Getting help for your child… the Evaluation Process

Getting help for your child … the Evaluation Process

If your child is five years old or younger, and you are worried about his or her development, it is important that you get help as soon as possible. This is because intervention at a very young age has been demonstrated over and over again to help children’s ability to learn, function independently, and interact with other children and adults socially.

How do I know if my child has developmental delays?

You might be worried that your child is:

Too active, or not active enough.
Slow to make sounds, use words, or to understand language.
Throwing temper-tantrums too frequently, or past the age when you thought s/he would begin to use other ways to express his or her unhappiness or frustration.
Playing with toys in an unusual way.

Or, you might have other concerns. Whatever your concerns about your child may be, Birch Family Services can help.

What kind of help can I get for my child? First of all, you can arrange to have your child evaluated to determine if he or she does have delays in one or more area, and Birch Family Services can help arrange these evaluations. Evaluations for your child will be provided at your convenience and in your own language. They are at no cost to you, and can be done in your home or in other sites such as early childhood centers. Remember also that an evaluation can rule out developmental delay, and may point you to other resources to answer your questions about your child’s development.

What happens in an evaluation? Evaluations are conducted by licensed and certified professionals such as psychologists, speech and language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists and teachers, who have experience working with very young children and their families. Evaluations for young children are not “tests”; instead the evaluators ask family members questions and play with the child to determine how the child is functioning.

When evaluators work with you during the evaluation, they will ask you many questions. For example:

How old is the child? Children are capable of doing things within different age ranges. For example, a newborn’s head will “bob” around on his head until he is about three months. Newborns smile at people by three months too. But we would not expect a baby to roll from front to back or to sit up until after six months.
What health issues might affect the child? A child who has had several hospitalizations before six months might develop more slowly in some areas. Or, chronic health issues such as frequent ear infections might have an effect on a child’s ability to use or understand language.
What other things have been happening in the child’s life? Have there been a lot of changes? Has the family moved, or is there a new baby sitter? And most importantly,
What are your concerns about your child’s development? What do you see as his or her strengths?

Evaluators will look at the child’s development in several areas to see if the child functions like most other children do within his or her age range. These areas include movement, speech and language, social and emotional skills and cognitive skills (that is, the ability to understand, think and problem solve).
How can Birch Family Services help? If you decide that you would like to have your child evaluated, and:
Your child is younger than three years old: call Birch’s Service Coordinator Supervisor, Debra Bardavid, at (212) 616-1874. Explain your concerns and she will help to open your child’s case with NYC Early Intervention. Within 24 hours you will be assigned a Service Coordinator- someone to help you navigate the evaluation process. If you already have a Service Coordinator, she will ask if you want the evaluation to be done in your home or at one of our early childhood centers (located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan), and then will refer you the appropriate person in Birch to begin the evaluation process.
Your child is three or four years old:

And you know you want the evaluation to be done in your home: call Jessica Cabreja at (718) 251-4823 extension 2042.
And you know you want the evaluation to be done in one of our Early Childhood Centers: call Abby Schechter at (212) 616-1857. Birch has Early Childhood Centers in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.
If you don’t know which alternative you want, call either of these professionals, and they will insure you know everything you need to know to make a choice that is right for you and your child.

Birch staff will also help you find alternate evaluation sites if you want your child’s evaluation to be completed by an organization other than Birch.
What happens after the evaluation?

For children younger than three, the evaluation process and results provide information that helps you and representatives from the NYC Early Intervention Department determine if your child is eligible for and would benefit from Early Intervention Services. If your child is qualifies for services, you will be a part of a meeting where the evaluation results are discussed, and it is decided what types of services, how often and where these services will be provided.
For children three and four years old, you will participate in a similar process coordinated by representatives from the NYC Department of Education.

Evaluations for children under three years old are funded through NYS DOH and NYC DOH Early Intervention Department. Evaluations for children three and four years old are funded through the NYS Edu