She had a tool kit of toys for testing different skills: crayons for coloring on paper (nope), puzzles for putting pieces back in (lacks the fine motor skills of a real pincer grasp and quite simply doesn't care), cups for stacking (nuha), cups for putting into each other (no), like and dislike objects for matching (almost tricked us on that one, but no). That's just a samplings of what we call the, "Not Yet" category.
On the other side, in the "Heck Yes" category, Bryce did put a simple square piece into a square hole in a puzzle-like board, he takes things out and puts them back in, he knows where several body parts are, where the door and the chair were (and therefore what they are), how to "hide" (hilarious!), clap and turn the pages of a book.
Overall, Dr. Fasci ascertained that Bryce's receptive language (what he understands) is excellent - about 18 months - while his expressive language is severely delayed (obviously) - about 8-10 months. Bryce's motor skills, major body movements, test on a 10-12 month level while his fine motor skills, i.e. pincer grasp, zippers, buttons, etc, test on an 8 -10 month level. The good news is that most of Bryce's skills are close to the same level which means that he's progressing in the same way any child does, just more slowly.
Of course, we're concerned about how far ahead his receptive language is because the last thing we want is for him to get really frustrated and quit trying to speak and sign. We're just planning to continue with the twice weekly speech therapy and keep giving him lots of different opportunities and means of communicating what he wants and needs.
Our other main concern is Bryce's fine motor skills, which Dr. Fasci wants us to work on with weekly Occupational Therapy. Apparently she either assumes our insurance covers unlimited therapy visits, that we have nothing else to do or both. But seriously, as much as I want to do everything for Bryce and make sure he has all of the opportunity he needs to "catch up" - there is simply only so much we can do.
And even though, after much torment and guilt, I eventually always come back to this conclusion it just doesn't sit well with me. So we'll forge ahead, trying to find more ways to make what we have and what we can offer Bryce enough.
Oh, and one last bit of news. It's probably nothing (I sure hope it's nothing!) but Bryce has been "zoning out" sometimes once a day, sometimes more but most days of the week. Dr. Fasci saw him do it during the assesment yesterday and said that we need to talk to his neurologist about it. Apparently this could be seizure activity or early signs of seizure activity and if it is knowing sooner would be better than later. I'm just going to need to believe it isn't right now, while going through the necessary steps to have it checked out, because I just can't emotionally deal with a thing like that until I absolutely have to... keep us in your thoughts. And thanks for stopping by!
You guys are always in our thoughts and prayers! Love and hugs to you always!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Weslea
We love you Bryce. We think about you every day. Aunt Gene
ReplyDeleteHe - and you - in my thoughts today as usual as in my prayers as always.
ReplyDeletexx G2