Early Intervention

Abbey with one of her wonderful speech therapists.
This is the cabinet she wanted to go get into in the video clip above.

Before I ever got a referral I met with the pediatrician and told him that I knew I wanted my child screened for Early Intervention as soon as we got home. I had heard so many good things about the program through SingleAdoptChina, which has really been the greatest source of information. Early Intervention is a state funded program to provide services for children under 3 yrs of age who have any kind of developmental delays. I am so glad that my doctor agreed and we had things in motion before I even went to get her. It takes time to have your child evaluated and arrange any services they qualify for. If we would have waited she probably wouldn't have qualified because she began changing so much right away. If you are referred a younger baby it may not be as critical, but because Abbey was 18 months when I got her I felt very strongly about her getting a lot of attention to make up for all the lack of stimulation in the orphanage. It also probably depends on what kind of care your child is receiving in China. There is a huge continuum both in the orphanages and in foster care. Abbey's situation warranted getting her all the help and opportunities I could provide. Did you know I can get very pushy? In a nice way that's just what I did. I pushed and pushed and called and called and asked and asked until I felt she had everything she needed in place. It took a lot of time and energy but it was so well worth it. Initially she qualified for general early intervention which meant that a specialist came to her daycare once a week and did play therapy with her. Matching games, colors, peg boards, sensory toys, etc. Her therapist felt that she didn't really need it, but I had been to her orphanage and had seen what she missed. We also had a occupational therapist we met with at home to work on sensory issues. I wanted to make sure she got exposed to all kinds of textures and activities in a strategic way. We went to the park with her therapist and worked with sand, water, mud and bubbles. At home we did whipped cream, pudding, and all sorts of gooey textures - both playing with them and eating them. It took quite awhile for Abbey to tolerate grass, sand, and mushy foods, but eventually we got there. Abbey qualified for speech, of course, because we switched languages on her at 18 months. Children who are adopted internationally at 12 months or younger are usually at the same place in speech as their peers by 18 months. Those adopted at 18 months do not usually catch up until 40 months. Typically at 18 months a child hits the 50 word mark and at that point begins making phrases and has a language explosion, but if you don't even begin hearing the language until 18 months it puts you way behind right when others are leaping forward. There is some good research on language development in internationally adopted children here. Harvard is currently conducting a big study with Chinese adoptees as well. Although I had Abbey evaluated for EI a couple of weeks after coming home, it took about a month and a half to get her speech evaluated. Then they didn't have any therapists available. I decided to go to someone outside the program for the first four months while we were waiting for an opening. The therapist had Abbey sit at a table and do flashcards to say the names of objects, most of which she had never seen before. So developmentally it wasn't really appropriate and she had a personality clash with the therapist (did I mention that Abbey has a mind of her own?), but I felt it was better than nothing and didn't want to "wait and see" how her speech development went. To me language is too critical not to be very proactive about. Eventually the EI center had an opening and we were able to switch to their therapists who really specialize in working with very young children. They play with toys and follow Abbey's interests. They also specialize in oral motor development. This was very important because Abbey had never eaten any food at 18 months (bottle only), so she really hadn't been using the muscles in her mouth and tongue in the way that most children have. In addition to speech 2 x's a week she was also able to join a little preschool type class once a week. The teachers are all therapists and they do an amazing job in a fantastic facility. I cannot tell you how wonderful everyone we have worked with through EI has been. It has really been incredible! Abbey has had so many wonderful experiences and received so much from all these programs. It has also been so helpful and educational for me. I've learned so much through these programs, and I've been in early childhood education for 20 years. Our EI center offered a six week parenting class in the summer where Abbey and I could attend together. They had wonderful staff playing with the children (it's like an indoor gym/playground/preschool) in a big open room where they could still come over at any time and sit with the parents as we learned about discipline, potty training, teaching your child values, etc. We were provided with wonderful dinners from great local restaurants and every child was given a special educational type toy each week (puppets, books, etc). I also attended an 8 week class on the Hanen Program, It Takes Two to Talk. This is an amazing program from Canada that trains parents how to be their child's speech therapist and develop their language all the time. You meet for a lecture and video and then the instructors come to your home and video tape you implementing the strategies with your child so that you can see what you are doing on film. During that program Abbey really begin putting her words together and talking. It was so amazing.
If we hadn't done any of this I know that Abbey would still have learned to talk and would have eventually made the developmental progress that she has, but it would have been much slower and there would have been gaps of things that would have never been covered. I feel so sad for parents who realize at 4 or 5 yrs. that their children have issues that could have been addressed at a much younger age. I just wanted to share all this for those of you waiting in case it may be helpful. Yes, she is doing amazingly well, now you can see everything we've been doing to ensure that. Tomorrow is a holiday and we'll be off to the park to meet her speech therapist for a playdate. We are trying to get every last drop that we can before Abbey turns 3 in April and will no longer be in the programs. I am so thankful for the wonderful people that have made such a difference in her life.