Well now we're the parents and Alexi is the one taking the test, so thank goodness we don't have to get nervous like that again! Yeah now someone is just coming into our house and telling us how our kid compares to national standards for typically developing kids her age. Thank goodness there's no reason to be nervous. They'll just come in, test her, because at two years old she's definitely going to cooperate, and tell us how she stacks up. Proving whether or not our hard work is "paying off." Or if we are working hard enough. Who said we were experts on this and needed our parenting evaluated? I don't remember going to school for this. I didn't grow up in a house with anyone who had special needs, who do "they" think they are coming in to my house and telling me if I am failing my daughter miserably or not??? I didn't get to study for this, it just happened to me!!
Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but the point is, it can feel kind of weird having a professional come into your home and evaluate how your kid is developing. It happens pretty often in our home and to be honest we're glad for it. We genuinely could care less how Alexi compares to typically developing kiddos her age, if it wasn't so vital in helping build our ever changing strategy for helping her. These kinds of tests can help us work harder on some areas and sometimes, they can be a real confidence booster that the hard work is paying off.
We've been kinda sure for a while that Alexi was doing well with her speech and communication, as well as her problem solving. Today Alexi was evaluated using the DAYC (Developmental Assessment of Young Children) test and she was on fire!
We knew she's been struggling a bit in gross motor, and working real hard to catch up. Testing says: Alexi has lots more work to do there, but is closing the gap! Being 10 weeks early may have made that gap a bit on the large side, but I am confident that we can close it up with some more hard work.
I love talking about our working with her as hard work. Man does it make us sound crazy dedicated and like she's in bootcamp or something. The truth is our "hard work" is playing, structured playing with strategic plans, but we're all having fun when we're "working hard." The biggest problem we have lately is Alexi. She has caught on, we used to be able to mask it all as playing, but now she knows when we are "tricking her" into working a specific skill. And if she is not in the mood she lets us know it! She will refuse to do things she has mastered and enjoys purely out of spite, which is actually kind of cool, as that shows intelligence.
Ohh intelligence reminds me, I was kind of typing about this so I could brag a bit! Sure gross motor needs more work, she's got lots of time for that, so I'm cool with it. What was awesome about today's test was that it kind of put down on paper where she stands on some areas we thought were going well but didn't really know how well. She only missed 2 marks on the whole social test and 3 on the cognitive part. I can't remember exactly how many she missed on the communication part but she did awesome. These are the areas that have always been high on our priority list, so this was GREATLY reassuring to us. After doing all of these "extra things" with her ever since she came home from the hospital, it feels like a big old pat on the back to hear that we're preparing her well for her future, which is certainly motivating to keep pushing, keep learning, and continue teaching her everything we can. After all as parents (of ANY child) that is our job, right?
Now I know I don't get a chance to update nearly as much as I used to, but that doesn't mean our mission has changed at all. We appreciate everyone who "keeps up" with Alexi and hope to continue to spread awareness that having a child with a disability like Down Syndrome is not the end of the world, but is the beginning of an amazing journey. One we sure didn't expect but are glad to be on. So thanks for "watching" and once this summer cools off and work slows down, we'll probably get a little better at keeping you posted!
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