LittleK's Journey Continued

LittleK is now 21 months old. She's come a long way, but still has so far to go. (If you'd like to catch up on the history you can read the entry LittleK's Journey- Never say never.)

Newest and biggest accomplishment: she's WALKING! It is now her main mode of transportation and sometimes wants to walk rather than be carried. 

She started Mother's Day Out. Though in our case, it's more like Daddy's Day Out since I'm working full time M-F. We did it to help her with socialization skills (and to give daddy time to rest after work a couple of days a week.)

She is still doing therapy through Early Childhood Intervention. She has OT 4 times a month, ST 3 times a month, and SST twice a month. However, we are going to be re-evaluated later this month and things could change. I have a feeling that OT will be cut down, ST will go up to 4 times a month, SST will probably stay the same, and we may add some PT. 

I know, without a doubt, she would not be where she is now without the help of our wonderful therapists, both past and present. We miss the ones that have left us, but happy for them to start new chapters in their lives, and excited to continue with our new ones. 

Earlier in August, we took her twice to the Center for Autism and Developmental Delays for evaluation to see about a possible diagnosis, some answers, and to see if there is anything else we need to be doing to help our LittleK be successful.

They were able to rule out Autism, but only because her social level was a little too high to fall on the spectrum. [Though, I'm not 100% convinced...] When C mentioned Sensory Processing Disorder, he said they just kind of ignored the question...when we go back in February (or to the pediatric neuro for genetic testing) I am going to either have him ask again, or if I get to go, I will ask myself. They did however give us the diagnosis of: Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder. 

While there, they did an excellent job answering our questions(other than the SPD one), gathering any and all information they thought would be helpful, and including BigK in the discussion during the initial meeting. The second day, they ran her through the ringer and did a wide range of cognitive assessments. C was in the room with them the whole time to help keep her calm and to answer any questions they had. 

Based on the results, she is on the level of a child anywhere from 7-18 months. With her fine motor skills(18 months) and visual reception (17 months) being the highest and her language skills (7-8 months) being the lowest. Her gross motor, while delayed was in the middle (14 months). They also found that she does have some moderate delays in adaptive functioning. 

While she may not be exactly where she is supposed to be, we are trying our hardest and involving a many people as possible to be able to help us on our journey. Yes, there have been tears of sadness and grief, and I'm 100% guaranteed there will be more. There has been heartache, and there have been headaches (no blood...yet, but I'm sure it's coming). There have been tears of joy, again I'm certain there will be more of those as well. There has been smiles and cheers of encouragement (and more clapping than I can imagine). 

This journey has been over a year long, and there are years to come. But no matter how long or how hard this journey will be, LittleK is perfect to us.

Thank you to those who have been a part of this journey. We wouldn't be where we are without you.