Speech Therapy

[Cheyenne_08]

My son saw an ENT yesterday that said his speech delay is quiet concerning. He is 14 months old and does not say any words. He was born 9 weeks early with the cord around his neck 6 times. His neurologist believes he has central auditory neglect disorder. Anyways, this ENT was the second doctor that told us Ashtyn needs speech therapy immediatly. He sent a referral to one of the best speech pathologists in the state.....and they called me back and told me my insurance does not cover ANY speech therapy and that he will need to get speech therapy through the local school district. My son is part of Early ON of Michigan and has other therapists through the ISD, and is waiting on an eval from a speech therapist there. Anyways, the speech therapist at the ISD told me that she will do the eval but he probably will not qualift because of his age. She said that they do educational speech therapy and that Ashtyn needs Clinical speech therapy. Is there anything that would be as helpful as speech therapy since my insurance wont cover it and the ISD doesn't do the speech therapy that he needs? Ashtyn is very behind in almost all communication skills. I don't know what else to do for him, and no one can help him!

[Rebecca Resnik, PsyD]

Hello,
   at your son's age, any speech language therapy would be likely to give him some benefit, so I would not say no to the services provided in your county. Special education services as defined in the law cover children from birth to age 21, so I am sure your county provides speech therapy to children your son's age. Speech therapists who work for the county special education system do have to focus on educational goals, however at 14 months, educational goals should be the same as 'clinical' goals unless your son has a feeding disorder. I strongly recommend you check out the website www.ldonline.org to learn more about special education law and policy. I also recommend visiting the American Speech Language and Hearing Association website  www.asha.org  to learn more about special education and speech language therapy. It sounds like you may need to push to get the services your son needs, and you be able to do so effectively when you have done your homework.

Private speech therapy is great if you can afford it, so you may wish to appeal your insurance company's decision. Don't give up until you have exhausted your options. Your pediatrician, the ENT, or the neurologist may be able to help by giving you an official referral.

Best Wishes
Rebecca Resnik

[Cheyenne_08]

Thank you. We were given an offical referral, the insurance told me 3 times that they are very unlikely to change their decision. Their policy is that you must have the ability to speak and lose it due to accident or injury. They told me that speech therapy was provided by the local isd so I could get it through them, although the ISD is telling me that they are unlikely to provide services. My county seems pretty shaddy and I just filed a complaint with the Early On Coordinator, so hopefully they start doing things by the books. Thanks for the websites, I will check them out right now.

[portuguese mom]

I have a friend that could not afford speech therapy for her child and she had services provided at a discount or no cost through the Scottish Rite Masons Speech Therapy.  I am not sure if they provide these services in your state, but you can call or Google  and check it out.