Weight Check
William – 23lbs 2oz
Aaron – 22lbs 6oz
We've had three fairly significant appointments in the past
two weeks, so I thought I’d post about those now rather than waiting until the
end of the month. We will be super busy
with Christmas and getting ready to move!
Developmental Clinic
We have been to developmental clinic several times now, but
this is the first time we've done the Bayley
Scale of Infant development. The boys
were exactly 14 months adjusted the day of the test, so ideally they would score
at 14 months for each category. They
were visited by the occupational therapist, speech therapist, and physical
therapist, and asked to do a bunch of activities like stacking blocks, point to
certain items, and color with a crayon.
Stephen was with Aaron during his testing, so I’m not sure exactly how
he reacted. I was with William, who was
being a little stinker the whole time. First
of all, they undress the boys and sit them in a highchair in their diapers, which
is completely unnatural for them. With
William, they started by putting a bunch of toys on the highchair tray and asked
him to pick up the baby, spoon, cup, ball, or book. He was first asked to pick up the book, and
instead picked up the cup and ball, and was fixated on showing the therapist
that he can put the ball in and out of the cup.
Then, when the next therapist came in and showed him a book with
pictures, he was asked to point at a picture of a book – he immediately looked
at the book they had taken from his highchair and placed on the table, but wouldn't point at the picture of the book she was holding…I’m surprised he
scored as high as he did with his lack of cooperation, but almost everything
they asked him I KNOW he can do at home.
Because of this, I take the results with a grain (or ten) of salt. The only score that I completely do not agree with is Aaron’s expressive
language – he does say mama and dada, and a few animal sounds (and since the
appointment he has been saying bye bye and hi), but he was scored at an age that isn't supposed to be saying any words at all.
So they got that one wrong.
However, we do agree that he could benefit from speech therapy, which we've already discussed with our early intervention program. He’ll be evaluated when
we move to Hanover and start in their program.
We will also have Hanover evaluate William for speech and occupational
therapy based on these results, as it’s better to be proactive, but I’m not
100% sure they’re needed. After that
test, I’m not completely sold on the value of the developmental clinic since
they only see the boys for 15 minutes every few months – they surely can’t know
my kids and everything they can do. The early
intervention program seems to be much better for that purpose for us.
Here are the results:
Cognitive: William
– 12 months, Aaron - 14 months
Fine Motor: William – 13 months, Aaron - 15 months
Gross Motor: William – 14 months, Aaron - 14 months
Receptive Language: William – 14 months, Aaron - 16 months
Expressive Language: William – 12 months, Aaron – 8 months
Hearing Test
Because they were born so early and had the brain bleeds, the
boys are at risk for progressive hearing loss.
As a result, we were expected to follow up with the audiologist every 6
months or so until they turn 3. The
guidelines have changed, however – they just need to pass one diagnostic test
and one follow-up before they are 2. The
boys have now PASSED the diagnostic test and two follow-up visits, so they are
good to go. We will still see the ENT
because of Aaron’s tubes, but have crossed the audiologist off of our
list. (Yay)
Neurologist
I am a huge fan of our neurologist. From day one, he has given the most realistic
and grounded insight and advice regarding the boys' brains and potential future
delays (or, in our case, probable lack of future delays J ). It is his job, of course. Based on the boys' activity and reflexes he
saw in his office – standing, walking, playing, talking, he sees no real
potential for future disabilities due to the brain bleeds. He will see them one more time when they turn
2, and then we should be able to remove him from our list as well. They may still have some issues with more of
the fine motor dexterity based on the location of the brain damage – may not be
future piano concerto players – but only time will tell.
William and Aaron continue to be happy, loving, playful little
boys who seek attention and affection. We couldn't ask for anything better this
Christmas!
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| William & Aaron |
