Seneca County officials propose hiring speech and physical therapists to address Early Intervention shortages

Seneca County Public Health Director Scott told the Health & Human Services Committee that the county is facing a shortfall of Early Intervention (EI) service providers and recommended adding county-employed clinicians to fill gaps that private contractors are no longer meeting. The Board of Health unanimously urged Scott to “move this forward sooner” and asked him to bring formal job descriptions and budget numbers to the full board.

The program serves children 0–3 with developmental delays and disabilities and connects families to speech, physical and occupational therapy, among other supports. Scott said speech-language services represent the largest need: "I will tell you right off, speech is the largest need. 80 percent of kids who are evaluated need speech." He told supervisors that, currently, 38 children are qualified for speech services but only three are receiving full services from licensed speech-language therapists; 21 are receiving partial…