Perky at Perkins

So after a night that involved very little sleep for the whole Sahl Clan, Noa had a wonderful day entertaining the crowds at Perkins! In the photo above she doing a combined PT/OT eval - but you can see she has gathered quite a crowd (you can't even see them all in this photo!) Noa's the one on the orange ball.

We started off in audiology which was, as we suspected, a tough way to start the morning (especially since I was in a bit of a flurry after causing us to be late - don't ask). After initially fighting off all efforts to get her engaged with toys, or to get her to take down her hood, or to touch... well pretty much anything, she did finally do a good job of sitting still and listening the music the audiologist was playing and responding to her prompts. Audiology is always tough, there is something about it that feels doctor-like to Noa. As a result getting any kind of testing done has been difficult (impossible) so even with her struggling this was the best we'd done.

But it didn't take long for Noa to realize that she liked the folks at Perkins. They all talk with their hands, they all want to play cool games and they are all willing to clap and tell her what a good girl she is... what's not to like!?!

I won't go into too much detail here because if I start I won't know how to stop, but it was incredibly thorough evaluation - we were there until 2:30 and aside from a lunch break Noa was interacting with the team there: vision, behavior, speech, PT, OT, O&M, behaviorist, you name it! Occassionally Ben and I would go off for a seperate interview. Noa held up like a champ! Did did a lot of signing and talking and was eager to try/learn whatever was asked of her.

It's hard to explain how wonderful it is for all three of us to be someplace where we are surrounded by people who understand our lives, our challenges, the things that excite us and the things that concern us. It's inspiring to see the other kids who are reaching their potential there in such a loving and supportive environment. We learned a lot too - our minds are sooooo full!

At the end of the day we returned to audiology to see if Noa would put up with more (either because she was tired, or more trusting). Much to our amazement, Noa allowed the therapist to not only look into each ear (without screaming), she also allowed her to put a little ear bud in each ear for about 10 seconds (without screaming).

At the end of it all - Ben and I were exhausted, but Noa was her usual little jumping-bean self. Oh, if only she could drive! But once we got home she zonked out pretty promptly.

The folks at Perkins will now take all the information they put together and - after meeting (which happened on Friday) - will put together a report that we'll be able to use as a guide for our own work with Noa, for the teachers and therapists who work with her, and for her IEP with the Board of Ed.