Early Support Services: Results

We had our evaluation at Early Support Services on Tuesday at 2:00 P.M., with Gail and Denise. The evaluation itself lasted 40 minutes, and I was truly impressed with how well the PT (Gail) and SLP (speech language pathologist, Denise) interacted and played with Henry. While one "played" with him and asked him to do certain tasks, the other marked the results down on their little "scorecard." Some notable tasks that Henry could complete included:

-feeding a babydoll with a spoon and bottle, after modeled by Gail
-putting blocks back into a container, after being asked
-finding the top to the container when asked
-finding a tiny wind-up bug after it is hidden under a cloth
-taking a few unassisted steps (we did this at home, too!)
-tracking a race car after it was hidden under a cup, the cup was moved, and he was asked which cup it was under, when presented with 2 cups (I was impressed with this!)
-when given a closed container of bubbles, he brought it over to Jordan and gave it to Jordan, his way of asking for help
-showing self-pride when he did something good (this was a plus on the eval!)
-placing a Cheerio into a bottle
-getting Cheerios out of a bottle
-banging 2 objects together (although he pretended like he didn't know how to do this, he is quite the expert as he bangs objects together at home all.the.time)

Henry's main areas of "delay" were in fine motor skills and speech/language development. His social/emotional development was right on track, if not exceeding his age, and his gross-motor was right on target. Unfortunately, about 50% of the tasks under the fine motor section assume that he can stack tiny blocks, and he is just not a stacker yet, he is more of a destroyer (hates those tall towers!). And, they concluded that his speech/language development was in the 8-10mos range, and where as he is almost 17 months, he is deemed eligible for services.

After (kindly) asking for some privacy to talk this decision over on whether to enroll now, later, or at all, Jordan and I decided to enroll Henry into the program right then and there (why make another trip back) - we will have a provider come to our house (awesome) for free (even better) once a week. I hope we can schedule it late enough in the day so that I can make it home for work, for part, if not all, of the sessions. Henry will have the same provider every week. I am really looking forward to this!

As parents, we will learn more activities and ways to support Henry's development, and Henry will get great one-on-one time with a teacher. The sessions should start in mid-June.

I will update Henry's progress as it comes.

Thanks for reading :) Cheers!

Early support services

A lot has been going on in our neck of the woods, and I know an update is owed. Tomorrow is a big day for us. I am taking off work, and Jordan and I are taking Henry to be evaluated by our local Early Intervention agency for speech and language development. He will be 17 months old at the end of the month, and at his 15 month appointment, his doc was concerned that his speech was delayed, and just to be on the safe side, referred us to early intervention. He doesn't think there is a huge problem, but he said he would be doing us a "disservice" by NOT referring us.

As a first time mom, of course I was nervous. We don't want anything to be wrong with our little ones, but I wouldn't be doing my job by ignoring it, or even lying to the doctor what we have seen Henry do at home. I just think his development has always been on the later end of "milestones." He did not crawl until he was 11 months old, and he is still not walking. But I believe he will get there in time. He is an observer, and maybe a little shy.

We already had our intake with Jamie, and tomorrow we are meeting with a physical therapist and a speech-language therapist. The evaluation is TWO HOURS! But the good news is that by the end of the evaluation we will find out if he is eligible for services, or not. I am glad we don't have to wait.

What result am I hoping for? I could go either way. If he is eligible and we continue to go for services, I look at it as a learning experience and we will meet great people to help us support H. And, it's free of charge for us! Can't beat that. If he is in-eligible, then we lose nothing, but gain some helpful activities to do with H to help him be the best he is meant to be. And I got a day off work to spend with my boys at home! What more can a working mama ask for? :)

Have any of your little ones needed extra support services yet? How did you feel when the doctor told you this?

I'll let you know what we find out. Now it's bedtime for this lady!