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Little Man got his speech and hearing evaluated on Tuesday. I didn’t mention it on Tuesday because, well, I forgot. So far at each well visit check up that he has had with El Doctoré, Little Man tended to just barely meet the speech requirements associated with his age. For example, at his 3 year check up, at the last second he pulled out of nowhere that he was a “little boy” whose age was “treeeeeeeee.” Well, played Little Man. Well played, indeed. Anyway, he had his speech and hearing evaluation done at his preschool today. To make a lengthy post only medium sized, he failed the speech portion.
Okay, here is where the ranting and waving of arms commences. One of the criteria determining his failure was, and I attempt to quote without a copy in front of me, “Does not listen and has difficulty following directions.” Ummm… I don’t want to remotely negate any of your evaluation, but I think you may have stumbled onto one of my darling little boy’s overdeveloped personality traits more than a speech deficiency. The boy listens when he wants to and soaks up information like a sponge. He won’t say anything that he gleaned from listening until he finds it to be most in-opportune. Not to mention the fact that he is 3! He is an obstinate little cuss, and I imagine that the speechies were keeping him from playing with the train table. So, one other thing about the eval. If one is going to fail a child on a developmental diagnostic test, one should make sure that one writes clearly and legibly, oh, and make sure that the carbon copy you give the parents actually transferred. Half explanations and indecipherable scribblings do not help a parent understand what is going on.
On the good side, they said that his pronunciation was good and that his cadence was okay as well.
To Recap:
Little Man is an obstinate little cuss
I have a meeting to get to in 15 minutes
I slept for crap last night
I am sure it will make me nice and cheery for the meeting
Not sure what is going to be for dinner tonight
If Little Man had an accident free day, it might include root beer
If they had talked to him about trains, I doubt he would have shut up
Have a great weekend
Okay, here is where the ranting and waving of arms commences. One of the criteria determining his failure was, and I attempt to quote without a copy in front of me, “Does not listen and has difficulty following directions.” Ummm… I don’t want to remotely negate any of your evaluation, but I think you may have stumbled onto one of my darling little boy’s overdeveloped personality traits more than a speech deficiency. The boy listens when he wants to and soaks up information like a sponge. He won’t say anything that he gleaned from listening until he finds it to be most in-opportune. Not to mention the fact that he is 3! He is an obstinate little cuss, and I imagine that the speechies were keeping him from playing with the train table. So, one other thing about the eval. If one is going to fail a child on a developmental diagnostic test, one should make sure that one writes clearly and legibly, oh, and make sure that the carbon copy you give the parents actually transferred. Half explanations and indecipherable scribblings do not help a parent understand what is going on.
On the good side, they said that his pronunciation was good and that his cadence was okay as well.
To Recap:
Little Man is an obstinate little cuss
I have a meeting to get to in 15 minutes
I slept for crap last night
I am sure it will make me nice and cheery for the meeting
Not sure what is going to be for dinner tonight
If Little Man had an accident free day, it might include root beer
If they had talked to him about trains, I doubt he would have shut up
Have a great weekend
Labels: Little Man
12 Comments:
This, my love, is not a problem. Being allergic to dairy, egg, soy, potatoes, tomatoes, cinnamon, and most vegetables. That's a problem.
This is doable.
Maybe the people doing the evaluation were boring. I know I have a hard time engaging in conversation with people who don't interest me.
It's also quite possible Little Man found their questions too banal to waste time on. I contend he was waiting for them to suggest a topic worthy of his efforts.
Fail the child? Nay, I cry. Fail the testers!
I just had my first parent-teacher conference at my son's Kinder class. Here is the feedback I received:
- Puts his head down on the desk a lot.
- Always the last to finish an tasks.
- Responds inappropriately to questions.
- Is frequently off in "Frankie World"
- "He is a very intelligent boy!"
- WTF?? What are they saying? And what am I supposed to do about it?
- When is the next train to Frankie World?
Atmikha
Zany Mama:
This is definitely doable.
Anon:
While their questions probably were a "banal waste of time," he is definitely language delayed. I am not a doctor or speech therapist so I am really able to come up with reasons for this delay. That being said, it does seem to exist. TYhanks for the vitriolic reponse though. It was touching.
Atmikha:
I know. What, as a parent, do you do about this atypical feedback? If the feedback came as "He's a biter." I would know what to do.
I agree completely with Zany Mama...but please substitute "pain in my a**" for "my love".
I.C. Yellow
anon-
Thanks for your support! I agree with SRH that Little Man has some speech and/or hearing issues, but it's always wonderful to have someone so much on our side.
Good use of the word "nay". Well played.
IC Yellow:
It is not a question of wether we can handle it. if we have to handle something we will. It is more a question of gracefully accepting something else to help our boy feel different from his peers. Not different than Piers, that kid is different from everyone.
Zany Mama:
I did forget to credit anon's accout 10 full points for correct "Nay" usage. Oddly, it is -10 for the use of the word "Neigh."
Dustin:
Yeah, even his train conversations lack the grammatical content that they were expecting. They are just thorough and lengthy.
Peefer:
You always did like her better...
Read about little man over at zany mama's. Sorry to hear bout the poor testing. My daughter who is now 13 and won't / can't shut up for five minutes didn't start talking til she was 1 wk. past her fourth birthday. I wasn't so sure she would ever speak then one day she did. She hasn't shut up since.
Keep your chin up and think positive thoughts...I'll be sending good ones your way.
Poor Little man.
KimmyK:
All the positive thoughts are extremely helpful.
Peachy:
Poor Little Man indeed
god bless the train table.
And I'm totally with you (and Little Man) on the "wait until you've got it mastered before trying it out" thing. The Toddler is much the same way.
theMikeStand:
God bless the train table, indeed.
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