Thursday, October 16, 2008

My sweet boy


I took Yosef to some screenings, through the (free!) Child Find program here in Denver, to have him evaluated for a learning disability. He has always been very bright, but has struggled with learning his colors. It's really strange, and I thought it would be a good idea to rule out some sort of issue. (Mostly because if he DID have some type of processing problem, I wanted to know how to best explain things to him etc.) First he had a hearing/vision evaluation (which of course went fine), and then he had two more screenings for speech/learning delays.

Well, turns out they thought he was extremely smart and well above what they would expect for his age!!! Yay! (I was so proud of him, especially considering that his first year and a half of life were far from optimal). They couldn't believe his long attention span, or social abilities, or the way he was able to communicate.

But he couldn't name one color. Not one. :)

They said to give him about 6 more months (it's possible he just has some sort of mental block in that area) and if he still can't identify them, to take him to an opthalmologist to be tested for color-blindness (which is the other thing we suspected).


Anyway, it was great to know that "the system" thought he was above-average developmentally/academically...this precious boy who spent his first 16 months or so in THREE different orphanages, including one filled with extremely sick and dying children. Yet today he is thriving, both emotionally and developmentally.

The Lord is faithful!!!!

10 comments:

Kristen Borland said...

praise the Lord! what a testimony of His sovereignty and grace and faithfulness.

it's great that you got him tested. i agree that you should look in to these things (like we did with zeb and speech) because we certainly want our children to have all the advantages we need, which includes knowing how to teach them.

my sister's oldest son is extremely bright (like, really, really smart) and also can't get his colors right. they are very suspicious that he is color blind because he knows everything but his colors. one in four men have some form of color blindness.

Rachel said...

I wish they had color blindness glasses you could put on to see things that way too, but then who would know how to explain it. I'm glad he's thriving, and I am super glad that all the assessments were free. I heart Child Find.

Joanie said...

Amen and Amen.

Yay to you for going in, though. It doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Praise God for his faithfulness in keeping the boys safe in their multiple orphanages. I just love their story, and want to know more with each glimpse.

Lindsey said...

What a handsome young man! What a great group of kiddos you have Brianna... who'd have known those years ago in Stafford Gardens? That in Oct. of 2008 we'd have 10 kids between the four roomies... this truly is the best time of life so far!

Unknown said...

Interesting... we've actually been wondering if our daughter is color blind too. She's been home 7 months (she's 5 and a half) and is so quick to catch nearly everything. But only knows one color (orange). Our younger son (adopted at the same time) is doing well, but hasn't picked up on quite as much as her generally, but he knows most of his colors...

Congrats on having a super-smart kiddo. ;)

joy said...

yay for yosef! colors are way overrated anyway. what's to know? :) so great that the system confirmed what we already knew--that he is bright and lovable.

Anonymous said...

Brianna, your kids are all adorable. We missed you at Jill's shower last weekend... you'll have to ask her about the Ethiopia game we played.
God has blessed you with those precious boys!

Jeannett said...

Look Brianna.

Yosef is an ar-TEEST.

He will not conform to the social norms when it comes to the fabulous mysteries of color and form. As a result, he is taking a stand against the shackling of color theory and allow each hue to just BE.

:)

Alicia said...

I am so glad Child Find worked out for you! I love Child Find! They have been such a great experience for us and I am glad you got in ~ I knew Yosef was perfect (wink, wink) But, why wait six months for the opthalmologist? Why not have him tested for color-blindness now so you can help him as early as possible? Just my two cents :o)

Farmboy and Buttercup said...

Hi! I just found your blog and just had to comment about the color thing. Our 4 yr old twins JUST started getting their colors, after 6 months home. We wondered the same stuff, as they NEVER could name a color, guessing pink all the time. Now, I am happy to say, they are totally figuring it out. Weird, huh?

 

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