I don’t know why I am obsessively thinking about prognosis lately, but I am. I am required to give a prognosis when evaluating children. I’ve had to stare at a prognosis in my own child. I received a prognosis once. I was seventeen and I balled my eyes out in my mom’s car. I was a senior in highschool, a starter and captain of the girl’s basketball team when my
Professional development today found me in a room full of teachers checking boxes about our personality characteristics. In the left column, characteristics were decidedly rigid, black and white, and defeatist. On the right were characteristics that spoke of resilience, “can do” attitudes, and a try again spirit. I felt a little bad going through my own (private) personality. I marked off mostly a “mixed” personality which was in the middle.
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
I went to my state’s annual school based symposium for SLP’s this weekend and one of the keynote speakers was Dr. Amy Meredith CCC-SLP. She is a professor at Washington State University and specializes in Childhood Apraxia of Speech with a focus on Early Literacy Skills. Of all the things she said, the one quote that really stood out to me was this: “Experience is the key architect of
Nature versus nurture. It’s a phrase that comes up in my profession, even if it’s unspoken. I’m in the business of child language development, and nothing raises more eyebrows about nurture than a child who can’t talk…. or who has poor vocabulary knowledge…… or is lacking in language skills. Oh it comes up in psychology too. We’ve all heard the stories of twins separated at birth and raised in different
