Once again this will be only a brief update as I need to get up early tomorrow for Nadia's preschool eval.
In short, the IA Clinic was very kind but not sure they were very helpful. No hearing or eye exams, and really didn't eliminate the need to see any of the long list of Drs.
As suspected, Nadia has Spastic Diplagia.
We had our first meeting with the PT earlier this week for her eval. She will begin therapy next Tuesday. We are going to start with 2 sessions a week in hopes of helping Nadia get comfortable faster. As of now we have the obstacle of Nadia not wanting anyone but me or my kids to touch her.
OT could not work us in for an eval at the same time, so we are waiting for an appt date for that.
I was so disappointed when the PT said she prefers that Nadia NOT have a walker. She said they have found that kids who use walkers are less likely to walk independently. Of course knowing a few wonderful kiddos who are having tremendous progress and ARE using walkers, I felt so torn. I didn't want to insist on one but wasn't wanting to just say "okay". After some thought and discussion with Dan, other CP parents and hearing what my brother-in-law had to say (he is a sports medicine PT...not pediatrics), I have come to this decision: I would like Nadia to have a reverse walker for use at preschool, church and occasional events (like the Thanksgiving Feast with the homeschool group). I believe it is important for her self esteem, motivation, comprehension and independence.
Because I believe she has a lot of potential (as does the PT), and she can already walk holding my index fingers only (of course her leg positioning is not correct), I will not have her use it at home and on a daily basis.
The thought is that often kids will develop poor habit using the walker, like using their upper bodies to hold on while their feet just glide. The PT feels Nadia needs to find her center so she can start developing the right muscles for walking and a walker will not do that for her.
As of right now, I feel very good about this decision I have made and am very excited for Nadia. Now I just hope the PT does not burst my bubble :)
Okay, I need to get to bed but first let me post a few pics of my sweet girl.
First of all, I was able to bribe Nadia to sit mostly still, with crackers, while I trimmed her bangs and took some length off the back of her hair. So long mullet!!
Secondly, we have come leaps and bounds, Nadia is no longer terrified of the cats (well, maybe she is again, since she got bit...we'll know tomorrow)--- check out Peapods eyes in this pic LOL I was fixing Nadia's red eye and tried to fix Peapods bright reflecting eyes LOL She looks crazy in this pic, I love it!!! LOL.
And lastly, we bought Nadia her own little chair today in hopes she will do less W sitting. We have been working on repositioning her to indian style sitting but she can't get into any position by herself, other than the W, without falling over in the process. The couch is too high for her to climb onto, so she now has her own chair. Boy, you should have seen her face and change in attitude when she realized she could climb up on her own. It certainly appeared to be a boost of confidence. I also bought a booster seat (cut off the straps) for the bathtub. Again, trying to help her stop that W sit and watching her tumble over in the tub didn't look like much fun for her.
