Home of the Four Trans

“So, how is he…you know, up there?”

I get asked this question quite often about Justin’s cognitive development. Most people assume that since he has had so many medical issues that he is cognitively behind, or even mentally retarded.

Well, Justin is cognitively behind, by about 4 months for his age. Justin’s cognitive abilities were measured by a test. The tests included shape matching, block stacking, self care tasks such as undressing, picture matching, etc.

Justin is also behind in his receptive language skills. In Justin’s case, receptive language is his ability to understand spoken language (it could also include written language). The assessment done by his teacher shows Justin understands the spoken language at about an 18 month old level. However, if you interact with him, you’ll find he understands a lot of what you say, and ask of him to do. It’s only when the teacher tests him is she able to see how behind he is. I personally think the tests are not accurate enough in measuring his intellect. Seeing him every day the way I do, I know he knows more than he is showing. And, as always, I look for progress as positive signs of his development.

I suppose the numbers are disappointing to see because if anything, I’d rather that he not be behind. But, he is, and so we deal with it. I can’t stop buying stuff to help with his development (like things will actually make him all better) because I’m always so hopeful. Just today, I went out to Toys R Us on what Loi called a shopping spree to buy him picture books, flash cards, and learning toys (Nathan got a Hungry Hippo game and a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle set). And, I’m so glad I did because with one of the books, I was able to see how smart my little boy is. I worked with him on a magnetic book called “Let’s Learn Our First Colors,” by Priddy Books.

Justin was able to match the magnetic pictures to the outline of the pictures on the book. I was so proud of him for being able to do this because it was always so difficult for him to do this just a month ago! I went through 11 pages with 3 objects to match per page with him before he got tired. I was too excited that I forgot to take pictures of him doing the task! But, above is evidence of some of his work! I’m so proud of him, can you tell?

I don’t care what the tests say, Justin is just something else!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.