what to expect at dev ped visit

[Guest guest]

Hope someone can tell me what will happen at our doctor visit. My 21 month old

was referred by the Early Intervention team at our 6 month reeval, as things are

not moving along as quickly as they should. She said her first word at a year,

then a few more, then words disappear, and new words just do not come. It has

been at least 4 months without a new word.She also walked at 20 months, and is

getting OT, PT, DT, and Speech.

We will go into Chicago next month. I understand some people actually come out

of these meetings with a label for their child.While I am fearful of what that

may be, at least it will guide me in what to research, rather than wondering

what may have. She was referred to therapy for hypotonia, and possible

sensorimotor problems, along with the fact that she is not producing much in the

area of speech. How can I be prepared for this visit? What will the Doctor do?

There is a team of OT, PT, DT, SLP, Psychologist as well. The appointment will

take two hours. Will they take my word for what can do at home in a

comfortable setting, or does she have to perform on cue? I spend all my time

researching different labels they could give to her. What should I be doing with

my investigations while she is asleep? As during her waking hours, I don't leave

her side, intent to talk talk talk. We did begin the ProEFA today, so I feel we

have at least tried something new.

Guerrero

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

We recently took our 28 month old son to the Dev Ped for the first

time a few weeks ago. We went to the Children's Specialized

Hospital in Mountainside, NJ. The first 15 minutes is with a nurse

where she weighed him and got his height measurement. Then we went

into another room and spent the next hour with a nurse practitioner

who basically observed Dylan playing on the floor. There were a

bunch of toys in the room and she at first played with him to get a

feel for his social skills, eye contact, cognitive ability, etc. It

was very non-threatening. Once he realized he was not going to get

a shot, he was fine. Then she looked at him physically to check for

muscle tone. She told us that he has low muscle tone because of the

way he walks, and how his feet are turned inward. She also lightly

bent his thumb back to see how flexible it was (another sign of low

muscle tone).

Once all that was over, she asked us a bunch of questions.

Meanwhile, Dylan was still happily playing with the toys on the

floor. The questions were the typical family history inquiries such

as history of mental illness, number of siblings, etc. as well as

about ourselves. Some questions were regarding your pregnancy.

Then, the questions were directed towards Dylan to get a feel for

sensory, physical development, and social attributes. I recognized

a lot of questions were to determine whether he was on the Autistic

spectrum (which was ruled out for Dylan). After the eval, the nurse

practioner met with the Dr. The Dr. then met with us to go over

the " results " of the exam and give us next steps.

They told us that he had some low muscle tone so recommended OT.

Then said to continue with the ST (2x/week) as we have been doing.

She also told us to start him on ProEFA supplements and to try to

keep him on a healthier diet (use olive oil, and Smart Balance

butter spread, etc). She said that she believes diet has a lot to

do with it. Then, we talked about what the plan would be for when

he turns 3 - disabled pre-school, and add'l therapies if needed.

Regarding Apraxia, she said that yes, he probably has it due to the

fact that his receptive and cognitive skills are on par, but can't

determine it for sure yet since he's not saying enough words. We

need to go back in 6 months. (It's obvious to us and our ST that he

has oral and verbal apraxia, so we aren't counting on the

possibility of him not having it)

I prepared for the appointment by bringing toys of his that would

show his cognitive ability, as well as notes on what words he could

say. Turns out we didn't need the toys and didn't need all the

detail on the words.

We asked the dr. what would be a good objective for Dylan in six

months. She said that she'd like to see him saying 30 new words

spontaneously.

Hope this helps.

>

> Hope someone can tell me what will happen at our doctor visit. My

21 month old was referred by the Early Intervention team at our 6

month reeval, as things are not moving along as quickly as they

should. She said her first word at a year, then a few more, then

words disappear, and new words just do not come. It has been at

least 4 months without a new word.She also walked at 20 months, and

is getting OT, PT, DT, and Speech.

>

> We will go into Chicago next month. I understand some people

actually come out of these meetings with a label for their

child.While I am fearful of what that may be, at least it will guide

me in what to research, rather than wondering what may have.

She was referred to therapy for hypotonia, and possible sensorimotor

problems, along with the fact that she is not producing much in the

area of speech. How can I be prepared for this visit? What will the

Doctor do? There is a team of OT, PT, DT, SLP, Psychologist as well.

The appointment will take two hours. Will they take my word for what

can do at home in a comfortable setting, or does she have to

perform on cue? I spend all my time researching different labels

they could give to her. What should I be doing with my

investigations while she is asleep? As during her waking hours, I

don't leave her side, intent to talk talk talk. We did begin the

ProEFA today, so I feel we have at least tried something new.

>

> Guerrero

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Bring words and photos together (easily) with

> PhotoMail - it's free and works with .

>

>

[Guest guest]

Shauna, thank you for describing what went on at your dev ped visit. I am so

glad to hear it was a lot of observation through natural play. I hope you feel

that your visit was worthwhile. Perhaps it will make the next six months before

a reeval more meaningful for you as you deal with therapy. Guerrero

shaunacrain <shaunacrain@...> wrote: We recently took our 28 month old

son to the Dev Ped for the first

time a few weeks ago. We went to the Children's Specialized

Hospital in Mountainside, NJ. The first 15 minutes is with a nurse

where she weighed him and got his height measurement. Then we went

into another room and spent the next hour with a nurse practitioner

who basically observed Dylan playing on the floor. There were a

bunch of toys in the room and she at first played with him to get a

feel for his social skills, eye contact, cognitive ability, etc. It

was very non-threatening. Once he realized he was not going to get

a shot, he was fine. Then she looked at him physically to check for

muscle tone. She told us that he has low muscle tone because of the

way he walks, and how his feet are turned inward. She also lightly

bent his thumb back to see how flexible it was (another sign of low

muscle tone).

Once all that was over, she asked us a bunch of questions.

Meanwhile, Dylan was still happily playing with the toys on the

floor. The questions were the typical family history inquiries such

as history of mental illness, number of siblings, etc. as well as

about ourselves. Some questions were regarding your pregnancy.

Then, the questions were directed towards Dylan to get a feel for

sensory, physical development, and social attributes. I recognized

a lot of questions were to determine whether he was on the Autistic

spectrum (which was ruled out for Dylan). After the eval, the nurse

practioner met with the Dr. The Dr. then met with us to go over

the " results " of the exam and give us next steps.

They told us that he had some low muscle tone so recommended OT.

Then said to continue with the ST (2x/week) as we have been doing.

She also told us to start him on ProEFA supplements and to try to

keep him on a healthier diet (use olive oil, and Smart Balance

butter spread, etc). She said that she believes diet has a lot to

do with it. Then, we talked about what the plan would be for when

he turns 3 - disabled pre-school, and add'l therapies if needed.

Regarding Apraxia, she said that yes, he probably has it due to the

fact that his receptive and cognitive skills are on par, but can't

determine it for sure yet since he's not saying enough words. We

need to go back in 6 months. (It's obvious to us and our ST that he

has oral and verbal apraxia, so we aren't counting on the

possibility of him not having it)

I prepared for the appointment by bringing toys of his that would

show his cognitive ability, as well as notes on what words he could

say. Turns out we didn't need the toys and didn't need all the

detail on the words.

We asked the dr. what would be a good objective for Dylan in six

months. She said that she'd like to see him saying 30 new words

spontaneously.

Hope this helps.

>

> Hope someone can tell me what will happen at our doctor visit. My

21 month old was referred by the Early Intervention team at our 6

month reeval, as things are not moving along as quickly as they

should. She said her first word at a year, then a few more, then

words disappear, and new words just do not come. It has been at

least 4 months without a new word.She also walked at 20 months, and

is getting OT, PT, DT, and Speech.

>

> We will go into Chicago next month. I understand some people

actually come out of these meetings with a label for their

child.While I am fearful of what that may be, at least it will guide

me in what to research, rather than wondering what may have.

She was referred to therapy for hypotonia, and possible sensorimotor

problems, along with the fact that she is not producing much in the

area of speech. How can I be prepared for this visit? What will the

Doctor do? There is a team of OT, PT, DT, SLP, Psychologist as well.

The appointment will take two hours. Will they take my word for what

can do at home in a comfortable setting, or does she have to

perform on cue? I spend all my time researching different labels

they could give to her. What should I be doing with my

investigations while she is asleep? As during her waking hours, I

don't leave her side, intent to talk talk talk. We did begin the

ProEFA today, so I feel we have at least tried something new.

>

> Guerrero

>