Early Intervention

• About the Omni Center
• Who is Eligible for Early Intervention Services?
• How Do I Begin the Process?
• These Professionals Include...

The Omni Center

Our Early Intervention Program is a division of Harmony Hearing & Speech Center, and is specifically for children ages birth to three years old.

About the Omni Center

The Omni Center is a special program for children and their families. Developmental delays may present in the form of speech and language delay, a delay in physical abilities such as sitting, standing and walking or in balance and coordination. Difficulties may also present in the form of feeding problems. For example, you may have noticed that your child may not be producing speech which is intelligible to you or others, or that your child is experiencing difficulty with sucking, chewing or swallowing. Perhaps, your child is having difficulty sitting without assistance, or tends to be clumsy while walking, or falls down frequently. Finally, you may have questions regarding your child’s ability to hear surrounding or familiar sounds or voices.

It is our goal at The Omni Center to evaluate and identify an existing or potential problem, and provide habilitation/rehabilitation which will assist in remediation of your child’s problem. It is our goal to help your child achieve his/her full developmental potential.

The Omni Center is a New York State Early Intervention Provider. This means that services are available to ALL families, regardless of income level. There is no out-of-pocket expense to you.

Who Is Eligible For Early Intervention Services?

Your child is eligible for Early Intervention Services:

1. If your child is under 3 years old
2. If your child has a developmental disability or shows a delay in one or more of the following areas:

Eligibility is determined based on the outcome of the evaluation

How Do I Begin The Process?

If you think that your child may have a problem, then a referral must be made to the Early Intervention Program. A referral can be made by parents, doctors, hospitals, social workers, nurses, day care centers, and other agencies interested in your child’s development. Before a referral is made by someone other than yourself, your permission is required before the Early Intervention Program can be notified.

After the referral is made an Initial Service Coordinator will be assigned to your child and family. The Initial Service Coordinator will help you arrange for a developmental evaluation for your child to determine if your child is eligible for services. If the results of the evaluation indicate that your child is eligible to receive services through Early Intervention then your Initial Service Coordinator will help you prepare for a meeting with the evaluators and the Queens, Nassau or Suffolk County Early Intervention staff (based on the County you reside in) to determine a plan for your child. This meeting is referred to as the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). The IFSP will be especially designed to meet both your child’s and family’s needs.

The purpose of the IFSP meeting is to discuss the findings of the evaluation and the services that are recommended for your child. The IFSP meeting is most important because it gives you an opportunity to discuss the services that you would like your child to receive, as well as an opportunity to address any concerns that you may have. The IFSP is a written agreement between your family and the other team members. It is a plan which changes as your child progresses, and also as your concerns and needs change.

During the IFSP meeting you will have the opportunity to choose an Early Intervention Agency such as The Omni Center who will provide the professionals which your child needs.

These professionals may include:

Speech-Language Pathologist - is a licensed individual who provides speech and language therapy to improve your child’s communication skills. In addition, this individual provides feeding therapy if your child is having difficulty sucking, chewing or swallowing, for instance.

Special Educator - is a licensed teacher whose goal is to improve your child’s cognitive or learning abilities.

Physical and Occupational Therapists - are licensed individuals who provide therapy to improve your child’s gross (sitting, standing, walking), and fine (using things like a spoon or a crayon) motor skills.

Audiologist - is a licensed individual trained to evaluate your child’s hearing. The Audiologist will determine if your child may have a hearing loss and will be able to assist your child with strategies to improve your child’s hearing. For instance, your child may benefit from wearing a hearing aid.

Other team members may include the Psychologist, Social Worker, Nurse, Vision Specialist or Dietician, for example.

In addition, each family will be assigned an Ongoing Service Coordinator who will make sure that your child and family receive the services stated in the IFSP.

Our staff is available to assist those families and their children who may be showing a problem, may be at risk of developing a problem, or who are suspected of having a problem. The staff at Omni is multidisciplinary in that we work together as a team with both the children and their families in order to provide an environment which is naturalistic and comfortable in order to assist in the identification and remediation of existing or potential problems.

Services are available in your home and/or in our office, or may be provided at your child’s day care center if you prefer.

If you have questions regarding your child’s developmental abilities please contact:

• Click here for our Developmental Checklist.