When Owen was just a few months old, we had his first evaluation done through the state for early intervention. We knew after his two open heart surgeries in his first six months of life, he would require some type of therapy. At four months, when he was just a little guy, he started physical and occupational therapy in our home weekly.
Throughout the first two years, he continued to receive physical and occupational therapy. OT worked mainly on feeding since he wouldn't even put a bottle nipple in his mouth. That has probably been the slowest progression, but now he knows how to eat. Physical therapy has been a slow process because he just hasn't felt well the past four years. Speech was started around his second birthday because he wasn't speaking in word combinations, but rather just saying "ma ma" or "bye bye". Simple two word sounds together.
About two years ago, when Owen looked like this, he had his first preschool evaluation for the school system. The school districts in Arizona offer a developmental preschool to help get these kiddos the therapies they need to get on track before school age. Owen qualified two years ago showing a severe delay in gross motor and speech. He passed on fine motor skills. Unfortunately, preschool was and is still not an option, due to his medical condition. We just can't risk him getting sick. My hope was that they would offer some type of at home tutoring for him, but that doesn't begin until 1st grade if necessary. We decided to just continue on with his at home therapies weekly.
Look at this handsome boy!
Fast forward to August of this year. I contacted the school district because I was told about a speech articulation preschool that meets once a week for 45 minutes. I thought this may be a good program for Owen, but he needed to be reevaluated first. We went in two weeks ago for a full preschool evaluation. They evaluated him for three hours, in gross motor, fine motor and speech. We also did a cognitive evaluation, hearing and vision testing.
Today, we went back for the results. The results shocked me!!
They placed a packed in front of me with his previous test scores and the ones from two weeks ago. The first thing I heard the psychologist tell me was "Owen doesn't qualify for preschool."
Excuse me? I listened to each therapist go over their evaluation scores one at a time.
Occupational Therapy: "Owen's fine motor skills display moderate delays". The number one issue he had was his trunk and grasp weakness. When he writes, he displays weakness in his arm and shoulders. That was it. We have already been working on this at home with his OT weekly, so this was great news.
Physical Therapy: This is his worst area of development, for obvious reasons. He scored at an age equivalent of 35 months for Stationary skills (balancing, standing, sitting), rating of poor. He scored at an age equivalent of 18 months for Locomotion skills (jumping, climbing, stepping up), rating of very poor. He scored an age equivalent of 28 months for Object Manipulation (throwing, catching, bouncing), rating of poor. We are working with his PT weekly at gymnastics to improve these skills an when it comes time for Kindergarten, we will integrate PT into the classroom for him. No surprise here.
Speech and Language: Owen's receptive and expressive language fell in the average range requiring no services at this time. He does have a "mild articulation delay" as he is missing his back sounds. /K/ and /g/. Owen's cognitive skills also fell into the average range. Owen's social skills were also in the average range.
They wrapped up the report with...
"Although Owen's fine and gross motor skills are delayed when compared to peers his age, the delay in this area is not significant. Owen's social, adaptive, cognitive and communication skills all fall within the low average to average range indicating that his development in these areas are typical for his age."
That was it. No special education required. No Individual Education Plan. Just a little guy starting Kindergarten next year with all the other kids his age. He is average. All of our hard work with his therapies and early intervention are paying off! I know that with his new heart and more hard work, he will bump those scores even higher. I looked at Owen and said.. "You did great Owen!" He started dancing around the room singing.. "I'm a genius, oh yeah, I'm going to Kindergarten, oh yeah..." Always the entertainer! :)
As we were leaving Owen told them all "thank you... Kindergarten is going to be FanTASTIC!!" Yes it will.
Our plan is to continue with weekly PT {gymnastics}, OT, and Speech therapy. We will get him a new heart, kick this oxygen to the curb and he will start Kindergarten next fall. Just like all the other kids his age.
