My 15 month old just saw her Ped. for her check up and has reccomended Speach Therapy for her since she can only say "Mama and Dada". A company called ECI was sent to our home to help determine if there is a need for Speach Therapy. They said that they will come out and check her hearing, vision and diet. We are not that worried we figure she will say "words" when she is ready. Right now she speaks jiberish and we understand her wants and needs. In fact she just said her first word last Sat. and more have followed..."Go, Baba (short for bottle/sippie cup) and Corn (short for Unicorn).
Has any one used ECI for Speach Therapy? Has they been of any help to your child? What are their methods?
Thanks for the help.
I have to say I was not pleased with ECI. I am sure the program it self is great if you start. My problem was after speaking to our rep. the next week the nurse was suposed to come by and they called me and canceled and didnt hear anything back from them. This is the 2nd week and still no word from them. I have to say not impressed...
Anyway she started saying some new words on her own with out their helpl. So I dont plan on using them even if they do finaly call me to schedule an apt.
My son has been using ECI's speech pathologist for about 4 months now and they are helping. The age of your daughter though I don't think will qualify her for ECI yet... my son didn't qualify until he was 20 months old and not even saying mama or dada.
I recommend them because they will know if it is normal or if there is something wrong with your daughter's speech.
My oldest son was in ECI and it wasn't very helpful for him because he was 2 and about to turn 3 in the next 6months and after 3 they no longer provider services. I had a bad expedience with them the lady they assigned to my son never showed up for appt made and then would tell her boss she was showing up at my home and had not been there for two weeks. I saw her boss at a meeting and told her the truth she was fired and the person that suffered the most was my son now he has speech with the public school.
My daughter was 12 weeks premature, and needed some catchup physically and with speech. ECI worked with us and were fantastic. I can only vouch for the therapists that worked with Kylie, but we were very happy. She caught up (and surpassed) her age group within a few months of work. I would recommend giving them a try, at least. Good luck!
I work for CPS and alot of our kids go through ECI. It is a great program and I have seen alot of success. I love that they will come to your home and you don't have to take you kid somewhere they don't feel comfortable. Also, ECI does not accept every kid. If they have accepted your child I would definately work with them. They often do assessments to see where she is at so she will not continue to have therapy when not needed. Good luck with your daughter. I know that can be very fruserating to both you and your child when they know what they want but can't tell you and if you can figure out what they want. Keep us informed on her progress.
My daughter sees a speech therapist every 2 weeks, and an OT every 2 weeks (so we have someone here 1x per week). I have had very positive experiences with ECI. Both therapists come to our house, so my daughter is much more comfortable than if we went to an office. You can tell that they really love what they do, and my daughter loves having them come over. My daughter had no words (except for mama/dada/byebye) at age 2, and I had her evaluated by a private therapist who diagnosed a delay. Problem was even though we have insurance, with copays/deductibles it was going to cost about $300 per month -- money we just don't have. ECI is free for 6 months, then charges on a sliding scale (I think we'll have to pay $20/month). Also, when the time comes to transition to pre-school, ECI will help me connect with the right people at the school to get her enrolled in the program through the school district.
As far as their methods, they seem to just play with Sara. They get right down on the living room floor and I must say, Sara has a ball! I join in on the session, and they teach me exercises to help her develop her language.
Sara has been in the program for about 2 months now, and I have seen tremendous progress - plus she loves Friday mornings when the doorbell rings, she knows its her 'friends' coming over to play.
My doctor referred us to ECI when my son wasn't pulling up by 9 months. They came out and evaluated him. By the time the evaluations were complete (it took a few weeks) he was crawling, so no more intervention was required. The entire process was very positive and everyone who came to visit was great. You can tell they LOVE what they do! It didn't cost anything either to have him evaluated since the program is run by the state. I agree with the other posters- it never hurts to get her checked out. They also reassured me that all children develop at their own pace.
Hi Trish,
I started worring about my son's speech development when he was about 15 months old, but I didn't call ECI until he was 2. ECI was really great. We had a great speech therapist who absolutely loved my son. His speech improved a lot with their help. Now I wish that I had called them sooner.
The evaluation is free. Then if you qualify for services, you can file with your insurance or pay a monthly fee. We paid $20 a month 3 times during an entire years worth of services. Then our $60 was refunded because our insurance finally paid. Even if you have to pay the monthly fee, it is worth it.
They do an evaluation, so if your child does not need help, then they will tell you. If you child does need help, then they will help you. However, every city or county has their own ECI office and it seems to me that some offices do a better job than others. The people that we have worked with in Arlington have been great. I think that it would be worthwile to get an evaluation, which usually takes several visits. Then you can decide for yourself if you think they can help you. When I started seeing a speech delay in my youngest son also, I called ECI at 18 months. They are working with him now.
At age 3 kids that still need help move into the local school district's special education program. Now that is a whole different ballgame. They have not been very helpful at all. They denied my oldest son services last year. Over the summer, he was diagnosed with a Speech Processing Disorder by a neurodevelopmental pediatrician and a speech pathologist who both recommended speech therapy. They people at the school district are still acting like they think he does not need speech therapy.
Another positive experience with ECI. We used ECI's speech therapy (ST) for our son and (ST and PT) for our daughter. We have been pleased with both children's treatment. We currently have our soon to be 4 year son in the Talk program through Keller ISD and have been pleased as well.
S.
Hi Trish,
My son wasn't talking at 18 months so I had him evaluated by ECI and they started speech therapy with him. It was really helpful. I'm sure he would have started talking on his own at some point, but the therapy helped him along. Interestingly enough it also turns out that his adorable chubby cheeks that I loved were contributing to his delayed speech. They had us start working with him, blowing bubbles, drinking through straws, blowing on toy horns, etc. They also taught me exercises and play routines that I could do with him. The whole experience was really positive and our therapist was a really wonderful woman. I wish you the best of luck and just remember that there's no reason to be worried at this point, but it doesn't hurt to be proactive :)
K.
Trish,
My preemies saw ECI for 2 years for PT & OT. They weren't saying anything at 2, and I was beside myself. Not even mommy or daddy - it totally broke my heart! I begged for ECI to evaluate them, they finally did, and wouldn't enroll them for Speech see them because they said ALL their animal sounds and they constitute words in the eyes of ECI. We started the boys in preschool shortly after, and they really started talking A LOT! Now they are 3, and one of them told me his breakfast was "scrumptious". SO it goes from one extreme to the other!
I'm sure she will start talking when she is ready!
L.:)
At my 18 month pedi appt I had some concerns about my son's speech and a few other developmental delays. We were referred to ECI and they have been wonderful. What I liked the most is that they come to your home - an environment where your child is already very comfortable. My son recieved speech and general developmental therapy once a week. How much therapy your daughter recieves will be based on her need. They will give you some pointers on things you can do to work with your little one between appts as well. Payments are done on a sliding scale based on income. My son has made a lot of progress over the last year. I'm sure some of it is "in his own time" factor, but I honestly feel like the therapy does help. It certainly can't hurt. :-) There is a lot of initial paper work up front, but once you get started is it smooth sailing. The other thing I liked is that you get reassessed along the way so you can see where your daughter is progressing. I found the therapists we saw to be extremely nice wonderful people who really care about their patients.
Best luck to you,
Twins mom
