{Major} Jaxen Update

Wow, seems like a long time since the last time I updated.  Just goes to show you how busy my life has become!  No one very said that raising kids was easy, and now I know why!  It's the most difficult yet rewarding job there is.  But I think I'm doing a pretty good job at it.  Although some days, my children would tell you differently!

Jaxen has gone through all his testing and we've had our meeting with the school district.  I finally have all the paperwork and results in hand so I can share with you all.  Sorry ahead of time if this is long, but they tested so many areas!

First off, I got the official diagnosis for Jaxen's sensory testing.  Jaxen does demonstrate sensory concerns. The tests showed that Jax is not overly sensitive to input from his environment.  He scored in the probable difference level in the low registration and sensation seeking areas.  Which indicate that he seeks sensations MORE than other children his age.  Children who are sensation seekers are active and continuously engage in their environment.  The often make noise all the time, fidget, rub or explore objects with their skin, chew on things, and wrap their body around furniture and people as away to increase input during tasks.  They may appear excitable or seem to lack consideration for safety while playing.  The low registration score indicates that Jaxen may be missing cues in his environment, especially in the auditory area.  This could be due to his constant need for movement and sensation seeking behaviors which do not allow him to notice more subtle things.  He scored in the probable difference levels in four out of nine areas overall.  These scores indicate that he is a definite sensory seeker. 

This means that once he starts school, Jaxen would be provided a sensory 'diet',  This 'diet' would provide him with scheduled, regular times when Jaxen would be guided to play in ways that would meet his sensory needs.  For example, his teacher could not take away recess for bad behavior.  And there could be times when Jaxen becomes a distraction in the classroom that a para would come and take Jaxen on a walk or engage him in an activity that would meet his sensory needs and enable him to return to class ready to focus on classwork.

Even though we did not report any hearing or vision concern, Jaxen was tested in both areas.  He passed a functional vision screening in both eyes.  He also passed both the Puretone Hearing Screening and Typanogram screening for hearing loss. 

For Speech and Language, our main area of concern, Jaxen was tested with three different tests:

The first test, Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-2, assesses the child's ability to produce consonant sounds.  With an average score being 100, Jaxen scored a 69 with 63 errors.  This scores him at BELOW expectations for his age.  He could not produce all age appropriate sounds in at least one word context.  The errors that he made, should be correctly produced by the majority of 3-year-old children.  Jaxen's errors were substitutions and omissions of sounds.

The second test, Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale-3, is a 132-item checklist that uses observational information reported by the parents to identify any major receptive or expressive language problems in infants and toddlers up to three years of age.  {This is the test that Jaxen took at 20-months old that scored him with an age equivalent of 10-months}  Again, with an average score of 100, Jaxen scored a Receptive Language Score of 83 with a Below Average Rating and an Expressive Language Score of 76 with a Poor Rating.  The total Language Ability Score for this test was a 75, putting him at an age equivalent of 21-months.  {He was 34-month-old at the time of testing.}

Receptively, Jaxen understands just about everything {it's not uncommon for this score to be below average} but expressively, Jaxen has some work to do.  He is unable to use a least 50 words, say at least two new words each week, use real words when something has happened to him, use words ending in with -ing, have definite beginning and ending sounds, use words when needing help with personal needs, tell you where something might be (in, by, on), and refer to more than one by adding (S) on the end of words.

The last speech and language test, was a Speech Sample.  This test identifies his sound errors.  A 3 year old should be about 75% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener.  Jaxen was judged to be about 50% intelligible.  This test also inspected Jaxen's oral structures and revealed no abnormalities that hinder speech production.  His mouth, tongue, lips were intact and symmetrical.  Jaxen demonstrated appropriate strength, range of motion, and accuracy of his oral musculature.  Which verifies his burn injuries are not the cause of his speech delay.  His scar tissue is not limiting his ability to produce sounds!

With a score of 100 being average, Jaxen scored a 108 for Cognitive and Intellectual Skills.  Which means even with the speech delay, Jaxen's IQ is ABOVE expectation for a 3 year old.  {We NEVER doubted his intelligence!  He is TOO smart for his own good!}

Academically, Jaxen was given a test called the DAYC (Developmental Assessment of Young Children), which is five sub-tests that measure cognitive, communication, social-emotional development, physical development, and adaptive behavior.  With an average score of 100, Jaxen scored an 84 with a below average rating. 

And finally, Jaxen scored a 120 in the area of social-emotional skills.

SO, after reviewing ALL this information, Jaxen meets criteria for Sound Systems Disorder - Articulation and/or Phonology.  The evaluation report documents the extent to which Jaxen's sound production is outside the limits of State designated normative data and addresses the adverse education impact of the child's sound system disorder.  The student is unintelligible to the unfamiliar listener and the team has determined that as a result of the disability the student requires special education.

So the good news is Jaxen will start speech classes at Cass-Midway in December.  He did not qualify for preschool services.  He is super smart and the ONLY thing is lacks is the speech and language.  Once his speech is caught up, all his other scores will improve also.  At this point there is no need to doubt that Jaxen won't be a caught up and ready to enter kindergarten on time.  He's got plenty of time and a lot of people in his corner.  We meet with Jaxen's 'Team' next week to put on paper a plan of action.  His team not only includes Jerry and I, but also the Elementary School Principal, Speech Teacher, Director of Special Services, and the Parents As Teachers Director.