Early Intervention Evaluation

At his 12 month visit, Michael's ped was concerned about his speech development. I did the self-evaluation test from EI and felt that he didn't need it then, but was on the bottom of the curve. In October, before his next well visit, I did the test again and felt I couldn't check off the language/speech box, so we called EI for an evaluation.

They pretty much confirmed everything I felt was going on. There just seems to be something missing when it comes to communication with him. You can see the wheels turning, but he just can't make the connection between a word/sign and an action. They said he tested with a 45% delay in communication. They also tested him as having a 30% delay in fine motor skills and some sensory issues, but they feel that is due to the communication delay.

We are going to start weekly speech therapy and bi-weekly occupational therapy for him. I also am going to take him for a hearing test to rule that out, although they and I agree that there probably isn't a problem there. They also suggested that we make an appointment with a developmental ped to rule out any ASD (again. we don't think it's a problem, but just to rule it out). There is apparently a year waiting list for this, so we can always cancel it when we see improvement.

I'm still not sure how I feel about this. John is very relieved (he stayed home for the eval). On the one hand, I am relieved that I can put a name on this and know that I'm not just imagining things or blowing them out of proportion. My mantra today is, "This is not your fault, it's just the way he is and he and you are getting help."

On a nice upside, I impressed them by couching his behavior in terms of needs (needs to be moving, needs to explore, etc.). It was nice to have some validation that I'm doing the right things.