Future SLP

Miss Kat came to me today and told me that she found a new talent she didn't know she had. She said that when she grows up, she wants to be an SLP.

As it turns out, there is a little girl who likes to come and mess with her during recess. Miss Kat says that the little girl always tries to take away whatever she is drawing. She also noted that the little girl "doesn't speak very well". I guess today Miss Kat attempted to help her learn. She said that she sat down with the little girl and taught her how to say a few words. Miss Kat said that she really liked it, and that "I always knew I was a talented 'drawer', but now I have a second talent. It is to teach children to speak."

Every day is a new adventure!

Achievement Testing

This year is the 4th time that Miss Kat's school has given her the end of the year testing. They use the Stanford Achievement Test. They do it in March every year and they administer the test based on the student's age. The test then gives a grade level equivalency for the student's performance. Because we do this every year, the school is able to not only gauge what level of instruction Miss Kat needs, but also track whether or not she is making yearly progress. We, of course, are hoping for greater than 1 year's progress in one year's time because we are trying to close the gap and have Miss Kat's language and academic level match those of children with typical hearing.

I am going to start by showing what Miss Kat scored the first time she was tested (after she had been at her school for 3 months) and what she scored this year. There are 9 subtests, so this might get confusing, but stay with me!

                                                                         2011                2014
Sounds and Letters (word study skills)          K.1                  3.1
Word Reading (reading vocabulary)               K.8                 3.5
Reading Comprehension                                 1.1                   3.3
Math Problem Solving                                      PK                  3.4
Language                                                          PK                  3.3
Spelling                                                             PK                  4.3
Science                                                            K.2                 3.0
Social Studies                                                  PK                  3.4
Listening                                                           K.2                  4.2


In 9 separate subtests Miss Kat made more than 1 year's progress in one year's time! In some areas she made up to 2+ years! (Last year she made greater than one year's worth of gain in 4 areas, and that is nothing to sneeze at!) Miss Kat is now within one year of her hearing peers! Her hard work and dedication is paying off! She is amazing!

(Of course much of this is due to her amazing school! We could not be more thankful for her teachers as well!)
 

READING!!!

Today I received a happy email from Miss Kat's teacher. She said that she wanted to let us know that Miss Kat has moved up ANOTHER reading group! This is her 3rd grouping since we started at her oral school!! She is moving so fast! (She officially hit "within the normal range" in reading this year too!) They also said that we are going to be astonished by her achievement testing at the IEP!

GO MISS KAT!!!!!!

Washington D.C.

About a month before this blog began, our family made a visit to D.C. We had the opportunity to see a pediatric neuropsychologist who specialized in working with Deaf children. We had Miss Kat tested for some personal reasons. This professional was the first person to recommend that we look into a CI for Miss Kat. She worked for Gallaudet University, was fluent in ASL (that is why we came to her, because she specialized in Deaf children and could give the tests in Miss Kat's first language). This month we returned to D.C. and it made me think about how much our lives have changed in the last 5 years.

We were able to take pictures in the same places and see how much our little girl has grown, but more than that, we had the pleasure of being able to see how much she has learned. Miss Kat is reading and is able to understand and communicate with everyone around her. We are able to go on tours, watch videos, talk with the other patrons and guides. We are able to explain the things we are seeing, share stories and experiences. It was amazing to be able to prepare for the trip by reading together, discussing history and then going to these memorials. We were able to use a shared language to learn and share together.

I am so thankful for this journey and the joy it has brought to our lives.