The BIG appointment

It went great!!! It wasn't all good news, but WAY more good news than bad news. I got to hear the "magic words" from the Dr. "I don't think she is showing signs of any of the spectrum disorders, autism, etc." Yippee! This was my worst fear.

Morgan did so well! I had talked with her about it all day. The appointment was late, at 5:00 pm, but that was way better than having to wait until September for a morning appointment. I dropped Piper off with our neighbors. Morgan kept asking "Piper? Piper?" on the way over. I don't think had taken her anywhere without Piper since Piper was born. We met David at the office. Morgan played nicely in the waiting room and the Dr. came in pretty quickly (after reviewing a TON of paperwork I filled out beforehand) and we went back to her office.

The office was large with a few couches. We all sat down and Morgan immediately went to pull out the baskets of toys she spied as soon as she walked in. The Dr. asked us lots of questions and she also engaged Morgan in some questions and interaction. She watched how Morgan interacted with us as well. She was encouraged by how interactive Morgan was and she gave her good eye contact.

For the "bad news" ... she did acknowledge that since she is in the EI program, obviously Morgan has some delays, mostly in the language/communication area. Since there was no family history (expect for a cousin, but the Dr. seemed more interested in parents/grandparents) and there wasn't any pregnancy/birth issues that we know of, she couldn't pinpoint why this was happening.

A key thing that surprised me is that she said that even if Morgan "catches up" with her peers she is always at risk of falling behind again. This is something we need to be aggressive with and have her re-evaluated every six months as she progresses through preschool and her school years. She just may need some extra help along the way. There may be some potential learning disabilities as well, but it is impossible to predict at this point. This didn't bother me too much as I know a few people that have learning disabilities and have become very successful in spite of it.

The Dr. is going to write a brief report and some recommendations as well. She encouraged us to keep her in the EI program and when she is discharged or ages out, a "developmental preschool" might be a good option. They have therapists on staff that can work with her in specific areas. We are going to look into this. We already have Morgan signed up for a one day a week preschool starting in September. I'm going to talk with them about having her start and see how she does. The developmental preschools don't start until kids are at least three and I want to see how she does socially before then.

Lastly, the Dr. said that some of her areas of delay (pretend play, some interaction with other kids, etc.) may be due to the fact that Morgan doesn't yet have the vocabulary to express herself. We are going to work on this at home. She also said that if she is somewhat less engaged with other kids it might just be due to her temperament...being shy, not any other bigger issue.

Thanks for bearing with my long update. I'm sure there are things I've forgotten. I've already got lots of question for the Dr. now that the appointment is over. I hate that! After I heard the "magic words" I think I had trouble processing everything else she said. I'm looking forward to seeing her report and recommendations. She also said she'd like to see us again in a year to check in how Morgan is doing. I'm so glad we don't have to do any further evaluations at this time. I think overall this was a great result!