Are We Really Half-Way Through Early Steps?

we had wyatt's mid-point of services evaluation this week.  early steps provides his services until he is 3 years old, and he's now 19 months old, so we had a full-team evaluation where we sat down together and all his therapists talked to each other as well as his service coordinator, shanina, about how he is doing.  unfortunately, his developmentalist/early interventionist was rear-ended on her way to the meeting and was unable to join us...

so i had some sad and happy moments.  tim was out of town, so he could not join us, but he, again, was not saddened by anything that i shared with him!   overall, of course, everyone thinks that wyatt is doing terrific, and they just have to keep reminding me that i do not see a lot of other kids who have Down syndrome who are his age to compare him to....not that we should compare, but they are just saying that i don't have the experience that they do having worked with so many other children with Ds and their varying abilities!  

joanna, wyatt's physical therapist scored him developmentally around 12 months.....basically because he is not walking YET!    not much room for argument there, he's not walking....and he needs to meet that milestone before he progresses developmentally concerning his physical abilities...    

shelley, his occupational therapist scored him around 12 months as well for self-feeding.....mainly because he STILL DOES NOT DRINK FROM A CUP consistently....UGH!!!!!    he's getting better and better at picking up his chunks of ham and cheese, as well as green beans, etc. to feed himself.   so we're working more on using a spoon and fork to self-feed.    and even in the few days since we met, he's made major progress in that area as well!   he's taken spoonfuls of oatmeal, that i "loaded" for him, and put them in his mouth unassisted!   and he's taken a fork with avocado chunks on it and done the same thing!   i can't wait for her to see the progress he's made.....as long as he doesn't also show her how he likes to take a spoonful of food and fling it on the floor and walls.....   oh well!    but she did score him around 18-19 months for another area....self-help skills, i believe.   this is where he can put on a hat, knows to lift his hands to help with getting dressed, will attempt to put on socks or shoes.....he at least knows what he's supposed to do with things, even if he can't do them yet!   he's also made significant progress with using his hands to place things in slots, etc.!  

i was very happy to receive a phone call from wyatt's speech therapist, kenalyn, with the results of her evaluation!   she assessed wyatt's receptive speech skills at 23 months!  woo hoo!   this means that he listens and understands a lot more than he communicates verbally!   his visual processing is terrific, and he takes in and processes A LOT!    his expressive speech skills were assessed around 18 months...pretty close to on target!   we continue to work on USING HIS WORDS and SIGNS to communicate!   i often look in his little eyes and know that he has so much he wants to say.....it's right there.....just not coming out yet!   but we're getting there!   

i'm so glad that we actually took the time to sit down together....i was more encouraged than discouraged!  it's nice to have some formal feedback as to how the professionals think he is doing!   they all love him to death, and we are blessed with a tremendous team who support and encourage us!  i know that he will "get there" in his time.....and as mr. rogers said, "A berry ripens in its own good time and so does a child's readiness. Just as the one needs water and sunlight, the other needs the patient reassurance of loving adults who can trust children to grow according to their own timetables."