transition to preschool

Today, Kamdyn had her preschool evaluation.  As most of you know, when she turns 3, she will age out of Early Intervention and enter the school system.  The school system, called the LIU in our area, tests her abilities in fine and gross motor, speech, and cognition in order to determine her placement and services.

I'll be honest.  I was dreading this.  I thought that I was going to sit in a room with a bunch of negative people telling me every little thing Kamdyn couldn't do.  Well, I was wrong.  It wasn't that way at all.

We started out in the waiting room.  Kamdyn didn't mind a bit, because the room is full of toys.  The "team" came in.  That is a little overwhelming, because there was an OT, PT, ST, psychologist, LIU service coordinator, Kamdyn's OT, and our Early Intervention service coordinator. 

They started by introducing themselves and asking the questions they needed.  The speech therapist and the psychologist had most of the questions.  While they were asking me questions, they ushered Kamdyn into an adjoining room.  She went willingly with her OT, Ms. Jenn, who she loves.  When my questioning was done, I went to small room that had a two-way mirror so I could watch.  They basically just played with her, but each thing had a purpose and a skill they were checking.  They did things like walking up steps, pretend play with a baby doll, stacking blocks, matching colors, following directions, repeating words, identifying pictures, and more.  I didn't see the entire time, so I don't know everything they did. 

After the "testing" portion, we went back to the waiting room, while they tallied their scores. 

This was the part that I thought was going to be hard.  Reviewing the evaluation.

I expected to hear age equivalencies and what she isn't doing.  Instead, the OT said, "Kamdyn qualifies for services for OT."  The PT said, "Kamdyn qualifies for services for PT, as well."  And speech, "Kamdyn qualifies for services for speech." 

Well, ok. that was easy.  After all, that's all I really need to know anyway.  I'll get all the numbers, age equivalencies, and percentages in the paperwork, but it was nice to not have to hear them all today. 

Then, the psychologist.  I was afraid of this part too.  I've read since Kamdyn was a baby, "People with Down syndrome have mild to moderate mental retardation".  And even though I hate the term mental retardation, I knew that's what they were going to say.

Here in Pennsylvania, there's a service that everyone calls "Mental Health-Mental Retardation".  I'm not familiar with all that they do, but I know that one of the things they do is set you up with a service coordinator and there are some funds available that can be used for therapeutic or educational needs.  It took me to just google that service to find out it's not even called Mental Health-Mental Retardation (MH-MR) anymore.  It's called MH-IDD (Mental Health-Intellectual Disability).  So I was actually glad to see that.  But now I'm on a rabbit trail. So back to the evaluation.

We had planned on Kamdyn getting the ID/MR (Itellecual Disability/Mental Retardation) label and using the funds that are available to help pay for the typical preschool that she is going to attend when she turns 3.  If you don't use the county's preschool, you have to pay out of pocket. 

But it turns out that Kamdyn doesn't qualify for MH-IDD (also known as MH-MR) services, because her IQ was measured above 70.  I don't feel comfortable giving the number, because I don't think that's right.

I'm not celebrating over this for feeling like it's some kind of victory.  It's really not, and just like I would have said if she had scored a 50, it really is just a number.  Just because a child scores a number below 70 doesn't mean they won't read, do well in school, and have positive interaction with their peers.  Because they do.  And just because a child scores above 70, it doesn't mean that school or life is going to be any easier for them.  I have never had my IQ tested, but I would guess that I would score in the average range, 85-100.  But I struggled all through elementary and middle school.  I struggled to learn to read, and then I struggled to understand what I was reading.  I needed speech therapy, and I had a hard time making friends as a child.  So that number can't tell you what a child can do or how easily they will do it.  What will most likely happen is that Kamdyn will be re-tested when she is kindergarten age, and at that time, her score could be in the ID (MR) range.  There's no way to know, though.  And other than the fact that there are services she wouldn't qualify for without the ID (MR)  label, it doesn't change anything else about how we will teach her or support her.  Actually, it could cause us hardship down the road, when she is adult, without that label.   

For now, they are going to qualify her for services by giving her the label of "developmental delay". This label will allow her to get physical, occupational, and speech therapy through the school system.  Since we're doing the typical preschool, the OT and PT will have to make a special trip to Kamdyn's school, and we will have to get walk-in services for speech, because there aren't enough speech therapists to travel.   Kamdyn is also on a waiting list for outpatient OT and Speech at a local facility. 

Our next step is to observe an LIU classroom, just in case, and then set up her IEP (Individualized Education Plan).  Once we have the IEP set up, we can set up her therapies and figure out who is going where and when.