I just had to ASQ....

ASQ:  sounds like "ask", stands for "Ages & Stages Questionnaire".  It's a form that the doc's office sends out to us before each child's check-up to evaluate them physically and developmentally prior to the appointment.  They're sent out for 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, and that's as far as we've got so far.  Don't know if there'll be a 4 or 5 year yet.  Anyway, having three young kids we (hubby and I) have course done many of these forms.  Usually they're no big deal.  They ask questions in several different catagories like, communication, gross  motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social, and you can answer in one of three ways, 'yes', 'sometimes', or 'not yet' (I don't think they want parents to have to use the word 'no' when it comes to their child's development, so that's not a choice of course, which is fine with me).  It is scored with 10 points for a 'yes', 5 points for a 'sometimes' and 0 points for a 'not yet'.  Each category has 50-60 points usually then the child is evaluted by a scale.  There is a white area for high scores, a "grey" area for moderate scores, and a dark area for low scores to indicate a child may need further evaluation.  Most of the questions are basic and simple like if your infant will hold his head up, roll over, speak one syllable sounds etc., but obviously as kids get older the questions become a little more specific.

Now, I'm a little up in the air on these forms.  I think they have pros and cons, ups and downs, goods and bads.  I think they're great for first time parents or parents with one child who don't have older kids to use as a guideline for younger siblings.  For example, with Cooper the form was one of our first indications that he may have a hearing problem or need help with his speech.  It begins to ask about "speech" from the 6 month form onward.  The 6 month only mentions basic sounds like, ba, ga, da, etc. and progresses as the child should progress.  I believe there were three forms in a row, 6, 9, and 12 months, that Cooper scored moderate or "behind" in the communication section.  For Josh and I, not knowing exactly where he should be speech wise, this was a good marker for us, so we were able to alert his doctor that he may not be on track.

On the other hand, I think some of it is just silly.  For example, I believe it was the 2 year form that asked "Does your child pick up a spoon or other similar object and pretend to use it as a telephone?"  Now I know they're trying to figure out if my kid has any imagination, but I'm thinking, "Um no.  If my 2 year old wants to talk on the phone guess what?  He picks up... a phone."  LOL Or another "dumb" one. On the three year old form:  "Say two numbers like 'seven three' to your child.  Does he/she repeat those two numbers back to you?"  Again, I'm thinking to myself, "I've been working with my kid his whole life trying to teach him to count, but now you want him to count 'out of order'? Huh?"  Now I get that they maybe want to evaluate his memory or something like that. I'm no specialist and I'm certainly not trained in child development, so I honestly don't know, but I'm also not going to be upset when Cooper looks at me like, "What?" LOL  So, I really don't think you can tell if a child is "normal" or "smart" or anything like that form this (or any) form.  All children are different and think differently.  There is no "normal" or "average" child in my opinion.  They're all special and unique and gifted in their own way.

That all being said, we got Cooper's 3 years ASQ form in the mail yesterday.  I have to start by saying that my kids never cease to amaze me.  I'm looking over the form, just randomly reading the questions just to get a general idea when I come to the problem solving section... It's question number 3 and it looks like this...

It's a stick figure "man" missing an eye, an arm, and a leg, and the question reads:

3.  When you point to the figure and ask your child, "What is this?" does your child say a word that means a person or something similar?  (Mark "yes" for responses like, "snowman", "boy, "man", "girl", "Daddy", "spaceman", and "monkey".)  Then it offers a space for you to write your child's response.

Now I wasn't planning on trying any of these things with Cooper right at that second, but this one intriqued me, so I went over to him (he was sitting on Josh's lap), pointed at the picture, and ask, "What is that?"  He looks at me like I'm a complete idiot,  points to the side minus an arm and asks me, "Where other arm at?"

Josh and I immediately start cracking up!  No, he did NOT answer correctly, but guess what?  When my child looks at a half drawn picture he wants to know WHY it's not done right.   He doesn't think it kind of, sort of, maybe looks like a monkey or spaceman.  He wants to know why someone has drawn HALF a person.  Now he didn't give the "right" answer, but I'm 100% satisfied with the answer he gave and I'm for darn sure going to write THAT in the box!

Anyway, on the whole I "like" the form. I think something like this is certainly needed and we need to keep childrens' best interests at heart, even if some of the questions are "silly" or "annoying".  The form obviously does some good or it wouldn't be around right? 

In looking at the form Cooper is right on track, and this is the first time EVER that I've been able to mark "yes" for all 6 question in the communication section!  In fact, question 2 asks if he'll make three or four word sentences.  ONLY three or four.  He makes six, seven, upwards or EIGHT word sentences daily!  I'm so extremely proud of him and how hard he's worked and the wonderful progress he's made over the last year! 

And in other news, Chloe slept in her room, in her bed, all by herself ALL NIGHT last night.  All night long.  From about 9pm to 7am.  Then she came into our bed just after 7am and wanted to snuggle with daddy (she's a Daddy's Girl for sure) and mommy.  It's just recently that she's becoming a little bit of Mommy's Girl as well, which is totally fine by me. :DAnd Bro, well he's still not officially walking.  Still taking one step here and there, which is also fine by me because I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to THREE mobile toddlers.  Ahhhh!

Well, as always, thanks for checking in and I'll definitely be back with more updates soon.  Cooper's birthday party is two weeks away, then he'll have his check up, then Easter (which I'm already having a blast gathering up stuff for their baskets), and then Brodie will be ONE!  Holy smokes!