One of the first transitions we go through is the transition from early intervention services to school services. This was a terrifying for me. Children under the age of three get their services at home. Parents are a huge part of their child's therapy. We were taught how to help their child, and watched all of the therapy sessions. But when your child turns three, that changes. Nathan went from having 20 hours of services in our home every week, to going to preschool full time and getting all of his services there.
Also, when deciding on early intervention services, all meetings are held in the family's home. A representative from the county, your service coordinator and all your therapists come to you. Once the school district takes over, you have to go to the district. You walk into a conference room with a bunch of people you don't know sitting around a table deciding what's best for your child.
When I took time away from television news when the kids were little I worked in real estate. I used to wrote a real estate news blog, but also included some personal news about myself and my family. I recently rediscovered this blog I wrote in August 2008 about Nathan's transition from EI to school services.
First of Many Rites of Passage
With kids, it seems like we go through one rite of passage after another. Today our family says goodbye to Early Intervention Services. My 3-year-old son, Nathan, has been getting therapy through early intervention for most of his life. He is on the Autism Spectrum and has been getting about 20 hours of therapy a week.
Instead of having multiple therapists coming into our home, Nathan will now be going to preschool and getting all of his services there. When Nathan's developmental pediatrician first said that Nathan would have to go to school all day 5 days a week- I panicked. I didn't want my baby leaving me. But then I realized he would have to be there that much to get all his therapies in and still get to play and learn with the other kids.
My family has been blessed that our son was diagnosed at a time when there is so much information and so many treatments for Autism. Nathan is doing wonderfully. He talks, makes eye contact and takes part in conversations. He's also highly intelligent. He can read and is learning basic math. Thanks to Early Intervention and biomedical treatments, Nathan's doctors expect that one day he will be off the spectrum or have very mild symptoms.
We are ready for a new chapter in our lives. Nathan's ready to go to school, meet new friends and teachers and face new challenges. I'm ready to have my house back and be able to spend some quality time with my younger son, Andrew. But at the same time, I am so appreciative to all Nathan's Early Intervention therapists, his on going service coordinator, and his previous school 123 P.L.A.Y. in Highland, NY. We will continue to update them all on his progress and keep them as part of our lives.
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