Testing and Observation
It all started with our very first parent teacher meeting in preschool. The Director of the preschool shared the teacher’s observations as well as her own about our daughter having a speech language issue. How could this be true? Our blond hair and blue eyed daughter has a problem. Not my daughter. The perfect pink baby they handed to me in the hospital. The baby that walked at just 12 months old and the little girl whose smile lit up a room. This just couldn't’t be right. Denial, the first stage to grieving. The director said she had a Speech Language therapist she had used in the past to test and observe children for similar issues. My thoughts were we can test her but she is probably wrong regarding her observations. Leaving the meeting I felt like someone had hit me in the stomach and my body just felt heavy. All my dreams and wishes for her seem to be pushed to the back of my mind and fear took their place. What was this speech language issue? How had I as her Mother missed this problem for her? So many questions started to ruminate in my head. Was I a good enough Mom for her with this issue? Did we put her in the right preschool? Why hadn’t my husband or I seen this? What about my pediatrician had he seen this in her regular checkups?
The beginning was all about questions, fear and denial. We proceeded with meeting the Speech Language Therapist the Director had recommended and began to learn her process for testing and observing her in her preschool environment. I can honestly say this was totally overwhelming to me and I had to take it one step at a time. My friend had brought it to my attention “you’re talking for her” my memory of this came back to me. I think for any parent new information about their child takes time to digest and accept. Letting her go to be tested and trusting a professional takes time as well. As you begin to see the struggle your child is experiencing and the awareness grows it becomes easier to believe and the denial begins to break down. Little did I know this process would be followed again and again as we discovered other learning differences our daughter would uncover.
The testing, observation and final report were completed. My husband and I had time to read the report and discuss the findings. Yes, our daughter was having speech language processing issues. Recommendations were given for speech therapy as well as a recommendation to have the public school test and observe her to receive speech language support services from the school. This would be the beginning of our journey through the maze of Navigating Learning. Join me and others as we share our hopes, dreams, experiences and stories regarding learning differences.
