Elizabeth: (WA State) Our daughter adopted from China was tested originally by the Birth to Three folks when she first came home and they were unable to test her Speech (it is “culturally loaded” test, they did not have anyone who spoke her dialect to test her).
Fast forward 15 months, she is now over three and qualifies for school district services, the school district tests her and they say because she is making all the sounds a 15 month old does she is fine.
Is this right?
If it is how long are we supposed to wait to test again? She is very hard to understand. When I compare her speech to my friends children of the same age that came home at roughly the same time, I can see she is behind.
She does get PT with the school district.
She has a severe heart issue and has problems with swallowing after her heart surgery. While still in china she was almost constantly in the hospital, her palate is tented from being intubated for so long.
I am new to this, and need to know if this is just the run around.
Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth, I’d recommend looking into how children qualify in your state (how delayed they need to be, whether they have a qualification due to atypical development)
I’d also ask what test the evaluators used. Some can be done once a year, etc. Either way, an articulation test is usually not part on an initial eval, but that might be what you need to test your daughters oral motor skills.
In the parental rights document, there should be a section about if you disagree with the results of testing. They may pay for you to get a second opinion.