1 Year Re-Evaluation in Early Intervention

One year of Early intervention completed and it’s time to start planning for year two. With year two comes our transition to the school district as well, which usually begins around 27 – 30 months. If you are anything like us, your little one has made some remarkable gains and you couldn’t be happier with their process. We love our therapists and love the work they do with our daughter and son prior!

Now, what is the 1 year re-evaluation?

It is exactly that. Your child’s therapist(s) completes a re-evaluation of your child’s skills using age appropriate tests and screeners. They will most likely have more questions for you about your child’s progress, areas of strength and areas where you hope to see more improvement. This re-evaluation is nothing like the first evaluation when many service providers came to your house and all worked with your child at the same time. Instead, these re-evaluations mostly take place during your child’s scheduled therapy times by their current therapists. So these involve a more low key setting and not something you need to worry about scheduling about outside of therapy.

What Happens Now?

Your therapist decides which screeners or tests to use at this time with your input of course. They share with you the screeners and tests they wish to use. At this time, you may ask for more information or time to research the instruments your therapist would like to use. Feel free to ask questions, suggest alternatives, and work with your therapist to come to an agreement together. We usually trust our therapist with selecting the assessment instruments to utilize.

After the evaluations are completed, a 1 year review meeting will be scheduled. During this meeting, the team meets to review the current IFSP. Your team includes the parents, your service coordinator and your child’s therapists. Usually the service coordinator schedules this meeting outside of your child’s therapy sessions but it could definitely be done in place of a therapy session or even remotely if necessary.

Why is this re-evaluation necessary?

Young children grow and change so quickly! A skill they might not have had just last week, they have already mastered a few days later. The 1 year re-evaluation ensures that everyone is on the same page. Not only will placement in early intervention be evaluated, but if continued therapy is needed, new goals will be written. This meeting determines if your child should continue with therapy through early intervention or if your little one has made enough growth to no longer need the program.

But don’t sweat it, if your child made the growth to exit the program, your therapists will most likely have shared that with you prior to the meeting. And if you are worried, have a candidate conversation with your therapist or service coordinator. By re-evaluating your child, the team writes new goals and strategies to better meet your child’s needs. Having this meeting together helps all providers to be on the same page. While a speech therapist focuses on language and speech, an occupational therapist can support these goals as well. So talking together helps your family and your child even more!

What Do I Need to Prepare?

I prepare much the same way as I do for the 6 month review. I bring my current copy of my child’s IFSP and any questions or notes that I have to add. Many times I also bring any updates from my pediatrician. If you misplaced your copy of the IFSP, don’t fret, your service provider will also bring a copy to the meeting.

If you feel your child will continue to qualify for services, be sure to think about which services you think your child would benefit from receiving. This is a time when services can be removed or added to your child’s plan. Current services can also be increased, maintained or decreased depending on your child’s growth. Spend some time thinking about how many minutes you want your child to receive.

Finally, bring a list of any questions you may have related to your child or parenting. Such a great time for the service provider and therapists to offer support, advice, or even places to receive extra supports in any area. When the entire team comes together, you receive so much valuable and knowledgeable information. It’s like a super team for helping children, so use it to your advantage.

Be Sure to Reach Out

For many parents and families, anxiety abounds. We know that our child benefits from the services provided but worry that the rest of the team won’t see the need to continue services or may not want to provide the services we think are best. Don’t allow this anxiety to overtake your time with your child. If you worry, ask your child’s therapist or call and chat with your service provider. Most likely if you continue to see areas of struggle for your child, the rest of the team will too.

And if they don’t, you can always ask for support from people outside of your team. Pediatricians can attend the meeting or even write a statement for you to bring to the meeting. There are many outside educational consultants or therapists that you could ask to evaluate your child and bring along those results. Or better yet, invite the person who conducted the evaluation to the meeting. We have always found that asking the question prior to the meeting can help so much! Don’t be afraid to advocate for your child and what they need. The entire team is working together to help your little one!

As your child gets ready to turn three, please check out our post Transitioning to the Local School District. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, please reach out to your local early intervention team.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.