Developmental Evaluation

At the beginning of May, I contacted a local agency in search of a developmental evaluation for CJV.  She's a peanut - has been since birth - and, in my mind, she has experienced some delays.  I attribute much of that to her size.  At a year, her bone age was that of a 3 month old, and so it became apparent that expecting her to walk was just silly.  How many 3 month olds do you know who walk?

At that same appointment, with Dr. Fancy Pants, Charlotte was diagnosed "failure to thrive,"  which again points to her size and lack of growth/weight gain, but also usually indicates delayed development as well.  Underdeveloped bones attribute to lower muscle tone ...

Language has also seemed slow ... in comparison to her older sister, which is really all the experience I have to go on.  NHV is and has always been a chatterbox.  CJV is tough to figure out ... cute as all get-out, but a tiny little puzzle!

And so I made the call.  I listened to information about IDEA (Individuals Disability Education Act), which I was familiar with from my days as a teacher.  I rolled that word "disability" around in my head and decided not to dwell on it.  I learned about therapy options that would be available to Charlotte - if she qualifies.  Throughout this process, I've kept thoughts of doing what is best for my child and being her advocate in the forefront of my mind.  The idea of early intervention, if needed, gives me a sense of empowerment.

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Two therapists will be at my house at 9:00 am to conduct an hour-long evaluation of Charlotte's development. She is just two days shy of the ripe old age of 18 months!  I find myself up much too late cramming for the big test ... sifting through digital images and old blog posts to piece together a "baby book" of milestones and language.

And since I can't think of a better place to put all of this, I'll share it here ...
 
Physical Milestones

• Finding Feet - 6.5 months
• Rolling Front to Back - 6 months
• Rolling Back to Front - almost 9 months
• Sitting up - 11 months
• Belly Crawling - 12.5 months
• Crawling on knees - 14 months
• Pulling Up - 15.5 months
• Letting Go - 17 months
• Cruising/Side-stepping - 17 months
• Walking - tbd

Language

• Hi (waves proficiently hello and good-bye)
• Da (clearly means daddy)
• Ma (very rarely and I don't think it means "mom")
• aaaa-eee (I think Natalie)
• key-key (binky)
• kitty, -t (cat)
• Uh-Oh at 14 months
• ba-bee (hasn't said this for a long time)
• Nods head for yes (doesn't shake head for no)
• Signs "all done"
• Signs "bird" (all the time)
• Signs "milk" (also to mean "more" - but not always)
• Signs "book" (I think, but it looked a lot like clapping)