As a reminder, they used the Bayley Scales of Development to measure Cognitive, Language and Motor skills. They assess him based on his adjusted age, which is 36 1/2 months. He scored out of the test at the 42 month level, 91st+ percentile, for cognitive (how you perceive, think, and gain an understanding of the world). As a comparison, last year he scored at the 84th percentile.
This particular test only tests up to 42 months, so when I say he scored out of the test, he demonstrated he knew as much as the test scores. If you allow me to brag for a minute, the OT said that cognitively, Finn is at least one standard deviation above "normal" children his age. She said that intelligent parents tend to make intelligent children (LOL). I asked if this was going to be his intelligence standard as he grew up or if it would even out as he got older and she said there is no way to know that.
He scored at 88th percentile for language (receptive and expressive communication combined). Receptive communication refers to the way a listener receives & understands a message from a communication partner. Expressive communication refers to how one conveys a message to a communication partner by gesturing, speaking, writing, or signing. She was frustrated with his score for receptive because he scored between 40 and 42 months, but the way you test receptive language, you have to know several parts of a question and Finn would answer all but one part, so he didn't get any "credit" for that question. Obviously this is still ahead of his adjusted age, but she said most likely, he is understanding at 42+ months as well.
He scored at 42 months+ and 35 months (68th percentile combined) for fine and gross motor skills, respectively. She stated he showed 21 month progress in gross motor from his last appointment! It is still his lowest scoring category, but he is only one month "behind" at this point, which I will gladly take! Oh, and he jumped off a stool with both feet and landed on both feet at the appt! I was pleasantly surprised.
When she was giving me the summary, she made me cry. She kept saying how impressed she was with him and how far he has come in three years. She said that they do as much as they can at the NICU but the biggest factor is the environment they go home to that affects their development and ability to thrive the most. If I could have had a crystal ball three years ago when he was at serious risk daily for his life, I would have been able to sleep a little better. Don't kid yourself, I would have still worried, but just differently. He is one truly amazing miracle!
As a "next steps" she said he will need to understand patterns. Like if you have red peg, red peg, yellow peg, which peg comes next. He didn't do it right when she showed him, but he always put them in a mirror image! So that shows some elementary knowledge of patterns. He also will need to do recall. Like, repeat the following numbers to me, "4, 6, 2, 3." He tried and could repeat up to 4, but more than that, he got confused. I like to know what is coming next and now I know that we can play with patterns to help him along.
I think all the ladies (and doctors) in the office are completely under Finn's spell. They all just loved him. At first they said they wanted him back in a year and a half to two years, but then said it was fun to see him and asked if we'd come back in a year! Funny. However I will need to find out if they have a different test for older kids because there really wouldn't be a point in coming back if they do the one he already "completed."
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