What’s in a number? I refused cognitive testing today at Ashlynn’s school. Despite me saying I was so sure about not doing it two months ago, I still agonized over the decision until today. Today, the psychologist and myself finally had a chance to chat. She has 20 years of experience and has been working with preschool kids exclusively. She sounded smart, thoughtful, and honest. As I ran through my
Exactly 18 months ago, I wrote one of my favorite and initially most popular posts: Lessons from a Tricycle. At that time, Ashlynn was close to 4 and still could not pedal a tricycle. I describe how we bought it a couple months before her third birthday when I was pregnant with my son. A year later, I wrote that post and explained that she STILL wasn’t able to
My friend introduced me to an AWESOME website call “The Mighty.” During the month of March, they challenged readers to write an open letter to a disability that a loved one faces. I have no idea if I’ll get accepted, but hey, at least I have a blog. For as much writing I do about apraxia, it was definitely high time to talk to apraxia myself. Hello apraxia. Hello global
Apraxia is a journey. Speech apraxia is a journey, but global apraxia? Even MORE SO. So many skills to work on. So many things to improve. So many negative prognostic indicators to plow through. The good news is that Ashlynn doesn’t know anything about prognostic indicators. She doesn’t know how heavily loaded she is in the negative column. Not yet anyway. When I first had her receive services she was
Cognitive testing, psychological evaluation, IQ, psychologist, neuropsychologist. What do all these have in common? What do they have to do with a child who has a speech delay? What does it matter? Tests of intelligence, commonly referred to as “cognitive” testing in the schools, are standardized measures usually administered to children as part of a complete battery of testing a child will receive when being considered for special education services
I always say they aren’t any easy answers, only tough choices in this game of parenting. Sometimes, I think I know too much. The special education teacher approached me yesterday about placement for Ashlynn going into Kindergarten. Her attention is such a problem. It could be related to the apraxia and sensory processing disorder, or it could be something else. Who the hell knows. I know she was giving me