The last several months have been crazy and so much to
digest. We ended January with a couple more evaluations and a few more checks
on the list of things needed to continue the process for all the things we are
pursuing for Marshmallow.
I took Marshmallow to the school for the speech evaluation. When we got there I asked about the OT evaluation, as I had not gotten a call about setting up that appointment. They surprised me by saying that they would be doing that at the same time as the speech evaluation that day. I was very grateful to hear that as it would keep the process moving quickly. This time they wanted to see if he would go without me, as they did not need any information from me. Thankfully Marshmallow did amazing and went with them with no issues at all. This is something we have been working on at speech therapy for the last couple months. He has started to go to his therapy sessions alone, instead of having daddy or myself in the room with him too. I was nervous about how he would do in a new environment and with two new people interacting with him. The evaluation took about 40 minutes. They came back raving about what a wonderful child he is, which most certainly warmed my heart. They did ask a few questions about his speech and how he acts. The OT therapist asked me if he had ever used scissors. I told her he had not. She shared that she showed him one time how to use them and that he immediately picked it up. She was very impressed. She commented that he had a very high fine motor skill ability. He most certainly makes up in other areas for the ones that he has struggles in. Overall, it sounds like the evaluation went very well and he had a much better experience than the two previous evaluations. It did show his need, but he was cooperative. Which is about the best I can ask for from him.
The school told me that the next step is to come back for the final review and to go over all the findings. I was able to get that scheduled for about a month out for the end of February. Hopefully, this will be the final step and we will be able to finally get Marshmallow started in the preschool!
That same week we had the evaluation with the ABA therapist scheduled. She came out to our home to do the evaluation with us and Marshmallow. She spent about 2 hours with us. Mainly asking us questions and just observing Marshmallow and how he interacts with us. She also had me fill out more questionnaires full of questions about his behavior and our main concerns. Mainly focusing on what type of things set him off, as the tantrum behaviors are the most concerning for us at this time. The evaluation went well and gave a good start. She told us that she would like to do one more evaluation with Marshmallow before setting up the therapy plan for him. This evaluation would be more of her interacting with Marshmallow and seeing what skill level he is at in several areas. Basically a test similar to what the school did, but would be more targeted on him. The test is basically geared more towards toddler age, verses preschool age. So she feels she would be able to get a more accurate reading of where he really is in using this evaluation. After she does this, she will put together the plan for the ABA therapy.
She was also very encouraging in saying that she felt that ABA therapy would be a good fit for Marshmallow and that he should respond well to this type of therapy. Only time will really tell, but definitely encouraging to hear. A good place for us to start for this journey ahead of us.
So that pretty much brings up to pace with where we are in our journey with Marshmallow. We have our meeting scheduled for the review of Marshmallows ASD evaluation, which will happen next week. We have the evaluation scheduled for the meeting with the ABA therapist for end of next week as well. And we have the final review with the preschool scheduled a couple weeks away. Everything is starting to fall into place. Just waiting for all of it to get finalized!
I am slowly learning more about what all this means and how this is going to affect our lives. I am still very overwhelmed, but know as we get more answers and things get started I will start to have a better understanding of everything going on. I know this journey may not be the easiest and that we will have good days and bad ones. But I know that this will all be worth it. I am looking forward to having ways to help our son in his struggles and to get more answers to our questions. I know with every answer, I get more questions. But that is okay. It means that I am learning more.
Please continue to check back for updates about our journey with Marshmallow and other things going on in our crazy lives. Please keep our family in your prayers, as we process everything about this journey in our lives.
Part One - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/01/real-life-part-one.html
Part Two - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/02/real-life-part-two.html
Part Three - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/02/real-life-part-three.html
I took Marshmallow to the school for the speech evaluation. When we got there I asked about the OT evaluation, as I had not gotten a call about setting up that appointment. They surprised me by saying that they would be doing that at the same time as the speech evaluation that day. I was very grateful to hear that as it would keep the process moving quickly. This time they wanted to see if he would go without me, as they did not need any information from me. Thankfully Marshmallow did amazing and went with them with no issues at all. This is something we have been working on at speech therapy for the last couple months. He has started to go to his therapy sessions alone, instead of having daddy or myself in the room with him too. I was nervous about how he would do in a new environment and with two new people interacting with him. The evaluation took about 40 minutes. They came back raving about what a wonderful child he is, which most certainly warmed my heart. They did ask a few questions about his speech and how he acts. The OT therapist asked me if he had ever used scissors. I told her he had not. She shared that she showed him one time how to use them and that he immediately picked it up. She was very impressed. She commented that he had a very high fine motor skill ability. He most certainly makes up in other areas for the ones that he has struggles in. Overall, it sounds like the evaluation went very well and he had a much better experience than the two previous evaluations. It did show his need, but he was cooperative. Which is about the best I can ask for from him.
The school told me that the next step is to come back for the final review and to go over all the findings. I was able to get that scheduled for about a month out for the end of February. Hopefully, this will be the final step and we will be able to finally get Marshmallow started in the preschool!
That same week we had the evaluation with the ABA therapist scheduled. She came out to our home to do the evaluation with us and Marshmallow. She spent about 2 hours with us. Mainly asking us questions and just observing Marshmallow and how he interacts with us. She also had me fill out more questionnaires full of questions about his behavior and our main concerns. Mainly focusing on what type of things set him off, as the tantrum behaviors are the most concerning for us at this time. The evaluation went well and gave a good start. She told us that she would like to do one more evaluation with Marshmallow before setting up the therapy plan for him. This evaluation would be more of her interacting with Marshmallow and seeing what skill level he is at in several areas. Basically a test similar to what the school did, but would be more targeted on him. The test is basically geared more towards toddler age, verses preschool age. So she feels she would be able to get a more accurate reading of where he really is in using this evaluation. After she does this, she will put together the plan for the ABA therapy.
She was also very encouraging in saying that she felt that ABA therapy would be a good fit for Marshmallow and that he should respond well to this type of therapy. Only time will really tell, but definitely encouraging to hear. A good place for us to start for this journey ahead of us.
So that pretty much brings up to pace with where we are in our journey with Marshmallow. We have our meeting scheduled for the review of Marshmallows ASD evaluation, which will happen next week. We have the evaluation scheduled for the meeting with the ABA therapist for end of next week as well. And we have the final review with the preschool scheduled a couple weeks away. Everything is starting to fall into place. Just waiting for all of it to get finalized!
I am slowly learning more about what all this means and how this is going to affect our lives. I am still very overwhelmed, but know as we get more answers and things get started I will start to have a better understanding of everything going on. I know this journey may not be the easiest and that we will have good days and bad ones. But I know that this will all be worth it. I am looking forward to having ways to help our son in his struggles and to get more answers to our questions. I know with every answer, I get more questions. But that is okay. It means that I am learning more.
Please continue to check back for updates about our journey with Marshmallow and other things going on in our crazy lives. Please keep our family in your prayers, as we process everything about this journey in our lives.
Part One - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/01/real-life-part-one.html
Part Two - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/02/real-life-part-two.html
Part Three - http://smorepuma.blogspot.com/2015/02/real-life-part-three.html
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