By Tiffany Shedd
My family has recently reached several milestones. It has been over a year since my son has had a seizure. And soon after, he turned two and began transitioning into a toddler. With both of these has come a lot of changes in our day to day routines.
We weaned him off one of his two medications. We are starting to discuss coming off the last medication as well. And as any parent of a toddler will tell you, this transition can be drastic.
Your sweet baby is starting to develop some definite opinions and tastes, but may not be able to express them quite yet. With my son that means a lot of, “uh uh” noises and falling on the floor in tantrums of despair when we don’t immediately figure out what he wants.
Just like our family, the Exceptional Family Member Program has recently gone through some transitions, to include an update to the Education Directory for Children with Special Needs. If you’re unfamiliar with this program it provides information about services and tools available for children all around the country.
As part of the upgrades, the program was divided into two sections: Early Intervention (birth to 3 years old) and School Age Children (3-21). With the division, it makes it easier for parents for children in both age groups to find services best suited for their child and their needs.
The Early Intervention (EI) Services directory breaks down resources by state. Each state’s page will give you information about providers, potential costs and even information about parental training. My family has made great use of the Early Intervention services in Maryland. My son took part in testing with our county's Infants and Toddlers program to make sure that his hearing was not an issue. He was also tested to see if his speech development was delayed or not. Thankfully, his epilepsy hasn’t caused any delays in his development. But for families where this is not the case, you will be able to find out what services are available in your area. Even if your child isn’t eligible for services through the early intervention program, they will be able to point you toward resources that will help your child.
For older children, the School Age Program will be more useful for you. It is broken down by state, just like the EI program, but the focus is on school districts and programs that are more educationally oriented. This includes Educational Definitions of Disabilities, which can differ from state to state, information about their specific service support structures, secondary transitions, and much of the same basic information provided in the EI program.
Moving from state to state as a military family is already a daunting task, but when you have to figure out how to get your child the services that they need and are entitled to it adds even more stress. Having access to the Educational Directory for Children with Special Needs can take some of that stress away by putting all the information you need at your fingertips. It’s available online and you can also download it as a PDF to any of your devices. My husband has already started prepping me for the possibility of a move in the next year, so I know that I will be bookmarking their site myself.
