Last week I hinted that there was some heavy stuff around the corner. I setup an appointment with a psychologist at Children's Hospital to do a cognitive assessment of Ainsley. Things have been so busy setting up my New Scrapbooking "Business" and other things that I decided to wait until it was all over to write about the evaluation.
The first step was filling out the preliminary paperwork, the medical history and routine new patient information. There were 10+pages and that was just the beginning. At our first visit in February we just talked about the medical history and he sent me home with another questionare, plus one for his teacher. Filling it out was a lot like when you take your child to the pediatrician for a well-child checkup and they ask you 20 questions about what your child can or can't do. But multiply that x10. Click on this image to enlarge it and see these questions!
I was feeling pretty bad about things after that. We circled a lot of zeros (= unable to perform). Then we went in for testing. This is a lot like tests they do in the birth to three program or for an IEP. They have a big case full of stuff and standard things they ask the child to perform. They are looking to see how much the child understands, how they problem solve, and what types of words can they understand and commands they can follow. I was actually impressed with how well Ainsley did. And so was the doctor. Some examples of tests he did:
He placed two washclothes on the table, then put a bracelet under one and then switched them around to see if she could find the bracelet.
He filled up a cup with blocks then asked her to do it to watch what she would do to get the final blocks in (I think there was 2 more than would fit).
He asked her to get a rubber duck out from under a clear plexi-glass box that had an opening on one side. Then he'd move to to other tests and do it again but move the opening to a different side to see if she remembered how to get the duck out and would figure out that the opening was now on a different side. She figured that out fairly quickly, which really surprised me because of the spatial perception and motor planning involved.
He used a picture flip chart to ask her to point to the correct picture when asked a question, to match pictures/objects, and more.
The first step was filling out the preliminary paperwork, the medical history and routine new patient information. There were 10+pages and that was just the beginning. At our first visit in February we just talked about the medical history and he sent me home with another questionare, plus one for his teacher. Filling it out was a lot like when you take your child to the pediatrician for a well-child checkup and they ask you 20 questions about what your child can or can't do. But multiply that x10. Click on this image to enlarge it and see these questions!
I was feeling pretty bad about things after that. We circled a lot of zeros (= unable to perform). Then we went in for testing. This is a lot like tests they do in the birth to three program or for an IEP. They have a big case full of stuff and standard things they ask the child to perform. They are looking to see how much the child understands, how they problem solve, and what types of words can they understand and commands they can follow. I was actually impressed with how well Ainsley did. And so was the doctor. Some examples of tests he did: