Friday, January 23, 2015

Reassessment

* Beat post ahead. Please consider this your warning. As always, if you are not in a place where you can read stuff like this, please skip it. Protecting yourself must come first. There will be other posts. 

In the meantime, here's a photo of Jaxson. Sometimes kitty love heals all.


Four month ago, the Beats and I attended an intake appointment to address She-Beat's gross motor delay. During the appointment, as I talked with her case worker, She-Beat's physical therapist got on the floor with her and watched her play with a series of toys. The main concern at the time was that she was barely moving from her center of gravity, being very content instead to play with anything solely within her reach. During that appointment we generated a series of goals for She-Beat. We talked about revisiting all these goals in the new year, reassessing what was met and what remained.

Yesterday, during She-Beat's PT session, she took her first two steps unsupported. I literally had my back turned focusing on her brother when it happened. Still, she did it. Surprised when she got the response for this accomplishment. As the session went on, the physical therapist marveled at how far she's come in such a short period of time.

As our session drew to a close, She-Beat's PT sat down with me and asked me about reassessment. At this point she's met all of her goals. The question is now whether there is anything else that needs to be addressed. If not, we start transitioning out of PT.

On one hand, I'm beyond happy to get this news. Just shy of 16 months, She-Beat is caught up with her peers for gross motor. There's really no other red flags at this point, but the assessment will help us identify anything that may be looming and develop a plan of action to help her overcome those.

On the other, though, I'm terrified. Though I struggled a lot with She-Beat's delay, the truth is that I've come to rely a lot on this group with helping me with both Beats. We've had many discussions about not only motor skills, but also communication, cognitive and even emotional development. To have experts in these areas right at my fingertips (literally an email away) has been a comfort. What "graduating" would mean is that this easy access disappears. Sure, these resources are still there, but it would be different.

Today I scheduled She-Beat's reassessment, which will be next Tuesday. Poor kid is teething molars at the moment, so we're hoping that she's not too miserable for this. Still, like with any test, there's an air of nervous anticipation. Hope for good news; fear of the unknown.

9 comments:

  1. I totally get it! It's nice having an expert on hand to ask weekly questions about what's normal, what you can/should be doing, etc. It was a little sad when we left PT too. But great news!!!

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  2. That's really wonderful, Cristy! I mean I totally get that it's scary, but as far as She-Beat meeting her goals. That's fantastic. My husband is a PT, so I hear constantly about milestones and motor skills and all that jazz. It makes me pretty nervous about any future baby, but I get why those things are important. Congrats to She-Beat for those unsupported steps!!

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  3. Aww yay for baby! That's so great that she's met her goals and can graduate. I totally get though, that nervousness about not having that support at your fingertips anymore. But sounds like she is doing marvelous!

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  4. It's amazing how far she's come, especially since you guys figured out the ear issue. It's such a double edged sword...you want her to advance, but then you lose all the extra attention and focus on the Beats that you've been getting. But you also need to have confidence in yourself and your ability to keep them moving forward at a great pace!

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  5. I would bet that your PT would be more than willing to answer a question you had in the future about her progress via email. I am a speech therapist and would be more than happy to answer a speech/language question should you have one in the future.
    Congrats to she - beat for kicking butt!!

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  6. So happy for you guys Cristy! Sounds like she-beat has her parents' kick ass spirit. All the best as you guys move forward - I hope this means new doors and new areas of resource for you... I am thinking that your exploration into their development won't come to an end... I feel like this is only the beginning.

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  7. That's great news that She-beat is doing so well. Yet I can understand that for you this is also a loss - you've had a partner helping you and G through this process, supporting you and there if you have questions. And now they're pushing you out of the nest, and you're not quite ready. Hugs.

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  8. YAY SHE-BEAT! The first steps are oh so exciting! I understand how nice it is to have someone there telling you if something is going on and how to work on fixing it- I have a friend that does kid PT and I have asked her a few questions.

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  9. Yay for progress! I hope the reassessment goes well! (((HUGS)))

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