Achieving Goals

I’ve been watching Ryder develop and grow and learn right before my eyes and am SO VERY proud of him.  But it seems like every time it comes down to testing or evaluations we end up feeling so discouraged.  But…not this time, we finally got a good report! 

I cannot believe this, but it has already been 6 months since he started therapy through Early Intervention.  Miss Sharon has come to our home once a week for 6 months now, so it was time to revisit his goals and re-evaluate his skills.  I was so excited to hear her feedback because she has been there through all of this journey, working with him and helping us along.

The first time we did this, Ryder was 9 months old (they tested him at his adjusted age of 8 months) and was testing at a 33% delay in both gross motor & fine motor skills which is what qualified him for therapy to begin with…this was before we knew anything about the stroke.  He was also atleast a month behind in every other area that was tested.  Today was a completely different story!

His cognitive, problem solving, and language skills are consistently testing at 16 months but had some skills in the 18-19 month range!  His fine motor and gross motor are now testing at 13 months (makes me feel much better than the 10 months we heard the other day!).  Because he was a preemie they test him at his adjusted age of 13 months, so they are technically showing no delays in any area.  I was honestly not prepared to hear those words at all, I had tears in my eyes!

We did have to discuss that most of the reason he’s not showing a delay is because he has figured out ways to get away with only using one arm, and is so determined that it’s not holding him back one bit.  He’s not off the hook with getting therapy because he needs to be doing all of these things with TWO hands, not just one.  So they said he has the knowledge and ability to do these skills, now we just need to work on quality…meaning being able to do them the right way, not the way he has figured out is easiest.

He achieved so many of the goals that we had set for him 6 months ago, so we were able to cross many off the list, like passing objects between hands, bearing weight on straight arms, and pulling to stand.  There were some goals that needed to be left on the list, like assisting in dressing (specifically the left arm and leg), and initiating play with the left hand.  Some new goals we are adding for the next 6 months are holding round objects with two hands (like a cup that does not have handles), climbing, and self-help skills (like washing both hands). 

Seeing on paper how far he has come in just 6 months makes me SO excited to see what we can accomplish over the next 6 months and beyond.

Sorry I’m slacking on the picture posts lately, too many words, I know, I just have so much to get out.  I’ll leave you with one picture, I don’t want to be too cruel!