Goals

Well, Elle's little evaluations are over and we've had our meeting where we went over her abilities and made goals for her. I was nervous and it was scary. It was scary to see her paper evaluation listing her stage of development which was as follows:

Cognitive: 9-11 age range (in months, of course)
receptive language: 9 mos.
expressive language: 8 mos.
gross motor: 6 mos. (yikes)
fine motor: 10 mos.
social/emotional: 9 mos.
self-help: 14 mos. (go Elles! No surprise, this is the category that eating falls under). Also- one of the things in this area they grade on was helping me when I dress her, which I gave them a no. But the last couple of days I have observed a little more closely and she DOES help me with her arms and legs, so I am sure she should have scored higher still. MAYBE even where she should- gasp.

So there it is- yes, she is behind pretty much in all areas. The Kids on the Move people don't diagnose, so I need to get in touch with her doctor and start the ball rolling on finding out what is really going on with this little monkey. They recommended this, and told us that kids with delays like hers usually means there is an underlying condition. They definitely think she has a sensory issue going on. Another possibility is a mild case of cerebral palsey. The KOTM people said something about MRI's and CAT scans both which freak me out a little, but it is what it is. I googled "sensory issues in babies" today and saw some familiar things in Elle in one of the types. I also came away feeling very lucky, cause there are some cases of babies having sensory issues and they don't sound fun for anyone. Many involve clothing issues and many have food issues of which Elle has none of that and has been a calm happy baby, and the babies I read about today were NOT happy babies, in fact-- they were screaming babies. SO if she does have sensory issues, we hit the jackpot, cause she doesn't seem to be in pain- in fact, she seems to be a very happy little thing that doesn't let much bother her. The KOTM people told me that sensory issues and CP, don't usually effect cognitive learning and Elle is behind enough that it makes them think that if she has one of those conditions, there may be something else going on. But from what I read today, sensory issues at least can really get in the way of cognitive learning because of the limitations they have physically. So, I don't know. At this point I am far more concerned with her mental abilities then any physical problems. Mental abilities seem far more daunting and seem more tough to deal with in the long run.
There is good news. At the end of the meeting (in a shaky voice), I asked if kid's they have worked with that are in a similar situation as Elinor respond well to this program and they both gave me a resounding YES. It makes a huge difference and Elle is so young, she has the best chance possible. Many parents ignore the signs until they are almost 3 and many until they enroll them into kindergarten and these kids have much harder road blocks and stuff. So I have to give myself a little pat on the back for being the idiot/jerk/concerned mother that I was and pushed for Elle. I don't know what the future holds for Little Little but I do know she has a mom, dad and big sister that are going to support and fight for her and help her as much as we are able. We have little exercises to do with her and so far she is responding well to them and making progress already. The picture at the beginning of the post shows her having fallen asleep while trying to put little fisher price people into a bowl. Bless her little heart. Oh I love her. She is such a sweet little thing. She's so happy and has such a great little twinkle in her eye. Whatever life holds for her, she is going to do awesome.

Elle's goals:

Elinor with participate in container play.
Elinor will participate in simple relational play.
Elinor will imitate new gestures 50% of the time
Elinor will look for familiar people or objects when named.
Elinor will lift her arms to mom to be picked up.
Elinor will transfer objects between hands.
Elinor will play with her image in the mirror.
Elinor will distinguish between happy and angry voices and strangers and familiar people.