Evaluation done,then what?.
my daughter,Now she is 4.8 years,and finally got her an evaluation at the marcus center in the US. THey said she has significant cognitive delays ,where she approximated the age of a 2.7 kid her age.she also has significant social difficulties and speech delays. what is the good way to scaffold her weaknesses ,from the experiences of those who have gone that path?, thanks.
That is a big question. Even with the information you provided there is a tremendous amount of variation of skill sets. If you give us a more specific lists of aptitudes and weaknesses, we can give better advice.
Kids on the spectrum tend to have a lot of splintered skills. So even if your child is under 3 cognitively, some things may be above and some below. The same is true for social/emotional/communication skills.
Maybe try starting with what you (or the center) note as the most significant strengths and weaknesses. I am assuming if you went somewhere privately, that you have a pretty detailed report. I would start with the things in the report that resonate the most with you.
Did a quick google of the Marcus center - they seem to be one of those multi-jurisdictional centers like the ones we use here. They should be giving you a plan of action along with your evaluation. I agree, can you have them break down the deficits more specifically, and ask what interventions they suggest?
There is a LOT you can do, and also that professional intervention can do. Communication skills are really important in this age group, so, speech therapy and play therapy to help her learn to ask for what she needs can be critical if she's not doing that already. You can reinforce that at home as well.
I don't know anything specifically about cognitive worksheets. I may not be understanding what you are looking, for, but this does not sound like the right route. She needs to be engaged with people more than worksheets. Yes, people who are autistic tend to be visual, so maybe I do not know what you mean by worksheet. But just having her go through math/spelling worksheets, even with you ,is not going to be pivotal. There are tons of worksheets for different skills, but I would need to know about what cognitive skills you want to work on.
I don't know exactly what you mean either, but my older son has some learning differences and what works for us is playing a lot of boardgames. Or, card games. Even really simple boardgames/ card games strengthen a whole bunch of cognitive skills without the child even realizing they are 'working'. Even 'go fish' involves tallying up data and Candyland will help with one to one correspondence. There is a great game called 'Go Away Monster' which can help develop abstract thinking and deductive skills. Feed the Kitty is fun, picture match Bingo. Other puzzles that are great are mazes (lots of free ones online)- mazes help with motor planning, online jigsaw puzzles. Anything on the PBS Kids website (lots of free games).