It seemes like we were waiting forever to have Reagan's Early Intervention evaulation done, but yesterday at 8:30am a team of four arrived at our home to begin.
The entire process took a little longer than I expected.
In all honesty, I found it to be a little overwhelming, so I can only imagine what was going through Reagan's mind.
All four women were sprawled out on our family room floor with their big bags of tricks for Reagan and while they were playing with her, they were asking us LOTS of questions. As fast as we were answering their questions, they were entering all of the info on their laptops.
Our only concern going into this was her speech, but we were told that they would be doing a total evaluation. They tested her in all areas......
Social Skills
Receptive Communication
Expressive
Cognitive
Gross Motor
Fine Motor
Self Care
After a few hours, they were able to compute Reagan's test scores and let us know where she fell on the curve.
I am so glad that I went with my gut and did not wait any longer.....
As suspected, she did extremely well in all areas, except for expressive or verbal communication. Her score was equal to that of a 12 month old and she is just about 22 months.
As a result of today's evaluation, we are now aware of a few other things that she does or has been doing that fall in line with speech or oral motor delays. She did this more when we first came home from China, but she still does it from time to time. We will give her a snack in a bowl and she will start eating a piece or two at a time, but she does not swallow it. She will continue to put more food in and then I will see her with puffy cheeks. I know that she has way too much in her mouth and I will tell her to open up. She will spit out most of what is in her mouth and then she is able to continue eating and swallowing. It only happens on occasion, but nonetheless, it is happening so it needed to be noted.
The other thing we are going to watch is her tiptoe walking.
She just started doing this and does not do it all the time...... she seems to do it when she is barefoot in the house, but all of the evaluators told us to be aware of it and let them know if we notice her doing it more often. I am not really too concerned about it because both Nick and Sarah went through the tiptoe phase as well.
I am somewhat relieved knowing that I did not overreact.
My Mommy intuition was correct and now we can get a jump start on helping her.
Reagan's in home speech therapy will begin within two weeks, we are just waiting to get assigned to a specific therapist. I will continue to update as we progress.
Over the last few weeks so many of you have offered great advice and shared your own personal experiences with Early Intervention. I can't tell you how much I appreaciate hearing all of the positive feedback and success stories. We are very optimistic that before too long, with a little extra help, Reagan will be talking our ears off.
27 comments:
Don't worry...she will! And then she'll never be quiet again. I am amazed at how many times a day I tell my (formerly) speech-delayed three year old to PLEASE PLEASE BE QUIET!!!! :o) So glad you're getting the help you need. So glad you're getting it early!
You will be amazed at how well she does and the difference in a short amount of time.
Glad you were able to get the help she needs so quickly!
Love you,
Jill
I have a daughter just a little older than Reagan who I suspect is delayed but other people tell me to stop comparing her to her twin. It's frustrating for me because I want to help her but I don't want to demean her. Could you please - when you find time - let me know what they said about the food-cheek-stuffing??? That describes my daughter to a T and I feel like if I had more knowledge on it, I could take it to someone and say, "see? please help her." Thanks! And best of luck to you and Reagan - she's so lucky to have such a wonderful Mommy!
Mom's gut is the best....so happy her evaluation went good and you can get to work right away. You are right soon she will be chatty your ears off and bringing even more laughter and smiles into your home.
I know I'm totally a geek for this stuff, but I love, love, loved getting all the scoop on where Li'l E fell on the ranges and what was being watched, what was being noted, and so on. I think I should have been a Child Development major or something. But again, they are soo good at what they do and you will be amazed at the progress she makes. Good for you. Trust your gut/intuition - it's God's gift to women :) Hugs to you as you start this new journey :)
So glad you followed your gut. A little extra help never hurts our kiddos. It can only help. Early intervention TOTALLY depends on who you get assigned. Kate's therapist was great (it was OT) and she caught uop very quickly. However, Will's speech therapist was very inexperienced working with toddlers and he did not progress until we went out on our health insurance and did private Speech therapy. The Early intervention therapist did not come often enough and she was just out of school and had not mastered the art of keeping a busy toddlers attention at all. I only share this with you so that you do not waste time like I did. Really keep an eye on what they are doing. In fact, they waned me there for all the sessions as they taught me thing to do at home too. If your gut tells you she is not getting enough...do not be afraid to seek private help. Insurance should dover a lot of it and it was worth every cent.
I will say some prayers. Reagan is going to just soar!
Hugs,
Kim
I am so happy your evaluation gave you results. Unfortunately for us Annslee's receptive skills were off the charts and they AVERAGED her receptive and expressive scores so she didn't qualify..yeah, even though at 3 yrs old her expressive skills were at a 15 month old level. At almost 7 we are still struggling and I kick myself for not being more aggressive...I was believe me but I should have done more. Annslee finally serviced by the school system but we lost precious time. I am certain with Reagan's starting so early she will catch up in no time. Praying you get great results!!!
So glad you were able to get some answers and now you can help your sweet girl!
Bri still walks on her tip toes at times. Drives me crazy!
Yea!! So happy for you! We had our 1st session with the speech therapist last week & I was thrilled with what we did in just an hour. Milo has already added 2 more words to his vocabulary in just one week. Granted, they're "baby words"- i.e. "night night" & "bye bye"- but it's still progress!
Milo also holds food in his mouth. He used to do the over-stuffed cheeks thing, but that has subsided. Now he'll hold the last bite of his food in his mouth for up to 30 minutes. Since he only has one bite in his mouth, it's harder for us to tell (no puffy cheeks). But as we've become aware of it, we now check his mouth at the end of all meals & snack times. The therapist noted the behavior, but has never commented on the significance of it. I just figured it was something that had to do with his time at the orphanage (strict feeding schedules & limited amounts of food). I'll have to do some more research on that.
Good luck to you!!
Amy
www.babybellylaughs.blogspot.com
SO SO thankful you were able to get some answers and therapy will start very soon. She will bloom and blossom right before your eyes because you were a mom with your eyes wide open on her development. Sometimes it is not the easiest thing to go searching for answers but always the best thing!!! Blessings to you all!
XO
glad it went well & that you feel great about the intervention.
i bet she will be yapping your ears off soon!
Thinking about you all - praying Reagan will start chattering soon.
When you mentioned the food/swallowing thing, Lilah did that too. When we got her at 18 months she was still just drinking bottles and had a really hard time swallowing (pureed) solids for a while. We used to get a giggle out of those little chipmunk cheeks!
Good for you, trusting your Mommy instincts.
Jill
In my experience and opinion, Early Intervention always helps, never hinders :) Good job, momma :)
So glad it went well! Can't wait to here her talking your ear off! Hugs
It really can be a little overwhelming but so worth it! Our daughter was globally delayed after her Russian orphanage /hospital life. When Ava startd to walk she too was a toe walker. Fast forward ,she dances ,runs and sings little songs that she makes up! You just wait your little boo will be talking your ear off soon :)
Nicole
Lisa - I'm so glad you're getting early help and I know you're relieved to be going forward. Reagan will probably be one of those that will talk your ear off in no time.
We still struggle with Milana. She's talking all the time now but it's still mostly her own language which we actually understand. Pronunciation is very difficult for her. Still, I long to be able to have a good old talk with her.
Hugs,
W
So glad you followed your gut and doing all you can to help your precious daughter. Thanks for keeping us all posted and educated. Not sure if this is related, but found this interesting: http://www.infinitehealthresources.com/Store/Resource/Article/1-21/2/59.html
SO happy to hear you got such a thorough eval!! And you are right...she WILL be talking your ear off & it will be hard for you to remember when she didn't!! lol!!
Just last night, Kiara woke up with "night beofre school jitters" at 2am & was TALKING NON-STOP...lol...and I had to stop & remember when I was so worried that she didn't speak...
So thankful to hear that Reagan is on track to get the help she needs!!
I'm glad you have answers now....and a plan!
Wonderful news!
I hit enter too soon.. lol Wonderful news that you got answers. Mama gut checks always are right! :D Cant wait to hear that she talks your ear off too :)
Lisa, indeed she will! And it will be music to your ears. All that she has been listening to will come pouring out all of a sudden, and you'll wonder were she got it from.
Gorgeous photos, love the little toes, I'd spend all day kissing them!
Just wanted to offer you some encouragement, even though I know you are very optimistic. We brought home our daughter in Aug of 2010 at 18 months. She was not speaking and we had some additional concerns as well...We also had her evaluated and she qualified for PT, OT and ST. She was released from PT within 3 months...She only started her ST/OT in the last 4 months and is flying through both. They anticipate releasing her from OT and ST within 3 months. She has come huge leaps and bounds, is very bright and we are so thankful we chose early intervention. You will see a big difference and I'm excited to hear how your precious peanut grows!! :)
Hugs,
Robin
As you know, we walked this path with Sam. We even learned baby sign language because one specialist told us that Sam may never speak. Early intervention was the key for us. Once he finally decided to talk ... he began with full sentences.
And today, we received a note home from his Kindergarten teacher. It was a behavior warning slip ... for EXCESSIVE TALKING!
We had to laugh! Guess we prayed too hard!
She will catch up before you know it with early intervention. Carsyn is doing so well with all three of his early intervention therapies. So glad you followed your instinct. It is always right. People thought I was crazy when I kept telling everyone that he was behind.
Like Kim, we an early intervention speech therapist that was right out of school. We were thrilled with her because she was extremely motivated about her job and was really good at figuring out what to do to get Hannah to try to form words. Hannah wanted to play with the therapists toys SO BADLY and would do whatever she wanted to play with the new toys. On the other hand, Hannah was very reserved around the experienced physical therapist that other families raved out. The physical therapist didn't connect with our daughter and really didn't seem to care that they weren't connecting. Experience isn't everything. Sometimes just the right personality clicks and can inspire our little buggers try to practice new words.
My daughter absolutely loved speech therapy. It is fun. Doesn't seem like therapy at all. Just someone playing with your daughter. I loved it to, because I learned how to teach and help her with her words. We are still friends with her speech therapist and will probably continue to have the relationship as my daughter gets older.
Post a Comment