Friday, December 11, 2009

Thoughts on evals

About those pesky developmental evaluations . . . I've been thinking a lot about this. I mean, Finn being all grabby with the boobs is funny and all, but in all seriousness, it does show that he's on the ball, you know? And I can tell you that he knows the layout of our house, and his favorite room is the playroom, which is at the back of the house, behind his sisters' bedroom. So it takes a little thought, and a little navigation, but he finds his way in there every single day. And he knows exactly where to find the little plastic rocking horse in the girls' dollhouse - he loves that little rocking horse. He knows exactly where his basket of toys is kept in the corner of the living room. He knows how to grab the string on the hood of my jacket in a perfect pincer grasp and put it in his mouth. When he hears his Daddy start strumming his guitar all the way across the house, he goes and finds Daddy, because he loves music and responds to it.

I think, in a big, huge way, these developmental assessments they undergo every six months are complete and utter bullshit. I mean, I know they have to do them in order to keep services going. But they just do not give a true and accurate picture of any child's capabilities. I wish that, instead of sitting down for a half hour and trying to make Finn follow commands that he's not used to, the therapist/evaluator would be required to observe quietly, like a fly on the wall, for a day, or even an afternoon. That would give a much truer picture of what Finn is all about.

11 comments:

The Sanchez Family said...

I absolutely agree!

Susan Carson said...

I agree too. We saw the PT at the neurodevelopmental center on Tuesday for the first time in 4 months. She decided, after watching Anthony in the doctor's office for 15 minutes, handing him toys he'd never played with before, and surrounded by 4 strangers, that he now needs an additional PT session with her once a month in addition to his twice-monthly at-home session with his EI physical therapist. Grrrr.

Esther and Brian said...

I agree, very much so...even with "typical" children it would hold true...I think that you are right on target, Lisa....

Cate said...

That's just about exactly what the evaluation team at Abby's preschool said.

Rationally, I know it makes sense, they need to know what skills to help with. I just wish there were some easier way to do it. Something that didn't involve a checklist of my baby's shortcomings.

Karly said...

You are so right. Neither of my kids performs on command. Ever.

Monica Crumley said...

Perfectly said -- every word of it. We have an eval coming up next month and I hate sitting there and trying to project where I think he should be in 6 months. I wish they would tell me their thoughts on this. My answer is... "just further along on his path." Where he lands, nobody knows...

Sasha@ Blyssfulhealth said...

True. Why don't you just ask them to do that. Observe!! You can get them to do what you would like! Wysdom never does things when the therapist arrives. But give him time with daddy playing and he can do a lot. See if they will agree to observe once or twice in his regular environment. Best of luck. I am learning to take what they say with a grain of salt. Just last week while trying to learn to bottle I told the therapist that Wysdom was blowing bubble in the bottle. They said...absolutely not it is impossible and they have never seen it. Two seconds later he proved them wrong. PLS!!You know your child best.

Brandie said...

You're right. In the end what matters is how our kids do in real situations and in the real world. How they perform for evals or other tests doesn't mean a thing!

pawsart said...

Right on sister!

Anna Alexandrova said...

More pictures of Finnian please! I miss seeing him. So glad to hear he is doing so well!

Catherine Just said...

I AGREE and I think YOU are so AWESOME for saying all of this!

He just had OT and PT evals and they tried to get him to do things he's never seen before - heard before or done before. What was the point of that?