Public School Assessment
Now that Florin is 3 we are going through assessments by the public school system to determine what type of school room and therapies are appropriate. Below is the educational assessment summary, which we feel mostly accurate. It took about an hour and a half to complete this assessment. Additionally we've had a speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy and psychological assessment. We'll see what they all though eventually:
Florin is a wonderful little girl who really enjoys songs, movement and representative play. She was born at 26 week gestation and has made very significant gains in all areas of development. Florin has very supportive parents and has received services through Early Intervention for three years. She is a very social, engaging girl who has emerging skills in many areas. Florin has strengths in social areas. She is outgoing, inquisitive and interested in exploring her surroundings. She has good associations to words and is using occasional 5-6 word phrases. Florin has learned most colors and can count to 5. She can sing various songs.
Florin’s most significant area of difficulty seems to be in Attention and Focus. She has good attention to self-directed tasks but has real difficulty attending to adult directed tasks. Testing was completed with constant demonstration, prompting and individual support. Her attention to task and participation with varied by activities. She displayed limited attention for some activities. She was very engaged with others and had difficulty transitioning away from them. Though she did have many good skills in many areas, she was very dependent on adult prompts to focus and needed very significant supports in order to complete tasks. Florin was easily frustrated with activities and, at times refused activities. She did cooperate well with her father’s support, throughout a long testing session.
Florin also has significant delays in Receptive and Expressive Language areas, including articulation. She is a delightful child who needs significant supports in place to succeed academically. I feel Florin would benefit greatly from a structured classroom designed to address her needs in communication, fine motor, self-help, and readiness areas. Florin needs a classroom where language building and pre-academic skills can be addressed and where a multi-sensory approach to learning allows Florin to learn through play and experience. Florin should have strong peer models for interactions, cognitive development and language learning. She needs a classroom where she will have individual support as well as small group support.
Florin had some good skills in fine motor areas. Her perceptual motor scores were a bit below expected levels due to attention and focus. Florin is using both hands to accomplish goals and has emerging skills in fine motor areas. Previous reports indicate she has difficulty completing cognitive tasks which also require motor planning.
Summary of recommendations to enhance academic performance:
* School placement in an Integrated Early Childhood class setting with ample opportunity for socialization and individual attention.
* Strong peer models for language, social interactions and academic skills.
* Support for Speech and Language, to be determined at the team meeting.
* Support for Occupational Therapy, to be determined at the team meeting.
* Classroom activities should be arranged so that movement activities precede academic activities whenever possible for optimal attention.
* Florin may benefit from sitting in a chair with sides at school.
* Consistent exposure to tactile experiences and sensory activities.
* Small group or one-on-one instruction whenever possible.
* Additional “Wait Time” allotted to understand directions and answer questions.
* Additional opportunities for completing small tasks independently.
Behavioral Observations:
Florin was very eager to work and play and was very interested in the toys in my testing kit. She was friendly, active and motivated to play. Florin completed testing activities with significant support, prompting and one to one attention. Florin was more easily engaged with hands-on manipulatives. Florin was happy and very interactive. She used sentences and phrases during our time together and sang me a few of her favorite songs. Testing was completed with constant demonstration, prompting and individual support. Her attention to task and participation with varied by activities. She displayed limited frustration tolerance for some activities and was very engaged on others. Though she did have many good skills in many areas, she was very dependent on adult prompts to focus and needed very significant supports in order to complete tasks.
Self-Care and Personal Responsibility:
In terms of Self-Care, Florin feeds herself bite-sized pieces of food and drinks from a cup with assistance. Parents report she needs to be closely supervised as she sometimes puts too much food in her mouth. She sometimes helps to dress herself by holding out her arms and legs. She sometimes removes her shoes and clothing without help. Florin sometimes asks for food or liquids with words or gestures. She sometimes uses a spoon to feed herself but does not drink from a cup independently without spilling. Florin is not fully toilet trained. Issues with constipation have impacted her toilet training. Parents report she did not mouth objects as a baby but is now mouthing objects at times.
In terms of Personal Responsibility, Florin moves around the house independently. She does not understand that “hot” is dangerous and sometimes put away toys when asked.
Self-care and Personal Responsibility skills were assessed mainly through parental report.
In Adaptive areas, Florin scored in the Borderline Range for Self-Care and in the Borderline Range for Personal Responsibility.
Personal - Social Interactions:
Florin was friendly and animated during our testing session. She seemed happy and made attempts to play with testing battery items repeatedly. She spoke in phrases and sentences and sang a few of her favorite songs. Florin was energetic alternated between very quick attention to task and fixating on tasks. She was very interactive and seems to have strengths in social areas. Florin was a pleasure to work with.
In terms of Adult Interactions, Florin shows appropriate affection toward people and responds positively to praise and rewards. She greets familiar people spontaneously, and responds well when adults initiate social contact. She enjoys having someone read simple stories to her and sometimes helps with simple tasks around the house. Florin allows others to join her activities and initiates social contact with familiar adults. She separates easily from her parents. Florin sometimes screams when she needs help but will comply when reminded to say “help me”. Florin does not usually follows adult directions with little or no resistance. Mother reports she thinks Florin sometimes understands what is being asked of her, but chooses not to comply. She sometimes follows classroom rules. Florin attempts to be humorous and sometimes recognizes and may be confused by adult emotions. She does not wait her turn for adult attention.
In terms of Peer Interactions, Florin plays independently in the company of others, initiates social contact with peers and sometimes imitates the play activities of other children. She does not react differently to familiar and unfamiliar children. Florin expresses liking for other children and shows sympathy for others. She can sometimes play with a peer using the same materials, without disturbing the other child’s play and sometimes interacts appropriately with other children. She has difficulty sharing and cooperating with other children in play and group activities. Florin initiates social interactions with peers. She has special friends and sometimes tries new and unexpected activities.
In terms of Self-Concept and Social Role, Florin displays independent behavior and can follow 1 and 2 step directions related to her routine. Florin appropriately communicates a range of positive and negative emotions. She sometimes screams or jumps on a table when she is upset. Florin imitates others and changes her behavior based on what they are doing. Florin expresses enthusiasm for work and play and shows pride in her accomplishments. Florin can state her first name. She was not able to tell me her age or that she is a “girl”. She enjoys make-believe play and uses words for social interactions. Mother reports she typically uses 2-3 word phrases but sometimes uses 4-5 word phrases. Florin uses personal pronouns to refer to herself. Mom reports she sometimes speaks positively about herself. Florin was able to point to a picture depicting a “happy” face but did not point to the “angry” face. Florin sometimes recovers from distress in a reasonable amount of time.
Personal-Social skills were assessed mainly through parental report.
In Personal-Social areas, Florin scored in the High Range for Adult Interactions, in the Average Range for Peer Interactions and in the Low Average Range for Self-Concept and Social Role.
Communication:
Florin used phrases and sentences to communicate during our time together. She had a good vocabulary and was eager to communicate during our time together. Florin had difficulty articulating words.
In Receptive areas, Florin associates spoken word with familiar objects or actions. She identifies family members or pets when named, responds to simultaneous verbal and gestural prompts and looks or points to an object across the room when it is named. Florin was able to respond to the prepositions “Out” and “On” during testing. She was unable to point to “Your foot” and “My foot” but was able to identify the “Baby’s mommy” and the “Daddy’s boy”. Florin was unable to responded to “Who”, “What”, “Where” and “When” questions. She could respond to the adverbs “softly” and “loudly”.
In Expressive communication areas, Florin sometimes uses 5-6 word sentences. She tries to communicate in a back and forth, turn-taking style. Florin uses pronouns and uses words to relate what she sees and does. Florin was unable to respond appropriately to various questions (shoes, table, chair, elephant). She did not repeat words or simple sentences during our evaluation. She sometimes asks questions that begin with “Where” but does not ask questions beginning with “Who”, “Why” or “How”. She has significant difficulty with articulation. I heard Florin use short phrases such as “Boy in the tub”, “That’s the elephant.”, “Oh, that’s dots… Where did dots go?”, “Where did ball go? … I want to play ball.” and “Where is she?... She’s hiding… There she is!... She’s cold.”. Articulation difficulties were noted during our time together.
Receptive Language skills were assessed mainly through child participation, while Expressive Language skills were assessed mainly through parental report.
In Communication areas, Florin scored in the Low Range for Receptive Language and in the Average Range for Expressive Language.
Motor Skills: Gross Motor, Fine Motor and Visual-Perceptual Skills:
Florin could move around well within her environment and participated in many gross motor activities with me. Florin can run and kick a ball without falling, walks up and down stairs independently, but does not alternate feet. She can jump forward with both feet together. She can walk backwards for 5 feet and bend down and touch her feet. Florin was able to walk forward on a line on the floor. She did not imitate bilateral movements I presented. Parents are concerned she sometimes loses her balance and startles easily when items approach her quickly.
In terms of Fine Motor skills, Florin completed a puzzle, with narration (That’s the elephant… that’s monkey… that bear… that kittycat.) She tired of the puzzle and grew frustrated when pieces did not fall in to place but with support and significant prompting, she completed the puzzle. Florin was not able to string four beads. She did scribble linear and circular patterns. She sometimes fastens clothing without assistance, once zippers have been started and the snaps have been aligned. Florin used her both her right and her left hand to scribble, though her grasp and control were better when she used her right hand. With her right hand, Florin held the marker using the pads of her fingertips. She also held the paper with the opposite hand as she drew. Florin was not able to trace designs with curved edges or with corners. Previous reports indicate Florin strongly favored her right hand and used her left hand minimally. During our time together she used both hands.
In terms of Perceptual Motor skills, Florin could dump a raisin from a bottle, place 4 rings on a post and stack 2 blocks. She was unable to imitate vertical and horizontal lines or copy a circle.
Motor skills were assessed mainly through child participation.
In Motor areas, Florin scored in the Average Range for Gross Motor, in the Average Range for Fine Motor and in the Low Average Range for Perceptual Motor.
Sensory Integration:
Florin has difficulty attending to adult-directed activities and needs very significant supports in place to complete activities. She attends very quickly to activities unless they are highly motivating and gets frustrated easily when activities are difficult for her. Florin enjoys multisensory activities such as the water and sand table. She was in constant motion while we attempted to work in the living room. It was much more productive working in the kitchen with Florin in her booster chair. Florin may benefit from a chair with sides in her classroom to help her regulate her body in space. Florin may also benefit from motor activities before academic activities to help her attend to tasks.
Cognitive & Pre-Academic:
Florin’s pre-academic skills were well below expected levels, though she had significant supports to complete all activities. Florin was able to name many colors (red, green, blue, yellow, gray, brown and orange). She was able to count to 5 without one-to-one correspondence.
In terms of Attention and Memory, Florin can occupy herself for 5 minutes and can attend to a game of “Peekaboo”. She can uncover a hidden toy, searches for a removed object, and points to items in a book. Florin is able to attend to an activity for 3 minutes if it is highly motivating. Florin was able to find the tennis ball hidden under one of two cups on 1 of 4 trials. She was able to find a toy hidden in one of my hands on 2 of 4 trials. Florin can recite memorized songs such as “Edelweiss”, “I’ve been working on the railroad.” and “Pop goes the Weasel”. She sang happily between tasks throughout our evaluation.
In terms of Reasoning and Academic Skills, Florin was unable to match colors but named many colors. She was able to nest cups inside one another.
In terms of Perception and Concepts, Florin completed a puzzle with individual support. She did not sort by color, size or shape. Florin was able to tell me that shoes went on her feet and demonstrated associations to trains “choochoo” and my toy car “weee”. She identified “big” and little” shapes.
Cognitive skills were assessed mainly through child participation.
In Cognitive areas, Florin scored in the Borderline Range for Attention and Memory, in the Low Average Range for Reasoning and Academic Skills and in the Borderline Range for Perception and Concepts.
Summary and Recommendations:
Florin is a wonderful little girl who really enjoys songs, movement and representative play. She was born at 26 week gestation and has made very significant gains in all areas of development. Florin has very supportive parents and has received services through Early Intervention for three years. She is a very social, engaging girl who has emerging skills in many areas. Florin has strengths in social areas. She is outgoing, inquisitive and interested in exploring her surroundings. She has good associations to words and is using occasional 5-6 word phrases. Florin has learned most colors and can count to 5. She can sing various songs.
Florin’s most significant area of difficulty seems to be in Attention and Focus. She has good attention to self-directed tasks but has real difficulty attending to adult directed tasks. Testing was completed with constant demonstration, prompting and individual support. Her attention to task and participation with varied by activities. She displayed limited attention for some activities. She was very engaged with others and had difficulty transitioning away from them. Though she did have many good skills in many areas, she was very dependent on adult prompts to focus and needed very significant supports in order to complete tasks. Florin was easily frustrated with activities and, at times refused activities. She did cooperate well with her father’s support, throughout a long testing session.
Florin also has significant delays in Receptive and Expressive Language areas, including articulation. She is a delightful child who needs significant supports in place to succeed academically. I feel Florin would benefit greatly from a structured classroom designed to address her needs in communication, fine motor, self-help, and readiness areas. Florin needs a classroom where language building and pre-academic skills can be addressed and where a multi-sensory approach to learning allows Florin to learn through play and experience. Florin should have strong peer models for interactions, cognitive development and language learning. She needs a classroom where she will have individual support as well as small group support.
Florin had some good skills in fine motor areas. Her perceptual motor scores were a bit below expected levels due to attention and focus. Florin is using both hands to accomplish goals and has emerging skills in fine motor areas. Previous reports indicate she has difficulty completing cognitive tasks which also require motor planning.
I recommend Florin receive additional support in Speech and Language.
I recommend Florin receive additional support in Occupational Therapy.
posted by Florin's Mom @ 1:27 PM
