First Steps

When one of Josie's pediatrician first suggested that we have Josie evaluated with First Steps, Joe and I were very resistant. Since the doctor didn't really tell us why she thought she should be evaluated, we just assumed that it was because she wasn't walking. Sophie was a late walker, so we figure that Josie will be as well. Still, there were other things that Josie wasn't doing that were starting to concern us. We realized she was pretty behind in some areas. If I am completely honest with myself she seems more like a 12 month old than a 17 month old. She is missing out on quite a few skills. I ended up calling First Steps and setting up a screening. The screening was basically questionnaires, which I hate. I always over think things and end up scoring too hard. After the questionnaires were completed we discovered she is below average in all of the areas they test (communication, cognition, physical, social, emotional/self-help). Oof! Punch to the stomach to hear.

The next step was to have an evaluation. The lady (Sister Sue) that we saw for Josie's screening can to our house for the evaluation. Josie dislikes strangers, so she spent half of the time trying to crawl up onto my shoulder instead of performing the tasks that Sister Sue wanted to see. She did best when I left the room to fill out another questionnaire. After an hour I put Josie to bed and continued talking with Sister Sue. I completed a survey to see if Josie has autism (something that I worried about since it seems like she seems to regress from time to time). After the initial survey she scored an 8, which is a moderate risk for autism. I was then asked follow-up questions (it was in the form of a flow chart). From there her score when down to a 3, which is a mild risk. She still isn't walking or pointing her finger, so those counted against her. Sister Sue said she wasn't worried about autism for her and I agree. That is a weight off of my shoulders. Sister Sue called later that night to give the results of the evaluation. Josie was below average in motor skills and communication (the evaluation brought her up in the other areas, though she is still in the lower average range of those). It wasn't a big surprise to hear as those are the two areas that we had been concerned in.

Since Josie was going to need services in communication and motor skills, we had to meet with Kelly, our service coordinator. She came to our house and asked lots of questions. She had me walk through what a typical day is like for Josie. For each part of the day she asked me what goes well, what Josie struggles with and what we would like to see done differently (if anything). This would help with finding which goals we should focus on and how frequently she should have services. It took about 2 hours to go through all of this. Sophie and Josie were so patient throughout this process; I was so proud of them.

Sister Sue and Kelly both came back to our house a few days later to go through our family service plan. (It was basically like an ARC meeting at school. It was so strange to be on the other side of the table and I have a new found understanding towards the families in these meetings.) Together we created Josie's goals and it was decided that Josie will receive speech services twice a month and PT once a month. I am anxious for these services to begin. I just want Josie to get the help she needs to be a happy, healthy little girl.