status of delays

We had the big meeting with Ella's "team" from the infants and toddlers early intervention program. It turns out that she is about 50% delayed in gross motor, and about 25% delayed in many other areas including communication, social development, etc. The only place she seems to be right on is in small motor skills.

Interesting issue: The "team" uses a standard testing model to rate her level of performance on all these levels. One big issue that Matt, I, and the team have is that this test, like most tests, has problems. Ella's three big areas of concern (other than the gross motor) at this time are the fact that she doesn't imitate (at least not that much), she does not follow commands (at least not common ones like "give mommy the toy"....she will turn the pages of a book when you ask her, and she will "find" your nose if you ask her to), and she doesn't understand the meaning of "No". Each of these "issues" takes points off in multiple catagories. Meaning that, because she doesn't follow commands she gets points off in communication, cognitive, and social catagories. Somehow this just doesn't seem fair. At the very least, I can be happy that everyone involved in her care is aware of this and realizes that her labels of % delays don't mean much when you understand the finer points.

Also, one type of delay leads to others. Meaning: She does not understand the meaning of "No" because I never have to use it with her. Most parents begin to use "No" when their child can crawl around and get into things that they shouldn't (like pulling the cat's tail, climbing up on somthing you know is unstable, etc.). Since Ella has a big gross motor delay, it stands to reason that I haven't had much opportunity to use "No" and so she hasn't had much opportunity to learn what it means.

The plan: We will meet with the PT every week for about 6 weeks, and then less frequently after that. We will meet with the OT about 4 times over the next 6 months (for help with eating and drinking skills). Finally, we will meet with the special educator once a month for 6 months to work on communication skills. After 6 months the whole plan gets reviewed at another sit down meeting and we figure out what to do from there.

I am feeling very good about this whole thing and I am very glad to have some support and help dealing with her out of the ordinary needs. I am much less stressed out and mental than I was just a few weeks ago.