Little D's Big Deal

So, Little D has been getting early intervention therapy at home for almost 6 months now, and it has really been helping him. He now has a speaking vocabulary of about 10-20 words, plus his ever increasing sign vocabulary of about 10- 15. He wasn't saying any words at all in June when we first started the diagnosis process. He says: hi, bye-bye, no, please (eese or deese), thank-you (Guh-guh), Daddy (Da-ee), Uh-oh, Go, Out, Ow, movie and up. It's exciting to hear him try to say these words because it's new. He hasn't really made an effort before, and would just crumple in a heap and throw fits when we didn't understand. This is such a change and improvement!

We also met with the Occupational Therapist who will now come along with the developmentalist. I'm mostly excited that I won't have to drive him to the office! He has been diagnosed with Sensory Modulation Disorder affecting three senses in the following ways.

Auditory: Hyposensitive, Sensory Seeking
Proprioceptive: Hyposensitive, Sensory Seeking
Oral: Hypo sensitive, Sensory Seeking

There wasn't really a big surprise on the oral sense. I knew that was an issue for him, but the other two I was a little surprised by. He is generally a great listener and only seems to have a slight problem when he is sick, over-tired or over-stimulated. For instance, on our recent vacation, he would not stop walking toward the parking lot no matter how much we shouted his name. There were so many things around him to look at, and all of them were new. This proved too much for his concentration and he walked right into the parking space before Daddy grabbed him.

The Proprioceptive sense is his ability to see his relation to objects and himself. We are supposed to help him by 'flying' objects toward his face, airplanes, cars, whatever, to stimulate this sense. This is also the reason why he is in a constant state of motion whether sitting, standing or lying. This was the biggest shock to me, because it explains so much of his behavior and now I know how to help him!

The next development for him is the upcoming visit with another speech therapist and an ENT. He has been snoring, and even with the Prevacid, the snoring has gotten more frequent. I'm worried that his tonsils are not functioning right and that is keeping him sick all the time. I'm also worried that his adenoids might be large and are blocking his airway. He doesn't breathe through his nose very often, and when he does he is congested. Hopefully we can get in soon so he can start sleeping and breathing better.

We're also coming right up on his visit to the gastroenterologist. That should be an interesting visit, and I"m hoping for some answers that will help me out with my own health. Little D and I have almost identical intestinal symptoms. We are also visiting with a geneticist in December and we will be having him tested for a couple of things, one of which is celiac disease. We might get this test done sooner, it just depends on what we think and the doctors think.

That's our news in a nutshell. I hope this post finds you happy and healthy!