Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Preschool screening
We've been getting invitations to this thing since Emma was born. I've resisted going because I didn't see the value at her age. I figure the big reason for it is so the local school system can figure out who's coming up in the next few years. It also gives them the chance to test for problems and start early intervention if necessary. Pardon my bias, but Emma has no problems that require intervention.

Nonetheless, I was persuaded to take her. Just as I figured, it was really geared towards three year olds and above. At Emma's age just following directions and paying attention for a long time are a challenge. She did three separate stations where she was tested on all sorts of things. Some things she was game for, others she just wasn't interested. She didn't do the hearing test because we still haven't been able to persuade her to wear headphones. I'm not worried about her hearing because that child can hear a candy wrapper crinkling from three rooms away.

One test they had a wheel where they would expose a picture and ask her what it was. There were some things we'd never named for her, like an ambulance. She was asked to touch her stomach. We've called it tummy and belly. One picture they showed her was a television, but it was from the 1970's. The screen took up 2/3 of the box and the other 1/3 was two huge dials. The box had two antenna sticking out the top. I mean, give me a break! Where would she have seen something like that? My baby kept insisting it was a radio, which is the closest thing to it which she could recognize.

She aced the color recognition and most of the relational questions. Big, bigger, small, smallest, less, more...she did OK.

Anyway, it was pretty grueling, if you ask me. We got there at 4:30 p.m. and left at 6:15 p.m. I was just relieved that she didn't have a meltdown. The bonus for her was that she tried her first water fountain. She thought that was a riot.
Written at 8:36 PM by Highlandgal.
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