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Good advice Reggio - my oldest boy required intensive speech and language therapy - if we had waited for his number to come up in the public system he would not have been seen until he was almost in kindergarten - at that point they age out of the hospital programs and move into the school board's jurisdiction. =) We chose private care, and still feel that it was the best decision for our child. Early intervention makes a huge difference for the children, and sometimes a portion of it is covered by insurance - especially if you can demonstrate that the child needs the help, but will not receive it in a timely fashion if you go through the typical channels.

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Originally Posted by Inspired by Reggio

IME from working in centre administration for a decade if they have a waiting list for care just like US when they are going to be looking to fill a spot they are going to choose the IDEAL candidate off that list who is the best match to the program and has the highest need so that they can make the most impact on helping ... so if this child is slated to leave to go to school in September 2013 that is going to be a lot of work for them to adjust him to their program and do all the paperwork to get him help and resources in place just for him to LEAVE the program in nine months for the school system ~ the reality at least in many areas of Ontario anyway is that sometimes the wait list to get speech and language assistance for a child is nine months itself from the time of referral by a professional to the time therapy actually starts which is why we always 'push' parents to seek help at the first signs of challenge for children at that 18 month well baby check up rather than wait this long cause we want the help in place before they are ready to start school!

IMO based on his age and what you have shared are his challenges he is even LESS likely to get a spot in a regional childcare program ~ my guess is that there will be others with LARGER issues than just speech and language and delayed training that will be a higher priority as well that are younger and would be able to be there long enough for the program to actually help the child.

Sadly I would be advocating that the clients look for arranging for speech and language therapy outside of 'centre program' and leaving him with you until he starts school ... the waiting list might be shorter privately and they might have a co-pay requirement depending on their household income but it would get him the help faster to catch him up to help him have the basic self help and other skills for starting school without making him change childcare arrangements yet again which would likely cause a regression again!

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I have had several children in care with special needs and in all cases the "professionals" pushed for the kids to be moved to a daycare centre at least by January of the year they would start school in September. The idea was that they could bring in people to do assessments and determine what help the child would need and then make arrangements to have that available to the child as they started school. If they were in a licensed agency daycare some of the professionals can go to the home to perform services such as speech, OT/PT but not to unlicensed homes - ministry rules.

Moving to a centre allows the services to observe the child in a group and rule out things like experience, observe behviours and then work with teachers to establish learning guidelines.

I agree that they will get faster service if they go the private therapy route. The downside is once the child is actually in school they will go to the bottom of the assessment list and it could be a couple school years before the child is diagnosed for services. Starting them in preschool when the wait list is shorter and more money is pumped into the systems means that the reports follow the child into school. My belief is that since a child does need to legally start school till age 6, the preschool program would be able to accommodate him and receive funding.