Steps to Receiving Services
Highly trained Service Coordinators help families navigate Early Intervention (EI) services through each step.
1.
Call
You first call the Intake Service at Erie County Care Management (ECCM) at 814-602-7516, Mon-Fri. 8:30am-5:00pm. They will take your information, especially the concerns you have, and give this information to a Service Coordinator.
2.
Home Visit
The Service Coordinator will call you to schedule a Home Visit to meet you and your child. They will discuss the EI system and the steps involved.
3.
Evaluation
At that Home Visit, you and the Service Coordinator will decide if a full developmental evaluation is needed. If so, The Service Coordinator will make arrangements for the Evaluation, which is also held in your home.
4.
Determining Eligibility
If the results of the evaluation show that your child has a delay of 25% or greater, in any area of development (motor, communication, adaptive, social-emotional, or cognitive), they are eligible to receive services. It is up to you to decide if you want your child to receive services.
5.
Planning Meeting
If you do want your child to receive services, the Service Coordinator will continue with a Planning Meeting. You will identify what therapy outcomes/goals you want for your child and you choose a therapy provider(s).
You will be shown a list of providers to choose from for any therapy. For example, if your child needs several therapies, you are able to choose one therapist from one provider and another therapist from another provider, etc.
The Service Coordinator will ask you for your first choice of a provider for each therapy. If you don’t have a specific choice, you can take first available.
6.
Choose Your Provider
The Service Coordinator makes the referral to the chosen provider to determine their availability to accept the referral.
This reduces any delay in starting therapy, since some therapists may have full caseloads at certain times.
7.
Once the therapy provider accepts the referral, the therapist from that group will call you to arrange start of therapy.
The therapist will ask questions related to your child’s daily routine such as typical nap and wake/sleep times. The therapist will also ask for preferred location for services: home, family member’s home, daycare, or sitter’s home.