- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Special Needs
preggersINschool25
member
Tell me your story
preggersINschool25
member
My son doesn't reach for anything. He will grab things intentionally if placed by his hands, but he does not intentionally reach for anything, ever. He doesn't life himself up with his arms during tummy time either. He is going to be getting physical therapy starting tomorrow.
I also took him to a different pedi and that one recommended speech therapy too because he is not saying any consonant or vowel sounds.
At first I felt good
about therapy, but then I started thinking - How do you get a baby to do
something that they don't want to do?? Then I thought - "well maybe
there is more of a reason why he isn't doing these things. Is there
more of an underlying issue (medical or mental)? Should I be doing more?"
That's why I am creating this post. I just would like to know other people's stories of delays - When did you notice them? What did you do? Did it help? wish you did something differently? I really want to hear your story! (Please don't say my son is fine or not to worry - I left lots of out our story and I know that he is delayed)
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Tell me your story
First of all, welcome to the board. You will find that this is a very open, caring environment. I have found that most of the time, nobody is going to give you the "you are overreacting" speech since we have all been where you are now.
We have been doing early intervention with our two older sons for over 2 years now. I am a HUGE proponent of early intervention. I think you will be amazed at what can be accomplished by the therapies your son will attend. It will sometimes be difficult and you will probably want to protect your baby boy from that, but I promise every difficult moment is so worth it in the end.
My older boys both have an ASD. My oldest was identified at 4 1/2 with Asperger's and the younger one started EI services at 15 months and was officially diagnosed with PDD-NOS at just over the age of two.
I was so hesitant to have my younger one evaluated when we did because he seemed so little, but knew what I was seeing. I wouldn't change it for anything; It was the best decision I ever made.
We are watching our baby (almost the same age as your little guy!) like a hawk. It will be difficult to make the call when the time comes, but I will do it again in a heartbeat if I have to.
Good luck with your interventions and please stay and contribute to the board.
Welcome!
My first child was a typically developing infant. He seemed to hit all his gross motor milestones crazy early--he sat up unassisted by 3 months, crawled at 5 months, took his first steps at 8.5 months. He was a quiet infant but babbled occasionally. At 12 months, he wasn't using words yet but we didn't think anything of it--we just thought it was because he hit his gross motor milestones so early. At 15 months, he was saying mama/dada but nothing else. By 18 months, he had about 5 words so we had him evaluated. At the time he was diagnosed with a severe receptive and expressive language delay--his language skills were assessed to be in the 9-12 month range. We started speech therapy at 20 months. At 22 months his speech therapist told him I should have him evaluated because she had some sensory concerns. At 2 he was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and his speech therapist told me she suspected he had apraxia of speech. After about 5 months of speech therapy his language exploded--he went from having five words to 50 by January of this year. He stalled out for quite a while until he had another language explosion in May. He now has about 400 words, speaks in 5 word sentences and can combine sentences to tell a story. He still struggles with articulation and they still suspect a mild case of apraxia of speech.
My DD was somewhat similar. She also sat and crawled early. She was also quiet and late to babble--it wasn't until around 10 or 11 months that we started to hear the mama/dada sounds in babbling. Right around her first birthday she seemed to have a langauge explosion and had around 10 words. At 14 months old, we took her in for a sick visit and the pedi mentioned fluid in her ear, but we thought nothing of it since she said just to keep an eye on it because it might turn into an infection. At 15 months old, she hadn't added any new words and we noticed she seldomly respond to her name/instructions. At 17 months old, her pedi told us there was a large amount of fluid in her middle ear that we needed to keep an eye on. We had her evaluated because of the stall in language development/fluid in her ear and they dx her with a minor receptive language delay (and she was below average in motor skills) but were proactive about getting her in speech therapy since she stalled out with words/was at high risk to be delayed since her brother was/I was as a child. Her therapists suspect she has an auditory processing difficulties because of the fluid in her middle ear that is still there currently. We are awaiting getting ear tubes. At 20.5 months, she still only has 10 words.
In terms of getting a child to do something they don't want to do, it's really a lot of trial and error at first. Every kid can be motivated by something--the trick is to find out what's motivating for that child. A lot of progress comes through hard work and repetition as well.
Something that early intervention told me when I started the process with my first child that was comforting is the majority of kids go on to being caught up with their peers by the time their third birthday rolls around. Some kids just need a little extra help from a professional--it's not always something that you necessarily did wrong as a parent or even some underlying, permanent medical issue that is the root of the problem. Of course, that doesn't mean that you're not doing the right thing by being proactive and seeking help when there is a delay present.
I hope that the therapy is helpful and you see some progress soon. It's excellent you're getting such an early start--that really is going to help him a lot.
DS1 has been in EI since 1 month old. He received PT/OT/ST in the NICU. He was full term and was severely hypertonic at birth (very stiff). He didn't roll over, open his hands, grab anything etc.
The therapists will make him do it. Not in a mean forceful way, but through gentle stretching, positioning and encouraging. And they're going to teach you what activities to work on at home too. They're going to show you what to do to encourage your child to keep making gains.
By repeating a motion over and over you're creating new pathways in the brain and it creates the ability for a child to take over the movement on their own.
DS1 has associated movement. When he gets excited he gets super stiff and moves EVERYTHING together at the same time. However, he has learned to crawl and is now cruising the furniture. The doctors said he probably would never get past rolling over and it would be a miracle if he did anything else. As I said, he's cruising, crawling, rolling, sitting and being a terrible 2.
Have you discussed with your Pedi a visit to a neurologist or a developmental pedi? They could help you discover the "Why?". Forewarning though, some people never figure out the why.
I guess I don't have much of a back story yet. Pretty much what I posted above is it.. I just put the disclaimer at the end because I tried asking about developmental delays on a different board and I got the whole "don't worry, you are overreacting" speech. So, the only things I really left how was how much he was evaluated and by who. (2 regular pediatricians and 3 PT/OT) Even my hubby tells me to not worry, but he doesn't know much about babies and never does research.
My little guy is so young and he is my first. I was hoping other people's stories could help me get perspective on our journey and help me with who I should reach out too - if I need to be taking more action.
Our therapy session was okay, but I didn't really feel like it benefited much. I don't really understand how the things she suggested are going to help or even how to do them well. I did appreciate that this was the first person that seemed to be on the same page as me.
We also have a weight issue - he was in the 1% at his 6 month check up. Doctors keep telling me to up his solids and it is okay if he slows down on his milk - which contradicts everything I have read.
I feel very overwhelmed. I really just want someone to spend an entire day with me and help me with advice on his feedings, proactive things to do to help him with his development, and explain things to me. Since he has several things going on, I don't feel like I'm getting enough details about all of them.
I was also reluctant to post on this board, because I didn't lurk first. I wasn't sure I even belonged here. I know that a lot of babies have more difficult struggles than mine appear to be. I didn't want to offend anyone. I just don't know what to do, and I don't have anyone I can talk to that has gone through the same thing or anything close.
Nate was born with his issues so we were already on the therapy train from day one. Therapy (early intervention and some private) has helped alot. What has also helped is knowing my own child and when he is not being pushed hard enough or in a way he can learn. You, as the Mommy, are the expert! We continually assess if progress is being made and, if not, what we should switch up to make things happen.
From your original post, I see that your pedi was recommending speech therapy. I think 7 months is way to young to start asking for speech. I would put that concern aside for now and work on the gross motor stuff. Most early interventions will not even assess for speech delays until a child is around 16-18 months. Children who get speech before the age of one are usually ones that have hearing loss. Nate has hearing loss and speech was never offered to us. I didn't even bother going for speech until he was 18 months. He honestly was not developmentally ready for it before that time anyway and our therapy calendar was full.
To be proactive, you may want to have your son's hearing checked by a pediatric audiologist if the vocalization skills continue to be lacking. EI will want you to rule out hearing loss anyway before they would offer speech services.
In terms of getting a baby to do something they don't want to do, your therapist will have lots of ideas. We have learned tons of fun "games" to do with the 12 dollar stability ball I got at Target. That has been the best purchase I made. Nate is also MAD about balls, so a super huge green one is loads of fun to play with. Good Luck with therapy and let us know how he is doing!
Sorry, I tend to be verbose!
In terms of your concern regarding something else going on, you need to follow your gut and also do a little bit of "watchful waiting". I would give the physical therapist some more sessions with your son and then ask her what she thinks. She will not be able to diagnose anything, but in my experience therapists are really good at helping you to come to the conclusion that more study or a second opinion is needed. They see a lot of kids with different issues, so I would trust their experience.
We ALL wish someone was sitting on our shoulder daily telling us what decision is the right one. Unfortunately, we're "IT". We can't tag someone else to take over. Gather your info, talk to the rest of your team (i.e. DH) and make your game plan. If something doesn't work you can always, always try something else. You CAN do this.
My DD had some similar delays to your son as a baby. She didn't put pressure on her arms to push up from her belly until 8ish months, didn't roll over until 8 months, walked at 18 months, could not walk up/down stairs until after age 3, etc.
We started EI for torticollis at 2 months. She got PT once a week, and I did the stretches at home. She eventually grew out of the tort at around 11 months. But by that point I had noticed other strange gross/fine motor differences or delays. It was hard to put my finger on it, but there was just a different quality to her movement than the other typically developing babies we were around in playgroups etc.
She was evaluated by all sorts of people. An eye doc in case her head tilt was visual, a neurosurgeon since her head was very large, PT, various doctors. We didn't really figure out what was going on until she was 2.5 and better able to speak and express how her body felt. Turns out she has some low muscle tone in her core, and a sensory processing issue with her vestibular system.
She's 5.5 now. At 2.5 we started OT, and ad 3 she started OT and PT with the public school system. She's had an IEP for the past 3 years, and still has one in kindergarten. BUT, the average person would never know she's delayed at this point. It's very specific--she can't ride a bike, for example--but she appears typical on the playground and can do stairs, etc. We've come a long way with therapy.
I can also relate to your anxiety, as DD was my first, and I *knew* there was something going on and it took years for doctors and therapists to correctly pinpoint what it was. I am an anxious person in general, and I wasted an incredible amount of time and energy diagnosing DD on google and worrying. All you can do is what you can do. You're aware, you're seeking help, and you're doing the right things. Try to enjoy your son. I totally wish I could have my DD's babyhood back to do differently. Hope this helps.
Wellfleet -
How did you find out that she had a sensory processing issue with her vestibular system? I did some research and it seems like a Sensory Based Motor Disorder is totally a possibility for my LO. I don't know how they diagnose it or who would evaluate him. Do you have any advice?
I didn't find it out until she was 2.5 and could use her words to explain how her body felt. Then I had a private OT evaluate her, and we went from there. She doesn't have a formal "medical" diagnosis, but she's been evaluated by OTs, PTs, and our school district and they have all reached the same conclusion. Plus, the therapy they have recommended is working and effective, so we are going with it.
As a baby, I didn't have a diagnosis. I just pursued therapies (physical therapy at first) to target her weaknesses. As she got older, we looked at occupational therapy. She still gets both PT and OT as part of her IEP in kindergarten.
She was evaluated by a neurologist, who could not diagnose her problem as a baby. We really needed to wait until she was verbal/older.