Evaluated

Olivia was evaluated for preschool this morning. She'll attend our local preschool in the fall.

Before we even left the evaluation, the therapists admitted that she qualifies for services.

Duh.

There really wasn't any doubt in my mind as Olivia and I went into meeting that she'd qualify. She needs the structured socialization as well as the academic boost that preschool will give her.

I was surprised, though, by the speech therapists declaration. She said that if we were evaulating Olivia on speech alone, she wouldn't qualify. Her expressive speech has come so far in the last year and a half that the speech therapist doesn't think she needs help with her vocabulary or even her speech. Her projection? Needs work but her ability to make herself understood is equal to that of her peers.

Wow. I knew she was talking well. I knew we could understand her but we're her family, that makes a difference. For a woman who'd never met her before to ask her questions and get answers that she understood was awesome.

Of course, Olivia is weak and so she qualifies for services based on the need for physical and occupational therapy anyway. Since this the case, she'll probably also get speech therapy just to help her with her projection.

She needs to push the air out of her lungs more forcefully. We'd always known that. We blow bubbles, we have whistles and musical intruments that are blown for noise all in hopes that we'll strengthen her projection. She drinks milkshakes through a straw and blows bubbles in drinks with a straw. All the things any and all therapists have suggested, we've done, we do. We're doing what we can to help her reach her fullest potential. That's what we all want for all of our kids.

The fine motor skill session of the evaulation came at the end. Olivia was just about done with the whole thing by that point.

She was getting tired, she was overwhelmed by all the very kind but also fairly pushy women asking her to do this and that and then something else.

While she as a most excellent grip on her writing tools (thanks to her awesome OT from early intervention Cristin,) Olivia can really only draw a circle. Her lines are okay as long as you don't ask her to intersect them or zig zag them.

Scissors? Are her nemesis. When the OT brought out a pair of scissors and showed Liv how she wanted her to cut along a bold dark line, Olivia just looked at her. I remembered that look from O's sessions with Cristin. She didn't want to cut. She didn't want to even look at those scissors let alone touch them. She was a good sport, though, and gave the scissors a try. She used hre left hand. It was awkward. Not only is she right-handed, but she was holding the scissors weird.

The therapist let her try for a bit and then asked if she could help. Olivia let her show her how her (the therapist's) fingers fit into the holes but when the therapist tried to actually put Olivia's fingers and thumb into the correct position on the scissors, Olivia yanked her hand back, refusing to be touched.

In the end, we decided to hope that peer pressure in the coming fall will help her at least want to try to cut with scissors. Of course, the therapist pointed out that Olivia seems to be one of those kids who doesn't want to even try something if she doesn't think she'll be good at that.

Amazing that she picked that up on the hour that we were there, huh?

In the end, we got the results we thought we would. It's all good. Preschool is going to be really, really good for Olivia both thanks to the therapies she'll received but also because it will get her out of the house, into a school doing organized things and meeting kids her age.

My baby is growing up.