Trey's Evaluation

Well, all went well at the evaluation today. Everyone was very nice and they went on and on about how much they really enjoyed having Trey visit them - but hey, we all knew that he's a sweetheart, didn't we??? :-)

They affirmed what we've known all along - he has excellent receptive skills - which means he understands everything that you say to him. His problem is apparently all articulation - the forming of sounds.

We talked to the psychologist about how she felt about Trey being on the Autism Spectrum, and she said that when she first met him, she immediately noticed that he had a melodic self-soothing sort of noise he was making when he was still nervous, but she also noticed this went away immediately. She went on about how he made good eye contact, had good imaginative play, interacted with the other kids, etc. She said that it's POSSIBLE, but at this time she says it isn't a concern to her, and if we still notice things at home (lining up toys, routines, etc.) we should have him re-evaluated in about 2 years - before he starts K or 1st grade. And as much as her reassurance should have been a relief, I still feel in my heart that he fits on the spectrum somewhere, even though I do believe its very mild. BUT - everything in my mind might change once he starts verbalizing more, too...

We have been working with Trey quite a bit one word at a time the past few weeks, and he spontaneously used the word CAR today - which was a HUGE breakthrough. His word for car is "blumb". He's used this word for probably a year. We started slowly, encouraging him to try to say "car" each time we heard "blumb". At first he was VERY resistant... And he would use the word each time we corrected him, but never spontaneously. Well, today, we were driving along the interstate and he said "dun car" (which means "lots of cars") and I was so excited. LOL

Although he's still working on "car", he's getting it, so we chose another word today to work on - "train". He can't say it yet, but he's at least willing to TRY to verbalize something other than "choo choo" which is HUGE!!! :-)

All in all, it was a good day - well, as far as Trey is concerned - the rest of the day was a total disaster, but that's a whole OTHER story...

More feelings about Trey...

Since Dorothy thought I was terribly worried about Trey, I wanted to restate what I said the other day... "worried" is not a word I would ever use to describe a feeling I've had about Trey. I have no doubt that he will grow up to be fully functional, and completely able to contribute to society in many ways. I really honestly believe that he will talk eventually, and so I've never been "worried". My feelings about Trey's speech situation are more along the lines of frustration with other people because they don't understand, sadness (in a self-centered sort of way) because he can't tell me he loves me, etc. (Well, that's not ENTIRELY true - when he wants to say he loves someone, he says "Me momma uh-huh" or "Me Sinny uh-huh".)

BUT - anyone who is around him for more than a few minutes honestly can't help but fall in love with him because he says more by saying less than one could ever imagine.

Dorothy, you are right, we all love Trey no matter what, cuz he's ours, and he's exactly what we all needed.

I did talk to the RISE Special Services intake person today and he is scheduled for his evaluation on 10-29/10-30. Its an intensive 2-day (5hr) process in a mock classroom setting with a speech therapist, a psychologist, and a teacher. They will be giving him a COMPLETE evaluation, not just checking out his speech. I am SO grateful for this opportunity because now we will know more about exactly where he stands and where to go from here. After the evaluation, we go back 2 weeks later for the conference to discuss treatment options and a diagnosis, etc. Needless to say I'm VERY excited about this - hesitant, but excited. Trust me when I say that I'm prepared for whatever they say as I have my own thoughts about exactly what's going on and I really believe they will tell me the same things my "mommy instincts" have told me for a long time. I won't go into all of that here for many reasons lol - but I promise to keep everyone informed of how things go.