be both FERPA (Family Education and Rights Privacy Act) and IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Act) for their maintenance. Familiarize yourself with what they should have on file, but keep a record of them on your own at home. It is in your interests to have these on file from the very beginning of your child’s education and transition to CPSE or Kindergarten

http://www.acces.nysed.gov/bpss/schools/requirements-organization-student-records-provided-department

  • Go to school and introduce yourself, bringing the IEP in person and any of the other paperwork that they should have there, based on what you read from the above link.
  • Connect and get to know your special education supervisor, your child’s teacher and related service providers. In my experience – those who do so are those whose children get the most out of the school experience.
  • You may be given a packet of information- a welcome letter on that first day. Recognize that there are ways to get involved and stay connected with the educational team, as well as the administrative staff.
  • Joining a parents group at school is a great idea.
  • Home activities are a great thing to get ahold of from each professional as you can support yor child’s work and perhaps even praise them for their school accomplishments. Request them!
  • If your schedule allows for it you may want to volunteer to act as a chaperone for school trips.

Enjoy the experience! Recognize that you are now your child’s advocate! It’s great to become their cheerleader now.

Finally – just a fun idea: A colleague posted this and I could not resist sharing it with you. You may want to consider sending this snac k to school, especially on day one: They look great! https://www.romper.com/p/rice-krispies-sensory-love-notes-is-making-love-more-accessible-brb-i-need-tissues-18648897