The title of this blog, Overcoming Tiny Obstacles, couldn't have been more accurate to what we are experiencing... as the times goes by, I get more convinced about it. It's one obstacle after another. Tiny obstacles, but obstacles at last. Trying to overcome each one as they present, and praying and hoping that they don't get bigger, or more difficult, and that once and for all, they all disappear. But that's not happening... not just yet.
Just when we got all excited about the huge improvement of Patrick's low muscle tone, we discovered that his ability to talk was affected too. We thought that by being able to explore (by running, climbing...) the same way as his friends, he would reach the same developmental stage as them. But then speech delay came along and we realized how important was language in the learning process. How can he understand abstract concepts, like counting or feelings, when he can't even name the very basic ones?
Patrick had his 6 month evaluation at Children's Hospital (developmental pediatrics department) and his 1 year evaluation review since he started receiving the Early Intervention Services (therapies) from the Infant and Toddler Connection of Fairfax. Both evaluations indicated that Patrick is at the level of a 18 month old boy. He was 26 at the time of the tests. That's 8 months behind. In some areas his development is more advanced (as in the physical areas, for example) but in other areas he is even behind the 18 month mark.
Due to the results in his physical improvements, his therapies have been reduced to once a month, and actually, they are not longer focused on his gross motor skills, but rather on his fine motor skills. Instead of playing to climb the stairs or cruise around furniture, we are playing with play dough, puzzles and spinaroos. Patrick is quite vocal, he likes to scream and make funny noises, said daddy and mommy very early on, so I always figured he could talk. Well, talking goes behind being able to make noises or even pronounce monosyllables. He isn't mute, but he has language problems. He isn't progressing as fast as we would like, and sometimes it feels as if he wasn't progressing at all, so his speech therapies have been increased to 3 times at month.
At one of the evaluations we learned that Patrick has something called Associated Reactions. Every time I look up on the web a term of something that Patrick has, the related words that usually pop up on the search are Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, and such. I'm just thankful his issues aren't related to any of that. I have to add "in children" or "congenital" so that I get information more specific to his conditions. Anyway, getting back to Associated Reactions, I figured I could take a video of Patrick to exemplify what the problem is. Please pay attention to both hands.
As you can see, one hand imitates to some extent the movements of the other hand. I didn't know what the name for the "hand imitation" was, until I brought it up at his developmental evaluation, and the doctor explained it to us briefly. Since I learned the term, I'm trying to read and find out more about it but there isn't much information out there. The doctor said it basically won't go away, although I think we can work on trying to make it a bit less notorious as he grows.
Thanks to his Speech Therapist, we also learned that Patrick has some degree of Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I'm so glad she brought it up, and even let me borrow a book about it. Ever since I started reading about that, I began to understand my little Patrick a lot better. The way Patrick acts, interacts, the things he likes to do and the things he can't do, all started to make sense. Sensory Integration Dysfunction is a complex issue, which will require its own blog posts, so stay tuned for that.
Darn brain. I always knew the brain was the one responsible for coordinating our every day functions, but I just didn't realize that just by having one tiny bit of our brain messed up, it would mess up so many functions. When Patrick's MRI revealed that a teeny tiny part of his cerebellum didn't develop fully and that another part was a bit disorganized, I didn't realize how much Patrick's development would be affected by it.
Just when we got all excited about the huge improvement of Patrick's low muscle tone, we discovered that his ability to talk was affected too. We thought that by being able to explore (by running, climbing...) the same way as his friends, he would reach the same developmental stage as them. But then speech delay came along and we realized how important was language in the learning process. How can he understand abstract concepts, like counting or feelings, when he can't even name the very basic ones?
Patrick had his 6 month evaluation at Children's Hospital (developmental pediatrics department) and his 1 year evaluation review since he started receiving the Early Intervention Services (therapies) from the Infant and Toddler Connection of Fairfax. Both evaluations indicated that Patrick is at the level of a 18 month old boy. He was 26 at the time of the tests. That's 8 months behind. In some areas his development is more advanced (as in the physical areas, for example) but in other areas he is even behind the 18 month mark.
Due to the results in his physical improvements, his therapies have been reduced to once a month, and actually, they are not longer focused on his gross motor skills, but rather on his fine motor skills. Instead of playing to climb the stairs or cruise around furniture, we are playing with play dough, puzzles and spinaroos. Patrick is quite vocal, he likes to scream and make funny noises, said daddy and mommy very early on, so I always figured he could talk. Well, talking goes behind being able to make noises or even pronounce monosyllables. He isn't mute, but he has language problems. He isn't progressing as fast as we would like, and sometimes it feels as if he wasn't progressing at all, so his speech therapies have been increased to 3 times at month.
At one of the evaluations we learned that Patrick has something called Associated Reactions. Every time I look up on the web a term of something that Patrick has, the related words that usually pop up on the search are Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, and such. I'm just thankful his issues aren't related to any of that. I have to add "in children" or "congenital" so that I get information more specific to his conditions. Anyway, getting back to Associated Reactions, I figured I could take a video of Patrick to exemplify what the problem is. Please pay attention to both hands.
As you can see, one hand imitates to some extent the movements of the other hand. I didn't know what the name for the "hand imitation" was, until I brought it up at his developmental evaluation, and the doctor explained it to us briefly. Since I learned the term, I'm trying to read and find out more about it but there isn't much information out there. The doctor said it basically won't go away, although I think we can work on trying to make it a bit less notorious as he grows.
Thanks to his Speech Therapist, we also learned that Patrick has some degree of Sensory Integration Dysfunction. I'm so glad she brought it up, and even let me borrow a book about it. Ever since I started reading about that, I began to understand my little Patrick a lot better. The way Patrick acts, interacts, the things he likes to do and the things he can't do, all started to make sense. Sensory Integration Dysfunction is a complex issue, which will require its own blog posts, so stay tuned for that.
Darn brain. I always knew the brain was the one responsible for coordinating our every day functions, but I just didn't realize that just by having one tiny bit of our brain messed up, it would mess up so many functions. When Patrick's MRI revealed that a teeny tiny part of his cerebellum didn't develop fully and that another part was a bit disorganized, I didn't realize how much Patrick's development would be affected by it.
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