Practically Perfect

So I got a legitimate chance to use this photo of the boy this time.

This post IS about him.

He had his evaluation by the state last night. (for those of you following along at home this is just THREE weeks from his original diagnosis of oral motor dysfunction by his pediatrician. Not bad for a state run agency.)

Three very nice ladies piled onto the floor of my family room and played and talked to him for about an hour. They also watched him eat a snack and drink from a big boy cup. He was in heaven in the center of attention and enjoyed every moment of his new found fame. He was also incredibly good when play time was deemed over and he was asked to go upstairs with his dad for a bath.

Here's the good news. He is bright, social and fun. He seems to understand and assimilate more information and concepts than is normal for a boy his age. They legitimately enjoyed playing with him and thought his summer Mohawk was adorable.

He scored at age or above age in 3 of the 4 major categories for evaluation. But his doctor was right. He does have oral motor dysfunction.

He flunked expressive speech. He scored above his age by two months in comprehensive language which they said is even more problematic because a kid that so clearly understands all that he understands is going to be even more frustrated by his inability to communicate.

So. He will have a speech therapist once a week for an hour. Here's hoping this helps the little boy begin to use his mouth to form words we can all understand. He is brilliant, I am sure he has wonderful things to say. I can't wait to hear them.

In other news he was also diagnosed with poor or lacking muscle tone which means that his muscles and joints are very loose. This is what is causing the majority of his problem and effects his entire body. The things they noticed about him to determine this were fascinating and made me wonder why I hadn't noticed any of that before.

The short answer is, again, he's very bright. He has consciously and unconsciously established "work arounds". He is already learning to work with the body he has and compensate for his lack of muscle tone. This is the body formula he will have always. He is not going to work out and suddenly have better muscle tone. This is his biological make up. But it only means that he will have to work a little harder to make his body work the way it should and should only have a large effect on his early development.

Fascinating stuff.