Early Intervention

Almost a week has passed since Early Intervention came for their assessment of Paige. The entire appointment was very overwhelming for me so I can only imagine how Paige must have felt. Three women arrived (a nurse, a PT and someone else) with clip boards, bags of toys, etc and started doing all sorts of things with her. Although they came to evaluate her gross motor skills, they actually tested her in all areas. While they told me not to listen to what they were saying to each other about how she was doing, it was hard not to start feeling paranoid when they were constantly commenting on the various things she wasn't doing. They did assure me that they were testing both above and below her level so they expected her to be unable to perform some of the tasks. After about an hour of poking and prodding her, they were finally finished with the testing and I was able to put her down for her nap, a well earned one since she seemed exhausted and fussy after this rigorous hour of tests.

They concluded that she did qualify for services in the areas of both gross motor skills and expressive language. Although she makes the various consonant sounds, she doesn't repeat them if you do that at her so that was why she was behind there. They said that it's very common for someone who is behind in gross motor to also be behind in language since they're concentrating so much on the motor skills so they fall behind in language. In order to qualify she needed to be two months behind which they said that's about exactly where she was. However, they considered her a 9 month old even though she was only 3 days away from being 10 months which means she is closer to three months behind in these areas. So I'm a little disappointed that she is so far behind but I also know that it is not indicative of any long term problems and it will be nice to give her that extra boost she needs so she can catch up. We are supposed to hear from them in the next week or two and then we'll start appointments, probably every other week.

Other than that, she is doing really well. She is down on the Cape with Jake for the week so I'm flying solo up here in Franklin. She hasn't been sleeping really well down there for her naps so she's been a little bit fussy but overall she's doing fine. He took her to the beach but she wouldn't keep her hat on her head so apparently it was a very short visit. They were there the other day and she didn't know what to think of the sand. She put her thumb in her mouth after touching it and didn't seem to like that result! Otherwise, we're just plugging along, getting close to her one year birthday already...wow!

Early Intervention

So a woman from Early Intervention called last week to discuss Paige's gross motor skills.  After asking many questions, she felt she should be assessed.  She didn't necessarily think she would qualify for services since she would need to be three months behind to qualify.  Part of me is disappointed that they think that she may even be close to three months behind but if they do feel she needs a little help, I'm happy they're coming in to check her out.  She still isn't moving on her own at all, other than some scootching in circles on her butt.  If I try to put her on all fours, she just falls to her belly and immediately rolls over onto her back.  Anyway they come in next Friday so we'll see if that goes anywhere.  They did say if she didn't qualify they could give some tips on how to help her which is good to hear.

We did take Paige out in the bike trailer after I last posted.  She did so well and really seemed to enjoy it.  We rode for 20 miles on the bike path and she didn't make a peep the entire time.  I would ride up beside her to see how she was doing and she was just hanging out, sucking her thumb and looking around.  I think that's what we're actually going to do with her this weekend when we have the open house and need to vacate the premesis.  

She's made great headway with the food.  She loves her Cheerios and chunks of string cheese.  We haven't gotten much further than that but it's still a huge improvement over just a few weeks.  Now I just need to figure out more things to give her that she might like.  She doesn't seem interested in anything that's slimy at all...grapes, pasta, etc.  She won't pick them up but if I disguise them in hummus or something else she will usually eat them.  We still get the occasional gagging.  

I do believe she's about to get her top four teeth.  The pedi said she could see them coming in and she was very irritable tonight so I think they must be about to cut.  She's really been very easy going through this phase which has been a great relief.  Now I'm looking forward to how she'll do with two weeks away on the Cape!