Early Intervention

So, Michael had his early intervention eval today and it was great.  He did get picked up for services for his lack of receptive and expressive communication, but I was so impressed with the things that he was able to do.  I loved watching the assessment.  I loved watching him interact with other adults than just family and friends that have always been around.  He did have a little melt down at one point, but thankfully regained control fairly quickly.  He right at where he should be developmentally with regards to his gross and fine motor skills.  There are things that we can work on with him to help him improve a little bit, but he doesn't need any intervention with regards to these areas.  Of course, now that he has been evaluated, he is certainly doing a bit more imitating, but he is still not where he should be.  The EI evaluators also said that his level of development with fine and gross motor should actually help him with his language development.  They also pointed out that movement seems to make him more likely to use language.  I will certainly be trying to use that bit of knowledge to my advantage.

Next week, the twins have their evaluations. I don't know if they will be eligible for services, but I am really looking forward to watching their actual evaluations.  Part of me hopes that they do qualify, just so that they can get a little extra help.  Again, I think for them, it is a matter of language development vs physical, but it will be interesting to see how they perform on the gross and fine motor skills.  Today, we had 2 evaluators and next week, we will have 4 since they will be evaluating 2 kids.  Luckily today, the twins went in for a nap during most of the evaluation so both my husband and I got to observe.  Next week, I think I want to have someone watch Michael while we have the evals for the twins so that he can have fun and we can pay attention to the evaluation process.

I am really happy that we made the referral.  I have a few ideas of things that I want to get for new toys for all 3 kids.  I also want to kind of schedule the day a little bit more so that there is a little time for direct learning through play instead of just winging it.  I want to get back to the park and this time I want to try to help Michael do some more socialization with other children his age.  Any suggestions for toys, activities, or playgroups for 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old kids are totally helpful?  Also, I am interesting in arts and crafts for the 3 kids.  Any suggestions on supplies or even a class that we can take (probably a 1 time only depending on the cost)?  Any good websites for learning for this age as well?

Thanks,
Amy