Assessments. A necessary evil.

Warning: honest post about to hit. No sugar coating here. I am just going to tell it like it is.

Assessments suck. Test results are hard to read. And here I sit trying to digest 36 pages of them.
We try to prepare ourselves for the outcome but deep down we already know what it will be because we live it every day. They do not define Owen, we know that. They are not always a true reflection of how he performs, we know that. But they are an indicator, it is a guide, it rates him against where he "could be".
Assessments have been a part of his life since the day he was born. And once he entered into the school district at 7 weeks old we have been working on identifying where he is at. It has always been hard to take. It never gets easier. We focus our energy on the day to day improvements, we focus on the little wins and gains, so when we get these numbers it hits hard. It is hard to see him on the charts.
His therapists and teachers are always so fantastic in their explanation of the scores, helping us understand the tests. Making sure we understand that they know it is not defining him. It helps but you never want to see your child struggle..

You name it, they tested him. The timing of him getting hearing aids and entering kindergarten in the fall initiated the assessment. They typically don't do the assessment until age 7 but since they wanted to get him qualified for deaf/hard of hearing services - away we went with the process.
Lots of forms, questionnaires, observations, tests, interviews and now we know where he falls within the norm. Academics, communication, functional skills, intellectual functioning, health screenings, motor ability, physical status, social emotional behavior, sensory status, just to name a few.

The results were bad. Some areas he didn't even get into the 1 percentile. We know he has a lot of strengths, the tests just don't show them very well. I appreciate the content in the results though, it details where he is beyond the numbers.

It's hard to express this to those that haven't gone through it. Most just do pre-k screening and pediatrician tests to see if they need to be worried about anything. This process finds every flaw, every problem area, everything to worry about and gives him a label. The results even bordered on having the Severely Multiply Impaired label. And maybe one day he will need that but it just saddens me to think that is how bad things are.
I posted my sadness to a group of DS moms and the response was immediate, they know the feeling and have a way of encouraging you to look past the number. I am thankful to have that support.
And one that will stick with me is this response: "As long as someone is there to remind us whats really important. Krista, Owen is beautiful. He is an awesome brother, a sweet boy and he tries really hard. Despite his challenges, he tries, he's learning. And you're lucky he's yours" We are lucky he is ours. We are lucky to have such an amazing community to help us through these situations. And times like this that I am reminded how blessed we are to have Owen. To remind us of what is important. To appreciate the little things. He is amazing. We are so proud.

These are hard posts. To share the struggles. the concerns. the problems. But it is what it is. And now we move on. We meet with the team to discuss how this impacts his IEP. How it impacts his Kindergarten placement and strive to help him grow above the 1%. We will do it. He will do it. We will NEVER give up.