How do I know if my therapist has the training needed to help my child?

  • Childrens Therapy Connections therapists are well educated and trained in evidenced based practices. Please see our section about the types of intervention we can provide. Our therapists provide excellent services to the families and children at CTC.
  • EI has allowed therapists with very little experience begin a career in EI, which is not allowed in other states. When a therapist is in EI they are sort of like an island, they do not get the opportunities to confide to other therapists like clinical therapists do, working side by side other therapists all day long, honing their skill set.
  • Service coordinators choose therapists for cases based on a therapists availability, rather than finding the right therapists for the child.

How does CTC and EI Multidisciplinary Approach vary?

  • CTC truly is a multidisciplinary team. Our therapists speak at least 1-2 times weekly regarding your child’s case, interlacing treatment strategies between the all therapies involved and integrating into all treatment sessions.
  • EI promotes that they work as a multidisciplinary team. The EI team meets yearly, sometimes over the phone, to discuss results of assessments and decide ongoing treatment. Team members may communicate with each other 2-3 times a year

How is the need for therapy intervention decided?

  • CTC decides need based on deficits that are impeding a child’s development and ability to function at an age appropriate level.
  • To qualify for EI, a child needs a 30% delay, anything less than 30% and the states denies coverage. This assists the state of IL in keeping cost down. Sometimes this can be misleading to parents, confusing “not qualifying” with the meaning, “not needing” therapy.

Will my child be on a waiting list for therapy services?

  • Children’s Therapy Connections works very hard to keep up with the demands for therapy services. We will not evaluate a child if we do not have treatment sessions available to provide effective treatment.
  • EI- Yes, often times their is a wait list, years ago when the state started delaying payment for services provided, many therapists working in EI left EI to work elsewhere.
  • Service Coordinators put child on waiting lists with the intent to find thee family an available therapist. Sometimes children on on a waiting list for months, or even until they age out of the system at 3 years of age. Service coordinators should inform parents of other therapy options, like outpatient clinics that can provide services for their child, but often they do not.

Why didn’t my service coordinator let me know about pediatric outpatient therapy options, like CTC when they aged out of EI? I was only informed that the school district may qualify my child for therapies after the school evaluated them.

  • Since EI is an education based program it makes sense that they refer families to continue with services within the education system. But there are many circumstances where a school district will not qualify a child for services, for may reasons that they may or may not tell you. There is lots of information out there to help parents understand “the whys and why nots”, being too difficult to state them all here. School therapists are generally frowned upon by administration if they were to recommend out patient therapy when it is needed.
  • It is best practice to have your child evaluated by CTC to look into all areas of development. Your child needs to have all the right tools in place to be successful, CTC can help your child succeed.
  • When a child does not have speech therapy concerns, they cannot have Occupational Therapy in the school setting, regardless if there is a need or not.

I heard that EI is covered by the state of Illinois, so why do they want my private insurance information?

  • EI now requires families to use their private medical insurance for therapy services, and also charges a family a monthly family fee, that does not apply to their medical deductible.
  • If your insurance covers therapy, as an informed parent, the choice is yours regarding the therapy services your child receives. You can choose to have your child evaluated at CTC to see if your child has deficits areas that should be addressed, and get quality intervention. See our parent testimonials regarding choosing CTC over Early Intervention through the state of Illinois

How are therapy services determined?

  • EI therapy service recommendations are often determined by service coordinators and or a developmental therapist. Developmental therapists have a bachelors degree in early childhood education. The DT completes an education based assessment and based on the results may make recommendations to have PT, OT or speech therapists evaluate the child.
  • Team evaluations is another option EI may chose for a family.
  • Some doctors automatically refer children under the age of 3 to EI, but more and more doctors are referring straight to clinics like Children’s Therapy Connections
  • Developmental therapist have a degree in early childhood education
  • PT, OT, and speech-language pathologists are based in medical field.
  • Sometimes families are very happy with the therapists their child had in EI, and just need to continue services in a clinic setting, that is more age appropriate.

Sometimes parents have contacted us after their child aged out of EI either stating that they were on wait list and never received services, or they we not referred to an OT, PT or Speech Pathologist, and only had developmental therapy. Now their child is still in need of these types of intervention.