Thomas

[jeriendhal]

Took Thomas to the Kennedy-Krieger Institute up in Baltimore to be evaluated independantly of his school system.

Short Version: He's Developmentally Delayed, but we knew that already. Judging from his history and performance at the examination he's age the level of a two-year old (he just turned three). Tracy and I were impressed by some of the things the doctor had him do however, demonstrating some words and skills we hadn't seen before.

The Bad: Some of his fine motor skills and physical aspects (loose muscle tone, inward curved pinkies) are indicative of autism, but that isn't for certain. Overall he doesn't seem austistic, but he does have problems. Worst case scenario he might be slightly retarded.

The Good: He *IS* progressing, albeit slowly, and has really broken out in langauge development the past few weeks. We're doing everything we're supposed to be doing. The doctor recommended some blood tests to look for genetic or bio factors for his delay, but that's about it. We were modestly satisfied. We didn't hear anything we hadn't before, but on the plus side the news wasn't *worse*.

Comments

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

Couple of things you might find useful. Back when we were doing the rounds of testing with Mike, I got frustrated. By happenstance I ran across a book by Stanley Greenspan, one of THE big names in the field of early childhood development. It was about 4 inches thick, and I just sat down and started going through the different diagnoses until I slammed into one that could have been a direct observation of Mike! So I made a bunch of copies and always shoved one into the hands of a new person dealing with him. What was really helpful, though, was when an area psychologist turned out to have studied under Dr. Greenspan. She understood immediately what the deal was with Mike, and gave us what was then one of the few hopeful assessments we'd had; that although he would lage behind his peers all through school, with a lot of extra help he would eventually mature into the range of average intelligence and function. And I have to say, Thomas sounds like he's MUCH further ahead than Mike at the same age!

If I can find that specific book, I'll loan it to you. In the meantime, you might try a supplement called DHA on Thomas. You can get a reasonably priced vegetable oil based one called Neuromins. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) occurs naturally in breast milk and is required as an additive to infant formula in Europe. It is a vital nutrient for developing the eyes and brain. When we started Mike on it, we saw a language cascade within a few weeks. Maybe it was only a coincidence, but it was one of those 'can't hurt, might help, isn't costly' things, so we've kept it up. Except now he gets it in regular old fish oil capsules. :)

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Sorry to take so long to reply. Thakns for the suggested reading. I'll bring to Tracy's attention, and she can probably get it form the Pratt library in Baltimore if it isn't her own system. We'll look into the supplement you mentioned to. We had Thomas on something like that (can't remember the name) but it didn't appear to have much effect, so maybe it wasn't the same thing.