Evaluation Day, part two

This morning, we got up bright and early, piled everyone in the car, and headed down the road to meet with Dr. Mervis and her team for round two.

Today, Buddy spent some time in a play session with one of the researchers, in a play session with me, at a Baby Think session, and in a phonological evaluation with another researcher. And I got to have my psyche evaluated about how stressful it is to have a child with special needs. Husband spent his time taking care of one or the other of the boys.

At the end of it all, Dr. Mervis reviewed all the data and then called Husband and me into her office to the discuss the results. She said it was all good news.

According to their calculations, he's "average or low average" in every area except fine motor--meaning that in his expressive (the way he talks) and receptive (what he understands) language, he's average. In his cognitive abilities, he's average. And in fine motor areas, he's delayed. And, she said, compared to other children with Williams syndrome, he's above average.

Wow.

She said that if we were to put him in a preschool with typically developing children, "he would not be the lowest in the classroom." And that we were to make sure his teachers know that he has Williams syndrome, but that he can do what is expected of him and that they should expect him to do just that.

And we were encouraged to keep doing what we're doing--enrolling him in therapies (especially in occupational therapy for fine motor skills), reading to him, finding ways to develop those fine motor areas (and looking for alternatives to coloring since he's uninterested in that), and just, in general, enjoying having him as our son.

So, how much stock do we put into charts, evaluations, and the like? I'm not really sure. One month, one evaluation says one thing, the next month another (albeit, more extensive) assessment says something different. Dr. Mervis's comments definitely made our hearts glad. But, he is who is, and it's up to us to continue to encourage him, teach him, and most importantly, through the working of the Holy Spirit, lead him to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ--something no amount of bar graphs and filled-in-bubbles can measure.