as i posted a little while ago, we recently had Josh’s speech evaluation. in actuality, it was a multi-disciplinary evaluation where a social worker, psychologist and speech pathologist evaluated him from all angles through play. it was done by some people from ECEC, a special ed preschool organization that actually leases space from the church.
i was afraid that he would be hesitant and shy in a new situation – but as soon as he saw their awesome toys (including a few FisherPrice classics from back when i was a kid!), he was right at home. he played and jabbered away, had several imaginary phone conversations with Grandma and Grandpa, and Gracie his little friend from church. thankfully, the child that the evaluators saw was the same little boy we see every day.
so once they were done playing (and i was done filling out a mountain of paperwork), we sat down with the speech pathologist and psychologist to hear what they thought. what happened next was surprising to both of us really. we heard partly what we expected – Josh does need help with his speech, and on top of that we need to have his hearing checked. In addition, they talked a lot about a motor delay issue which surprised us. They said that in some areas he falls into an extremely low percentile, like less than 1%. by that point, i think we both wanted to cry. they recommended a “full day” (4-5 hrs) program, 5 days a week in a special preschool with a speech therapist in the classroom. this is all covered under the early intervention program.
now, you might be reading this and thinking “what on earth is wrong with these people, why are they feeling sad about any of this? free help is free help!”
for a moment, put yourself in my shoes. first of all, getting pregnant with Josh took a little while and required some pharmaceutical help. so when our sweet boy arrived, we were over the moon with excitement. and like any parent, we want the best for our little boy. we’re not under any illusion about Josh being totally perfect – but to be told that your child has extra hurdles to get over at such an early age is just not something any parent wants to hear. i KNOW that God has a plan for Josh and for our family, and this is just a small part of it. i was reminded this morning that Josh is, indeed, loved by the King of Kings, and i could not ask for more than that.
the next step for us is a CPSE meeting which will likely be in mid-July. This is where “they” all get together (someone from ECEC who did the evaluation, someone from the city schools special ed department and somebody from the county health department that foots the bill for all of this, a parent advocate, and us) and they discuss the whole deal and hopefully agree with the recommendations of the ECEC folks.
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