I Suck At Early Intervention

Kids grow up so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that our baby daughter (Briana) was drooling. Wait, that was yesterday.

Yesterday, Briana had her second Early Intervention evaluation. It was six months ago that she had her first Early Intervention evaluation and qualified for the services. From what I am told, being born prematurely almost always guarantees eligibility the first time around.

Needless to say, I suck at Early Intervention. I should correct that statement. Briana sucks at Early Intervention, in part because she no longer qualifies for their services. She apparently passed with flying colors. I'll have to give Briana credit. She knows when to turn it on.

Briana was your average quiet baby up until the physical therapist and the social worker from Early Intervention arrived. Once they arrived, it was bababa-this and bababa-that. It's interesting considering how her speaking is a recent thing... like a few days old. Apparently, she impressed the physical therapist and social worker so much that she no longer became eligible for their services. And naturally, once they left she was her quiet self again. Go figure.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting to hear that Briana did not qualify for Early Intervention. Her age no longer has to be "adjusted". At the same time, it was slightly worrisome. After all, Early Intervention has been somewhat of a safety net for Karen and I in terms of parenting. By that I mean that if we had any questions or concerns about Briana's development, Early Intervention was always there to provide guidance or helpful hints.

Plus, it was also a little sad to say goodbye to the people who have been instrumental in Briana's development during the first seven months of her life. For six months, we have routinely seen them be a part of Briana's life. So it is a little sad knowing they will not be around to visit anymore.

Of course, I am assuming that Briana will not need Early Intervention again. Hopefully, her development will remain on track. Knock on wood.

I Suck At Early Intervention

On Thursday, our baby daughter (Briana) had a big appointment. That appointment was with Early Intervention. Now I suck at Early Intervention.

For those who are curious, Early Intervention in Massachusetts is a statewide developmental service that is available for families with children from birth to three years of age. Because Briana was born prematurely, she automatically was eligible for the service. (I suppose that is one of the benefits of being born prematurely and spending some time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.)

Now being born prematurely does not necessarily mean she will have developmental issues. The Early Intervention team makes assessments of her development after interacting with her. They compare what her development would have been like had she been born full term versus her actual chronological age. From there, a scoring system based on various areas of development is generated. Passing grades are scores that fall within a particular range in each development category.

Obviously, passing the tests during the initial meeting does not guarantee that there will be no development issues later on. The passing grade just signifies that at that snapshot in time, the Early Intervention team did not assess any needs for the child.

I was expecting (if not hoping) Briana to fail at least one of the development categories. I know it seems bizarre to want your child to fail at something. For me, I thought her failing would be good so that she could be monitored closely by the Early Intervention team as she develops. After all, there is no harm in being monitored. It's just provides an extra piece of mind that you are raising your child as best as you can. So the additional intervention would only help her.

As luck would have it, Briana passed all of her tests on Thursday with the exception of one category: her motor skills. Apparently, the Early Intervention team actually expected her to fail with her motor skills (although she was pretty close to passing the category). After all, having a two month old baby hold up her gigantic noggin on her own is a tough thing to do.

So Early Intervention it is! As much as I would have been ecstatic to have Briana be like the talking two month old version of Briana that Karen's cousin (Karlene) dreamed about, I know it was not realistic. (Perhaps in an alternate reality.) I feel pretty good that Briana passed all but one of her tests. Hopefully she'll continue to develop properly. And it's now comforting to know that Early Intervention will be monitoring her.