Re: I'm so thankful for this message group--Sorry this is so long

[Guest guest]

Do not question yourself. You know your boy and you can do this and so

can he.

Best Wishes!

Liz

bdkirk03 wrote:

>This group has actually given ME a voice! I'm normally very timid

>about questioning Dr's/health professionals, etc. But, because of

>things I've learned through this board I picked the phone up one day

>last week and talked to my son's pediatrician in depth about what's

>going on. I'm so glad I did!!

>

>I wanted to share this story JUST IN CASE someone else ever finds

>themselves in this situation and to say TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!! 3

>months ago I contacted EI about my son who had just turned 2. He

>still only had a couple of words and I decided it was time to just get

>an evaluation. I wasn't familiar with the process and just followed

>instructions. I was sent a questionnaire that was AT LEAST 100

>questions long (I'm thinking 170-180?). I filled out the

>questionnaire and sent it back. A lady came to my house and just

>basically told me my son needed a speech evaluation based on the

>survey results. She never even interacted with my son other than to

>say hi when she walked in the door. She was in and out within 15 min

>and I remember thinking " well, she could have said that over the

>phone! " My son did qualify for speech and has been having ST for

>about 5-6 wks now. But, still something didn't seem right. He just

>seemed to be struggling in more ways than just speech. It became

>obvious when I started trying to do sign language and once he made

>attempts at words. I started realizing that he's not just having

>trouble SAYING words. He's having trouble knowing WHEN to use words.

> It's the same with sign language. I can't just teach him a sign and

>expect him to apply it to situations. I have to first teach him HOW

>to do the sign and then he has to be taught WHEN to sign. The speech

>therapist told me today it's because he's having trouble generalizing.

>

>So, let's fast-forward a bit. Armed with all the knowledge I gained

>here I called my son's pediatrician last Wednesday to ask him his

>thoughts on everything. He couldn't understand why my son didn't have

>a full developmental evaluation (neither could I). He called EI and

>this is what he discovered: They were swamped with evaluations when I

>called. So, in order to lighten their load a bit they decided to take

>a short cut around their normal routine. The questionnaire I filled

>out AT HOME without any professionals to talk to was the Bayley III.

>Even though my son scored " low average " in social-emotional and

>cognitive, they chose to ONLY do a speech evaluation because it was

>the only one that he was " borderline " in. I'm shocked that 85 to 115

>is " average " and my son scored 85 in social emotional and 87 in

>cognitive---yet they chose to not evaluate him in those areas??!!! I

>can MAYBE see their point if he was 100-110, but to ignore that he was

>just barely in the " average " range seems ridiculous! And, what made

>it worse is that the pediatrician AND the ST thought the scores were

>based on an actual evaluation done by professionals in those areas.

>They had no idea I hurried through those questions between taking care

>of my 4 kids. I just wonder how many questions I responded " yes " to

>only because I didn't know and I just thought " oh, I'm sure he's doing

>that by now " .

>

>So, he's already scheduled for his FULL evaluation with a

>developmental pediatrician in attendance on June 6. The ST told me

>today that she's pretty sure he'll show a delay in cognitive and

>probably fine motor skills. She thinks he will have a delay in social

>emotional just because he's pretty shy at first (but she doesn't think

>it's autism). Based on what I told her she thinks he may even be

>delayed in gross motor, but she wasn't sure because she hasn't

>actually watched his gross motor skills in action.

>

>It remains to be seen if he will actually qualify for services in

>other areas, but at least I'm no longer feeling like I'm just plain

>crazy! The pediatrician AND the ST both see the same concerns. I hate

>how isolated you feel when you have developmental concerns about your

>child. I was scared to talk to friends or family about it because I

>knew what I'd hear " he's just a boy--he'll be fine " . So, I kind of

>locked myself up in my own world and obsessed over whether or not I

>should be worried. I think I feel so much better now that I opened up

>to the ped and the ST and I no longer feel that I'm in this alone!!

>

>Thanks for reading if you got through this!

>Bridget

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I feel the way you do. Talk to everyone you know there is ansnwer out there

some where.

If you what to talk e-mail me Ikidd@....

Liz <lizlaw@...> wrote:

Do not question yourself. You know your boy and you can do this and so

can he.

Best Wishes!

Liz

bdkirk03 wrote:

>This group has actually given ME a voice! I'm normally very timid

>about questioning Dr's/health professionals, etc. But, because of

>things I've learned through this board I picked the phone up one day

>last week and talked to my son's pediatrician in depth about what's

>going on. I'm so glad I did!!

>

>I wanted to share this story JUST IN CASE someone else ever finds

>themselves in this situation and to say TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!! 3

>months ago I contacted EI about my son who had just turned 2. He

>still only had a couple of words and I decided it was time to just get

>an evaluation. I wasn't familiar with the process and just followed

>instructions. I was sent a questionnaire that was AT LEAST 100

>questions long (I'm thinking 170-180?). I filled out the

>questionnaire and sent it back. A lady came to my house and just

>basically told me my son needed a speech evaluation based on the

>survey results. She never even interacted with my son other than to

>say hi when she walked in the door. She was in and out within 15 min

>and I remember thinking " well, she could have said that over the

>phone! " My son did qualify for speech and has been having ST for

>about 5-6 wks now. But, still something didn't seem right. He just

>seemed to be struggling in more ways than just speech. It became

>obvious when I started trying to do sign language and once he made

>attempts at words. I started realizing that he's not just having

>trouble SAYING words. He's having trouble knowing WHEN to use words.

> It's the same with sign language. I can't just teach him a sign and

>expect him to apply it to situations. I have to first teach him HOW

>to do the sign and then he has to be taught WHEN to sign. The speech

>therapist told me today it's because he's having trouble generalizing.

>

>So, let's fast-forward a bit. Armed with all the knowledge I gained

>here I called my son's pediatrician last Wednesday to ask him his

>thoughts on everything. He couldn't understand why my son didn't have

>a full developmental evaluation (neither could I). He called EI and

>this is what he discovered: They were swamped with evaluations when I

>called. So, in order to lighten their load a bit they decided to take

>a short cut around their normal routine. The questionnaire I filled

>out AT HOME without any professionals to talk to was the Bayley III.

>Even though my son scored " low average " in social-emotional and

>cognitive, they chose to ONLY do a speech evaluation because it was

>the only one that he was " borderline " in. I'm shocked that 85 to 115

>is " average " and my son scored 85 in social emotional and 87 in

>cognitive---yet they chose to not evaluate him in those areas??!!! I

>can MAYBE see their point if he was 100-110, but to ignore that he was

>just barely in the " average " range seems ridiculous! And, what made

>it worse is that the pediatrician AND the ST thought the scores were

>based on an actual evaluation done by professionals in those areas.

>They had no idea I hurried through those questions between taking care

>of my 4 kids. I just wonder how many questions I responded " yes " to

>only because I didn't know and I just thought " oh, I'm sure he's doing

>that by now " .

>

>So, he's already scheduled for his FULL evaluation with a

>developmental pediatrician in attendance on June 6. The ST told me

>today that she's pretty sure he'll show a delay in cognitive and

>probably fine motor skills. She thinks he will have a delay in social

>emotional just because he's pretty shy at first (but she doesn't think

>it's autism). Based on what I told her she thinks he may even be

>delayed in gross motor, but she wasn't sure because she hasn't

>actually watched his gross motor skills in action.

>

>It remains to be seen if he will actually qualify for services in

>other areas, but at least I'm no longer feeling like I'm just plain

>crazy! The pediatrician AND the ST both see the same concerns. I hate

>how isolated you feel when you have developmental concerns about your

>child. I was scared to talk to friends or family about it because I

>knew what I'd hear " he's just a boy--he'll be fine " . So, I kind of

>locked myself up in my own world and obsessed over whether or not I

>should be worried. I think I feel so much better now that I opened up

>to the ped and the ST and I no longer feel that I'm in this alone!!

>

>Thanks for reading if you got through this!

>Bridget

>

>

>

>

>

>