Sean's 1st early intervention evaluation

Yesterday we had Sean's first Early Intervention evaluation. Sean automatically qualifies for services based on his diagnosis of Down's Syndrome. So it wasn't a "does he qualify" evaluation, it was more of a "what should he get right now?" evaluation. Does that even make sense? We also had our meeting with the social worker assigned to us.

Rob's parents came early to take Meredith to breakfast so she wouldn't be yelling at everyone who touched "her" Sean. It was nice for all of them. They got to spend time together and it was a good start to getting Meredith to spend more time away from us than she does now without a total meltdown. They took meredith to the park after breakfast so she could play.

The social worker was 15 minutes later & never called me. I can't tell you how much that annoys me. If you're going to be late, call. It's not hard. I called our service coordinator & she had the social worker call us. We went over our family histories, Sean's history so far, etc. The social worker said that it seems like Sean is in a great environment & will thrive. Hooray!! There is nothing like a little reassurance from strangers. Ya know family & friends are supposed to be supportive & tell you that you're great & doing a great job. Strangers don't have that same obligation.

Then the evaluator and an occupational therapist came to check Sean out. Sean was amazing! Everyone was impressed with how pink he is. The evaluator commented about how he was not "floppy" at all. He has an amazingly strong suck. He is still working on his suck/swallow/breathe coordination, but the therapist said that every newborn baby would be working on this still. It was confirmed that he has a short palate, but she gave us an exercise that we can do with him to help out. This is in addition to the exercise the lactation consultant gave us. I feel really good to have some things to work with while we wait for our services to begin.

They watched him eat from a bottle & noticed that when he's frustrated, fussy, annoyed, etc. he doesn't suck/nurse as well as when he's calm. When he's calm, he sucks slower, swallows better and is more coordinated. If I had to gander a guess though, that would hold true for anyone. If I eat or drink to fast, I almost always swallow wrong & end up choking. He held his hands in together or on the bottle. That's good. And when he nurses from the breast he almost always holds the breast as well.

We put him on his belly so they could see how he lifts his head and he lifted & turned his head. They were quite impressed. I was so proud.  Sean was put on on his back so the evaluator could pull him up by his arms to test his neck strength. Sean kept his head & neck straight while he was pulled up into a sitting position. He did stick his tongue out (common for down's kids), but it was decided that it was more of a concentration sticking out. Every time he was pulled up after that, he kept his mouth closed. And he almost rolled over from his belly to his back. I was surprised by this one.

The occupational therapist explained that a lot of down's kids appear to have tongues to big for their mouths. That's actually not the case. It's the shape of their mouths that prevents their mouths from closing, making their tongues appear to be to large. At least that's my understanding. Sean does not have this issue. His mouth closes just fine. And the occupational therapist said that because of his diagnosis, everyone is just going to more acutely aware of everything. Sean sticks his tongue out all the time, but it could very well just be cute newborn facial expressions.

All in all, a great evaluation. According to the evaluator, if Sean did not have a diagnosis of Down's, he would not qualify for services. I am so proud. It seems like my son has a lot more surprises in store for us. Every time we think "what are supposed to be doing with him to ensure he does well?" we get an answer of "nothing more than you're already doing because he's doing fabulously".

Obviously we don't know what the future will hold for us. He may very well start to lag behind on his milestones in the future. He may very well still have some cognitive issues. But all of the reassurance we have so far is very encouraging for the future. And for now we get to celebrate. We get to hold dear that Sean's issues are non-issues at the moment. And we get to enjoy our children as children.

So we will continue doing what we're doing. We do tummy time everyday and Meredith is such a big help. She encourages Sean to lift his head. We didn't have that with Meredith. We were told to use her fave toys to encourage her to lift her head & roll over. This time we have Meredith to help. She talks to him and shows him how to do things.

She bends down to be at his level & talks to him. She's to cute. Whatever she's telling him seems to crack her up. Because she laughs after she says things to him. If he gets frustrated & cries she tells him "no cry" and then tells me "baby cry".













After a quick rest he's ready for more. So Meredith lays down with him & shows him how to roll over & lift his legs.









And she's great about telling him what a great job he did and he gets to relax with his other support. Dutchess is very protective of Sean. She's always right there making sure he's comfy. She also looks at us very concerned when he's crying. Brewster was Meredith's confidante. Meredith still relies on Brewster for all things puppy fun. She pesters & tortures Dutchess too, but nowhere near as much as she does Brewster.

Meredith & I are going to take Sean to the aquarium today. I hope it doesn't rain. I was going to do the laundry, but the aquarium is so much more fun!