The daycare says my child has delays according to an assessment they did, now what?
Talk to your pediatrician. Three of my five children had developmental delays when they were young. They were evaluated by the doctor and were part of a program called first steps. First steps evaluates your child and if they need help they can recommend therapy for their specific needs. We had a therapist that came to our house weekly for speech and occupational therapy. When they turned three they did another evaluation to see if they qualified for a preschool that would continue their therapy. I am not sure it this is a program that is specific to our state or not. We had to get a referral from our doctor to have the children tested to see if they needed help. Of my three children that were in this program, my 14 year old was found to have a mild learning disability and with continued help from her school is on the honor roll and a cheerleader. She also has been in the school play. The other two children that had therapy when they were little are my eight year old twins. They are in second grade and have had no trouble with school work since they started school. This program was wonderful for my family and help to get my children where they needed to be before starting school.
I would not worry to much about what their assessment reports. Children are unique and brilliant. You can not put a label on them. I know this from experience. My first born didn’t want to walk and I was told there was something wrong with her legs and to take her to the Shriners. They wanted to do all sort of things to my baby that were not necessary. When my daughter was ready, she pulled herself to her feet and ran across the room. There was nothing wrong with my daughters legs. She just wasn’t ready to walk when they were ready for her to walk. We need to listen to our blessings. They will tell us what they know and what they are ready for. Our children are very advanced. Every child is unique, we can not apply the same rule for each and every one of them.
My son started speech therapy at 2 years old. If you feel that there might be issues, you should speak to his pediatrician and ask for a referral to an Early Intervention program. They can do age appropriate evaluations to see if he has any developmental or speech delays. I wouldn’t worry too much about the day care’s evaluation if your pediatrician does not feel that there are delays, though. Two year old children are notoriously hard to evaluate and diagnose due to short attention spans! Also, keep in mind that boys speak later than girls. If you are worried, push for the evaluation with EI…. but try not too be too concerned unless you notice no changes in his speech or behavior by the time he is 3.
