Neurodevelopmental Assessment

Abbie and I enjoyed a drive out to Waimanalo today, to see her neurodevelopmentalist, Linda Kane.  Abbie last saw Linda back in September, when she assigned a whole new program that centered around rhythmic exercises that we dubbed her "dances."   Soon after beginning the new program, Abbie's cognition (or perhaps just her expression of her cognition) shot through the roof.  So, we were excited to see Linda today, and have her see in living color all the changes we've experienced.

As expected, it was a wonderful visit!  I love getting black-and-white data to get a feel for how we are doing, especially when it is so positive.  For example, Linda measured Abbie's visual reading comprehension to be 4.8, which means it equates to the eighth month of fourth grade.  Woo-hoo.  We felt that Abbie was ahead of her peers, but didn't expect that she is over a whole year ahead!!

We had her do the following word problem for Linda:

If you have one dime and the ice cream costs 25 cents, how much more money do you need?

Out of three choices (5, 10 and 15 cents)  Abbie quickly chose 15 cents with both her arm and eyes.  The other great thing about working this problem, is that Linda got to observe Abbie tracking with her eyes.  We have been working on and waiting for that for SOOO long!

Her processing time has gotten much quicker, which we observed both in the academic areas, as well as moving her body on command. Plus, Linda just felt she look really, really great.  I had to agree that it wasn't just the St. Patrick's green making her look like an angel!

We came away with a broadened program, some great academic advice, and a sense that all of this has been worth it.  All the days of doing the program, all the times of getting back to it after we'd fallen away, all the days of reading, reading reading when we weren't sure if she was grasping it.

On the summary worksheet that I had to prepare prior to the appointment, I only put one comment in the "Questions and Concerns" section:  "How to keep up with her!!!"

What a blessed challenge we have before us.  God is good!