Presley's first evaluation

I met with Presley's case manager along with her early interventionist and physical therapist for her first evaluation last week. We all meet and they update the case manager on how Presley is doing so we can adjust her individual family service plan (IFSP) by adding more services or getting rid of services she no longer needs. We also talk about whether or not she has met the therapists goals for the last 6 months and we set new goals for the next 6 months. Presley has only had services for three months so this evaluation was a little early but we wanted to get on the schedule of having them done in her birth month.

Presley's early interventionist didn't realize she needed to write up a formal report since we were meeting earlier than normal so she didn't have anything which was irritating but nothing I could do about it. I think the case manager was a bit annoyed also.

Here are some of the goals Presley has met in the last two months
-COGNITIVE-
find a partially hidden object, which is at least 50% covered
bang objects on a table

-COMMUNICATION-
wave in response to adult waving (this is still very inconsistent)
babble consonant sounds baba-baba and mama-mama
knows and responds to her name

-PRELITERACY-
turn pages after they have been lifted for her
turn the several pages in books (initially interest in opening and closing)
move to the rhythm of music, when given the oppurtunity

-GROSS MOTOR-  (Presley's strongest area)
use protective reflexes to the front and both sides
stand while holding onto furniture
get to sitting by self
pull to stand
assume and maintain an all fours position for play
crawling
can perform stand-squat transitions with support as needed
lower herself from standing controllably
can cruise along and between furniture
walk using push toy

-FINE MOTOR-
releases objects voluntarily
uses an inferior pincer grasp (not alway consistent)

-SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL-
start to give hugs or kisses to parents
shows stranger anxiety (at times)

-SELF HELP-
remove a hat or head band
remove socks
hold her own bottle
eat a variety of finger foods
hold a spoon when being fed with a spoon

Although she is still significantly behind developmentally her therapists remind me to focus on the fact that she is making great progress which is the most important thing right now. Her physical therapist reported that she has mastered skills with an approximate age equivalent of a 10-11 month old. I'm really happy about that especially since she was assessed at a 6 month level just two months ago! My concerns are on language and cognitive development but I'm just hoping those will come a little later since she's been working so hard on all of the physical things lately.

We're only making one change to her plan which will be getting an occupational therapy evaluation and possibly weekly visits from an OT if needed(how I will fit yet another weekly appt in my schedule I have no idea). An occupational therapist focuses on fine motor skills so we'll work on perfecting her pincer grasp and isolating fingers for pointing, etc. Her plan remains as follows:

Physical therapy once a week for one hour
Early interventionist once a week for one hour
play group at early learning institute once a week for one hour

She still has a lot of catching up to do, but I'm so proud of how far she's come in such a short time!