Early Intervention



I have been trying to write this post for a week now.  I wish I could either cut out some of the things I need to do each day, or somehow find more hours in the day.

Anyhow…  I took Ace to the Childhood Development Clinic on September 4th for an evaluation.  He did great in most areas — testing at his adjusted age, if not his chronological age — and even excelled in social/emotional, where he was evaluated to be at an 11 month level.  :)  His expressive communication, however, was evaluated to be at the level of a 3 month old.  :(

Now I knew there was something going on with him, but I preferred to live in denial for a while, and then when I decided it was time to make a call, I had to wait almost two months before he could be evaluated. During those two months, I kept flip-flopping as to whether I should even take him in.  Some days he seems fine — if not a little more “high maintenance” than some kids — and other days I am 99.9% sure there is something wrong with him.

However, I don’t think that the expressive communication delay is exactly the issue.  He does communicate (more in the past two weeks than prior to his evaluation — go figure), but he has fits or tantrums quite easily.  I think he has a Sensory Integration issue, personally, and I was disappointed that during the evaluation, they didn’t do any kind of sensory testing.

I finally connected with Early Intervention today to discuss “options” for Ace and told her I want a sensory evaluation done.  I was glad that she readily agreed it would be a good idea after I told her more about him, his behavior and why I feel he needs the additional evaluation (I’d explain more, but time is not on my side tonight…).

I have an appointment with Early Intervention on Thursday to work out a treatment plan, and I have a call in to the best pediatric occupational therapist (OT) in town to see about having the additional evaluations done.

Besides that, Calista celebrated her 5th birthday on September 5th.  She had a wonderful birthday celebration.  She got to take cupcakes to school, then we went to Victoria and spent the weekend with Gramma Berta, Papa Skip, Aunt Tracey, and cousins Jess and Ty.  We had a birthday party for her and she wore a princess dress almost all weekend.  Aunt Tracey and Gramma Berta took me and the kids to tea on Sunday as well — it was quite fun (except no one seemed to like the food… it was traditional English cooking) and Calista loved the napkins.  They had a bear on them and said, “I say there chaps!  I hear that the Blethering Place is spiffing for a spot of tea” (or something close to that).  I read it with my faux English accent and she wanted me to read it over and over and over.

We also did Build-A-Bear with Calista and one of her friends since she didn’t get to have a party with friends.  She made a pink bear that has white hearts, compelte with a white sequined shirt, a pink sparkly sweater and a jean skirt.  Her name is Diamond.  I tried my best to talk her out of that dang sweater (part because it was $7.00 and part because I didn’t like it) but she wouldn’t budge.  So the bear wears a sweater!

As for the boys, they each have their bottom left tooth in (Ace’s isn’t totally in just yet) and they are both getting their bottom right teeth in.  They are doing all right with th teething, though some nights are worse than others, the poor guys.

They crawl fast and I found out today that nate is a climber.  He was in the front lawn — where I set them as I am loading or unloading the van — and I turn back to see that he is on the front porch!  He climbed two stairs to get up there.  Later in the evening, I heard Skip tell him to “get down from there” and saw he was standing on top of a Rubbermaid box I had next to the couch.  This should be fun!

They aren’t very interested in walking, and it seems to be because they can crawl much faster.  They stand unassisted for a while now, but when it’s time to move, they drop to their knees and take off.  I have been holding their hands and showing them how to walk, and now Ace will take the push toy and push it around.  It gets going fast and he walks faster and faster, and then usually ends up falling on his face (not getting hurt, mind you, as that wouldn’t be very funny!).  Tonight I had him standing facing Skip and he took a step forward towards him, so I think now that he’s had a taste of upright mobility, he’s going to work on it.  I do fear that he’s not going to walk, though — he’s just going to start running and never stop!

Oh, and Nate has discovered playing.  He is so playful — he came up to me last night as I was sitting at the dining room table and he kind of taunted me.  He grabbed my chair and said, “Eh!” to get my attention.  Then he laughed and turned away, so I told him I was going to get him and he laughed and crawled away as fast as he could.  I could him and he just dissolved into giggles.  He’s been doing it with Skip, too.  Ace prefer wrestling, and he’s a tough little bugger!

Well, I guess that’s all for now.  And just because I probably haven’t said it lately, I am still completely amazed by these two little boys in our home and feel so blessed when we share a quiet moment.  Tonight, they both woke at midnight to nurse, and as I laid there with them resting their heads on my chest, sleepily nursing, I just couldn’t help but think all the time, frustration, fear (and debt) we went through or incurred were so very worth it.  They are just so amazing.  :)

4 Replies to “Early Intervention”

  1. I found out early this year that one of my kids has special needs. It has been an interesting education learning how to be his advocate. I hope Canada has good support for you and your family. My best wishes for all of you.

  2. My oldest child (DD – 6 years old) Has Sensory Processing Disorder, so I know how you felt. It wasn’t until she was almost 6 that I got in touch with an OT partly because she was labelled a difficult child and would outgrow it, and partly because I had to take matters into my own hands and had to ask around ALOT to figure out who to contact.

    If feels better knowing what the issues are, and we were given exercises to do with her to help calm her down, and the acknowledgement that it had nothing to do with what I did / didn’t do as a parent.

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