Learning the Initial System...

Once we had our referral for Daniel with the Regional Center, we would have three appointments there. The first was a "meeting" with a worker to ask detailed questions about what was going on. Typical questions that we had answered a hundred times (or seemed like) and would answer at least as many more. When had he learned to walk, had he rolled over for the first time, when did he crawl, etc. Was he talking? How many words? Etc. Once we finished this "interview" they would get back to us within 60 days.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we got a call to schedule an assessment. When the day came, we took Daniel to the Regional Center where a group of professionals would figure out what they suspected to be the problem. A nurse, a psychologist, a speech therapist, I believe there were one or two more, but at this point I really can't remember. They would try to get him to mimic words, play with toys that would show fine motor and gross motor skills. They pretty much put him through his paces. All the time asking more questions about his development to date.

A few weeks later, Daniel was "taken on" as a client. His diagnosis at the time was physical and mental delay. He would be referred to a a program in our school district for children with special needs, under three years old. He would go once a week to see a speech therapist who began working with PRT (Pivotal Response Therapy). This is for children with a little speech and is designed to bring more speech out. The second part of this therapy was to bring a "home" teacher in to "play" (work) to develop and assess his progress. She was wonderful, she also allowed Anthony to "play" with Daniel, and included him when he was curious.

Everything seemed to be going well for those first few months. After all he started late that first school year, and would take a break for a few weeks of "summer".