The RBWH has an optional developmental assessment program (DAP) which assesses the progress of children who have gone through the intensive care nursery. Basically, as a parent you elect to bring your child to the hospital at two and four years for three to four hours of appointments with three different specialists who assess various parts of your child’s development. Our appointment for Erin was yesterday.
Overall I thought it all went quite well. In some areas her gross motor skills are delayed, for instance at four she cant hop, nor can she stand on one foot for more than eight seconds (even while holding on), these are things we’ll address at home through games such as hopscotch. Her fine motor skills need some addressing too and the medical doctor commented that she will always be below the charts for weight and height, but none of these things are surprises.
The fun started at the psychological assessment which turned out to be a straight intelligence test. From where I sat in the viewing room and as her mother, Erin did incredibly well, of course I could be bias.
She was asked a series of questions like “what animal says meow?” and was then shown pictures of several items and asked to find the two that go together–a horse and a cow etc. Following that she was asked some ambiguous questions which I’m sure had some point, but it escapes me. Some of the wonderful things she said include:
Psych: name two things with wheels.
Erin: a car…pizza!
Psych: This thing is in your body.
Erin: Poo!
Psych: I’ll give you another clue, this thing is in your body and it’s hard.
Erin: Poo can be hard.
Of course the was the time she farted loudly while the physio was kneeling down in front of her. She’s a gem that girl of mine and not at all embarrassing.
Now that it’s over all there is for us to do is sit back and wait for the results.
