Today Logan had an evaluation appointment to see if he qualifies for therapeutic services (as requested by his doctor). The concern was not major, but enough to prompt the evaluation. The reason: gross motor skills. Logan is by no means developmentally disabled, but he is a bit behind the curve in crawling, walking, sitting/pulling himself up.
At today’s evaluation Logan also received another hearing screen. He passed his newborn screen, but as part of the evaluation process they do a vision and hearing test. Back in March Logan had the initial screen. He passed the vision perfectly, but his ears were responding with some fluid behind the drums, so they wanted to retest him at today’s appointment. At the time, Logan had a cold, so a little fluid in the ears made sense. This morning the screening was performed again. Logan’s left ear drum responded appropriately, but his right ear did not. This prompted a referral to an audiologist – that visit will happen on May 11th. The audiologist has more precise equipment to be able to determine if something is not working properly inside Logan’s ear. The reaction today could also just be due to the fact he is once again a snot factory – the result of either a) a teething, b) a cold, c) seasonal allergies or d) some or all of the above.
During the evaluation itself, Logan was assessed by an occupational therapist and a instructor/speech language pathologist. Although the evaluation was only for his gross motor skills, they also looked at his social interaction, speech/vocal skills and fine motor skills. Logan is a talkative social butterfly, so there were no qualms there. And his fine motor skills are on par with everything expected of a nearly 13-month old child.
As for Logan’s gross motor skills, he is what is considered to be 25% delayed. The therapists expect that Logan will have no problem achieving the appropriate skills and want to help motivate and encourage him by providing physical therapy sessions twice a month. This will be a short-term therapy duration (6-months). They expect that 6-months from now Logan will be able to pull himself up/sit-up, walk independently, bend to pick up toys, and turn around while standing, among other skill sets. I anticipate therapy will probably start next month, but won’t know for sure until I am contacted by the physical therapist.
All in all, we are glad that Logan will be receiving services and the extra motivation he needs to get on track with what is expected of a child his age.
Here’s a fun picture of the happy boy, and yes, he crawled into Lava’s bed himself:
