Early Intervention

• Is the term used to describe the services and supports that are available to babies and young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families.
• May include speech therapy, physical therapy, and other types of services based on the needs of the child and family.
• Can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to learn new skills and overcome challenges and can increase success in school and life.
• Programs are available in every state and territory. These publicly funded programs provide services for free or at reduced cost for any child who is eligible.

First Step is to have your child evaluated if you, their doctor or loved ones suspect that there is a concern or delay.  Go with your gut, it will only help your child if they do need services and if they don’t need services, that is great!

Early Intervention is from Birth through age 3.  The earlier you suspect a delay the earlier they can get services.  First step is to Call your states early intervention program (see contacts below) and say: “I have concerns about my child’s development and I would like to have my child evaluated to find out if he/she is eligible for early intervention services.”

New York State Early Intervention Program (EIP)
(800) 522-5006 or (518) 473-7016

Early Intervention Program

The New York State Early Intervention Program (EIP) is part of the national Early Intervention Program for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. First created by Congress in 1986 under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the EIP is administered by the New York State Department of Health through the Bureau of Early Intervention. In New York State, the Early Intervention Program is established in Article 25 of the Public Health Law and has been in effect since July 1, 1993.

To be eligible for services, children must be under 3 years of age and have a confirmed disability or established developmental delay, as defined by the State, in one or more of the following areas of development: physical, cognitive, communication, social-emotional, and/or adaptive.

Early Intervention Services

The Early Intervention Program offers a variety of therapeutic and support services to eligible infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families, including:

• family education and counseling, home visits, and parent support groups
• special instruction
• speech pathology and audiology
• occupational therapy
• physical therapy
• psychological services
• service coordination
• nursing services
• nutrition services
• social work services
• vision services
• assistive technology devices and services

How to Apply for Early Intervention

A municipal Early Intervention Official (EIO) designated by the chief elected official of the municipality/county administers the Early Intervention Program locally. Contact your EIO for information about your local program or to refer a child. For information about the statewide program, contact the NYS Department of Health, Bureau of Early Intervention at (518) 473-7016 or e-mail bei@health.ny.gov.

If your child is age 3 or older, call any local public elementary school (even if your child does not go to school there) and say: “I have concerns about my child’s development and I would like to have my child evaluated through the school system for preschool special education services.”

• If the person who answers is unfamiliar with preschool special education, ask to speak with the school or district’s special education director.

OPWDD Process (Office of People with Developmental Disabilities)

OPWDD Services should be applied for before you exit out of Early Intervention.  You’re On Going Service Coordinator should be able to point you in the right direction, but below are the necessary steps.

Goto:
https://opwdd.ny.gov/get-started/front-door

The Front Door is the way OPWDD connects you to the services you want and need. Once you enter, a person-centered planning process begins, which helps you learn about and access service options that take your needs and desires into consideration. It will also give you the chance to direct your own service plan or help your family member or loved one as they direct theirs.

The Front Door is based on the understanding that, as a person with developmental disabilities you have the right to:

• Enjoy meaningful relationships,
• Experience personal growth,
• Participate in your community and,
• Live in the home of your choice. 

Front Door staff will guide you through the steps involved in finding out if you are eligible for services with OPWDD, identify your needs, goals and preferences and help you work on a plan for getting those services.

If you are in Early Intervention (EI) Your On Going Service Coordinator should be able to point you in the right direction too and help you obtain some of the reports needed to make eligibility.  i.e. Medical forms, IEP, Psych eval, copy of EI reports. 

You will be assigned a Care Coordinator who can help with enrolling in Medicaid & The Home & Community Based Waiver program.

OPWDD expects each individual seeking services to access available benefit programs

(like Medicaid) which help pay for the services they want. For example, if a person is

seeking HCBS waiver services, the individual will need to be eligible for and enroll in

Medicaid and the HCBS waiver for the government to pay for these services. Individuals

may also pay for the cost of services with their own funds instead of enrolling in a benefit

program.

You will have to pick a Care Manager:

The Service Coordinator will help you develop & implement your Life Plan.

Some of the services you could possibly receive are :

Family support services include:

• Respite (provides relief to individuals who are responsible for the primary care and

support of an individual with a developmental disability)

• Family member training

• Support groups

• Training in how to manage challenging behaviors

• Reimbursement

• Parent to parent networking

• Information and referral

• Sibling services

• After school programs

• Recreation/ Social activities

Diapers and Medical Supplies

**My Suggestion is to start OPWDD ASAP, since this whole process takes months and ask your care coordinator to help you start the Self Direction process, where you receive a budget from the state.  You will have to find a Broker and a Financial Intermediary; I can help when the time comes but your CC should be able to help as well.

https://opwdd.ny.gov/types-services/self-direction

Also, look into CDPAP, where you can have a care giver who does NOT live with you, get paid to take care of your child.  Once Audrey turns 21, my husband and I can pay each other, so start this ASAP too

https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/program/longterm/cdpap.htm

Looking for a fun Family day with the kids on a Sunday afternoon? Come to Chateau Briand on October 14th from 12:30-3:30pm. We will be celebrating my first Children’s book, The Wish! There will be entertainment for the kids, food and drinks and prizes too! All proceeds will benefit 3 amazing Special Needs Charities that have helped Audrey: Share The Voice, Camp Anchor and Angie’s House, all for $50 per family!
You will get to meet the inspirations for the book, Audrey and Vivienne and Allison, the illustrator. There will be signed copies of the book available to purchase.
Please sign up so we know how many to expect. All are welcome, hope to see you there! Thank you for your support! Please click link below for more details on how to purchase your Family pass.
The Wish Family Pass

I am so excited to let everyone know I am finally finished with my first book! It has been a year or so in the making but is finally here! It is so funny too because in school I was never good at writing, I used to say I would write exactly how I spoke. But everyone would always tell me that I should write a book. You can’t make up some of the stories that happened in my life so far!

When Audrey was diagnosed with Microcephaly, I remember reading so many negative stories, as if there was no hope and they were all so depressing. It broke my heart and that is when I started to write my blog and put a positive, hopeful story into the world! It is my mission to spread the word of hope and how to focus on the ability in disability.

This past Christmas, Vivienne was playing with a Santa App we have and he asked her what she wanted for Christmas. I thought she was going to say something “princessey”, she is only 3. But then she said, “I want Audrey to talk!” Well that just melted my heart because we did not tell her to say that, she just had an innocent wish. This inspired me to incorporate that wish into a real life Fairy Tale called “The Wish”.

So now that I had the story in my head, I knew that for it to be a Fairy Tale it needed to have certain elements. One day at a birthday party for one of Audrey and Vivienne’s babysitters, Allison, I looked up on her wall and she had all these pictures of fairies everywhere. I never knew that Allison loved to draw and it was as if she could see the story in my head. I asked her Mom and she said that Allison had been drawing since she was little and loves it! So I asked her and her mom if she would like to be a part of my book.

We know Allison from Respite at St. Anne’s. Respite is every other Friday at St. Anne’s where members of the school and community volunteer to watch our Special Needs Children so the parents can have a break and a nice dinner with friends. Allison and her brother are part of the Special Needs community at St. Anne’s. I thought who better to be the Illustrator for my book than her! She has helped me all summer with the girls being a Mother’s Helper and she trick or treats with us every year. She is smart, kind and always willing to help. I am so glad that she wanted to be a part of this story and bring my book to life! She also proves that you can do anything you put your mind to and nothing is holding her back!

The Fairy Godmother in the book is named after my cousin Lauren who passed away this summer. Lauren was a smart, funny, beautiful woman who was also an amazing athlete, hence the green running sneakers she wears in the book. Lauren was always so supportive of spreading the word about Audrey and how important it is to get your child into Early Intervention and believing in them and never giving up. I miss her dearly, but know that she will live on forever in this book.

There are not that many books written about special needs children. Hopefully this one will be read in classrooms all over as well as bedtime stories at night. It is a sweet story about kindness and inclusion. It welcomes the questions some children may have about other kids that are different. It is important to talk about how not everyone is the same and we all have feelings. If we start the conversations now while our kids are young, this may inspire them to be kinder and hopefully there will be less bullying in the world. Parents and teachers can see how Vivienne’s selfless wishes made them both feel so happy!

So now that you know the inspiration behind “The Wish” I really hope you enjoy it and read it to your children and I hope they take away the special messages I tried to convey.

There are so many people I want to thank for helping me on this endeavor: Allison; for vibrant illustrations. My sweet in-laws, Patti & Jim for always helping with the girls so I could get this finished. Annie, my fabulous sister in law for her back and forth of input. My cousin Winnie who is an amazing Editor. My sister, Krafty Kristen for her advice and encouragement. Tara, one of Audrey’s Special Ed Teachers who helped me craft a Fairy Tale. All my Friends and Family, Thank you so much for always rooting Audrey on! And last but not least Jimmy, my soul mate and biggest supporter and my sweet girls, Audrey and Vivienne, who inspire me every day, I love you all so much!

The Wish is available via the publishers website below or you can buy directly through me via the contact page and get a signed copy at a discount! Please also consider writing a review of my book on Amazon and the publishers website below, that will help so much! Thank you all for being apart of our #audreystory Please share this post, Thank you!!!

The Wish

Some of you might wonder what Audrey does for fun in between all of her therapies. Her favorite thing to do is go to our local park, Edgmere Park in Garden City and ride the swings. Now Audrey does not get her height from me, she grew 7 inches last year and is so strong from all her therapies, that it has been quite a bit challenging to lift her and put her in the baby swings at the park. It broke my heart to take her to the park with Vivienne and not be able to put her in the swings!
So we were at a local property association gathering and we asked the Garden City Treasurer if he would consider putting in an adaptive swing for Audrey and all the other special needs children in our neighborhood. He didn’t even think twice about it, he asked if I could send him an email with a picture of the swing. Next thing you know I received calls from the town and parks administration and they said they would put them in ALL of the parks in Garden City! I was so thrilled! Finally we could go back to the park with their friends and both my girls could have fun!
I am so happy that I asked for this and am thankful for the overwhelming response from all the parents out there that said these swings have helped their children as well!
You can read this news story on my Video page. Audrey had a full page in the Garden City paper and on local websites!
Now all children of ALL abilities can enjoy our parks in our beautiful town!