Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Speech and Physical Therapy

Well, The Early Steps program came out to assess Anthony today. I'm pretty concerned that he's almost two (November 20!) and has less than a ten-word vocabulary:

1.Mama
2.Dada
3.MawMaw
4.PawPaw
5.Nana
6.Mimi
7.Baby
8.Book (although it sounds more like Buh-wah)

He makes plenty of correct animal sounds, and he knows about 10 signs (more, eat, baby, milk, please, thank you, all gone, cereal, hi, bye).

He can follow commands: blow a kiss, bring me the book, get in the car, get in your chair, etc.

However, he is a little behind on his gross and fine motor skills according to the assessment. I'm not overly surprised at this, and am glad that he will get a bit of physical therapy along with the much-needed speech therapy. Those of you who have seen him lately can agree with the fact that he's not THAT behind on his physical development. But he needs to be doing things like turning door knobs, drawing a line from the top of the page to the bottom, copying us when we color...those are all things we just either haven't LET him do or haven't done with him yet. I'm more than happy to help him color, though!

We've been given five speech therapists to choose from (we can get more choices if none of those works out). I think that the physical therapist will be up to the program's discretion. Hopefully we'll have our first appointments next week. The lady who assessed Anthony felt that he won't need physical therapy for long, but she wouldn't give us a time estimate on the speech therapy. She was very surprised that he's not stringing two to three words together yet.

As these two therapies commence and progress, I'll update more. Right now I'm just glad that this assistance is available to Anthony and I hope that he will be caught up soon with his age group. No matter what, he's still my sweet little man and I can't wait to hear him talk. Most people have told me, "Once he starts to talk, you're going to wish he'd stop!" And I can tell you right now that it probably won't be that way with me. Every new thing Anthony has learned, every new thing that he's done developmentally, has been extra sweet for me. Without the wonderful knowledge of Anthony's various medical teams, without all of your prayers, Anthony wouldn't be here today. So when he starts talking, I'll just consider it another mini-miracle that makes up the big miracle of my child. That doesn't go to say that I cherish EVERYTHING Anthony does...God knows I get frustrated with him. I'm just so anxious to see him continue to develop!

OK. Off my soapbox. Just send us a few prayers that Anthony will take to his therapists and amaze us all with his abilities.

Lots of love,
Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Not much, really! Stay tuned!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laurie, It's true, once they start talking they don't stop!Sometimes I think they talk just to hear themselves.(24 hours a day!) Just remember this when he's 15 and driving you crazy because your saying no to something he wants. LOL. E
p.s. the pictures were great!

angie said...

Hello Laurie,
I completely know where you are coming from! People tell me that all the time also about when she starts to talk I'll wish that she hadn't....every new word she makes is music to my ears....and it always will be!!!! I'm glad you sought therapy. We have had a therapist come for a while now and it seems to help. These kids have just been through SO much that we have to give them a little more time. You're right though, each and every new milestone is bittersweet!! I'll say a prayer for Anthony. I am sure he will charm the pants off his new therapists:)

Anonymous said...

Hey!

Just wanted to mention to you that all the things you were saying Anthony needed to work on (door knob, drawing, coloring) are things an occupational therapist should see him for - not physical therapist. I'm sure they're setting you up with the right person, but just to double check!! PT would work with him on things like walking, balance, climbing stairs, etc. Hope this helps. :)

Elizabeth

Sarah said...

Considering everything Anthony has been through, I think he is doing just fine. I know a little girl about his age that, from what it sounds like, is farther behind Anthony. It is good that you can have him in physical therapy though.

Renee said...

Good luck with Anthony's therapy and I'll keep y'all in my prayers.