As you know Emma is in preschool, however, one of the things I love about her school is that she is basically treated like an elementary student versus a “preschool” student. Next week Darrick and I will be attending parent-teacher conferences, and unlike most parents I actually like meeting with her teacher and hearing about how Emma is doing this year.
At the end of last year we were diagnosed with Speech Apraxia, Mixed Receptive and Expressive Language Disorder, Speech/Sound Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder in her Autism Testing…
Although this was her diagnoses from the Psychologist, we still move forward in her therapy as well as teaching Emma like a normal kid, we take into consideration her special needs but since she has been advancing well we go on her cues she gives us! And this year we can tell at home that she is learning a great deal, as well as her language has been coming in great!!! We had to change all of her therapist and her current team is AMAZING!!!
So as we prep for Parent/Teacher Conferences & her checkup with her Craniofacial Team here are 5 ways I prep for appointments…
Write Questions Down…it never fails when you get in these appointments, your mind goes blank and you forget the questions that you planned to ask. As you think about these appointments, use a page in your planner or small notebook; write them down, it doesn’t matter if there is one or many…writing them down is the best thing you can do for preparation!
Get Updates from Everyone…Emma has therapist in school as well as outside therapist, in preparing for her Craniofacial Team I usually gather updates from EVERYONE! This way I can update her doctors and surgical team of her advances and this helps in preparing for any future surgeries or procedures.
Make sure you and your spouse or whoever is going with you are on the “Same Page”…Since Emma was born Darrick and I have always had to make hard decisions on the “fly” or meet with multiple doctors or surgeons at a moments notice. So the night before or a couple days before we sit together and go over our questions and concerns, we go over dates of when we would like to have procedures done (if there is a need to have one done) and so on…we don’t like to be caught off guard. One of the main things we pride ourselves on is being a “United Front” at all times! We like to have it all together when we are dealing with anyone from her team of doctors!
You wont catch us “slippin”…I’m joking but so SERIOUS! We are always a UNITED FRONT!
Also making sure if I take someone other than Darrick like my mom or sister that we are on the same page when we go in the office. I usually update them after all of Emma’s appointments, but when they come to the appointment with Darrick or I, I make sure they are aware of why we are there, what they are looking for, and so on! I would never want them to accompany me to an appointment and get “caught off guard” with information they may hear.
Review Previous Notes from Appointments…At most hospitals there is an online system that you can look on to review notes, email your doctors…make sure you sign up for the system its a great way to have all your documents at your fingertips! Since I meet with Emma’s Craniofacial Team every 3 months (once a quarter) I usually go into the system the night before the appointment to refresh myself on the conversations we had almost 3 months ago.
Lastly, be ready to BRAG on your child! Yes, I said it! No one knows your child like you do! Be ready to tell doctors, teachers, therapist, surgeons…anyone about your child! Any new things they are doing, words they’re saying; be ready to share this information at all of their appointments. Emma is good for doing lots of new things at home but not doing them in front of others…sometimes I go as far as taping her with my phone so I can show them what she does at home compared to at school or in the doctors office!
