how fast they grow up

I just spend some time looking at old pics of Madeline. It helped to clear my mind some, remind myself that the angry child she has been lately, isn't the only side of her. 

We will be seeking more opinions, we might travel to Denver or Houston, maybe both. Ryan and I need to talk about it more. Madeline has been diagnosed with significant sensory integration dysfuction, with secondary cognitive issues, unknown if it is congential or functioning, but she is functioning like a 2-3 year old. This is not sensory issues with food, clothing, noises, but rather her brain doesn't organize sensory input, she doesn't get many things. She is also seeking tactile though activity. She very well may have ADD, she is too young to accurately test right now. 

The bad news, there is no magic cure. Lots of OT can help, unfortunately there is virtually none to speak here. We got referred up to Denver for more testing, one being a state of the art clinic where they take pictures of the brain and see exactly where the problem areas lie. Another is an intense three week OT program to help teach us how to help her. 

I am also well aware that many children are being diagnosed with SPD/SID that don't have it, they have other issues that may mimic this. The brain is a tricky thing to see into. I would hate to pour thousands down the drain right away if it truly is something else, all of this is very expensive and it is all out of pocket. I have a contact in Houston who referred me to a University there can do further evaluations. We might choose to go to Texas, do further testing, see what they come up with and then come up with a plan. 

Hmmm

That didn't work. Maybe one of these days I need to figure out how to work this whole blog thing! bigger type would be nice as well..... I give up for the night. Ryan is sick as as dog so I can't ask my IT hubby to help me. I will get them posted this week, promise!

pics

It's been a bad day. More on that another time, maybe tomorrow. We got Madeline's results back from her evaluation, it's not good.

To keep my mind on something else, I'll post some pics finally! When I go to Maine next month, Ryan is going to replace the flooring in our living room and play room with cork. Here are the before pics. 

it just keeps coming

Great news, enter a high dose of sarcasm here. I went in yesterday for a 2 hour intake for Madeline. We have 4 sessions to do before anything is official, but he was able to say that he felt for certain Madeline has auditory processing issues. There could be other things as well ,most likely learning disorders/disabilities  but that was clear to him. 

Then today Ryan took Madeline for her routine every six month dentist appointment since she has extensive dental work done a couple of years ago. She has two massive caries, to the point where a root canal may be necessary. It has been bothering her for a while, I even took her in a couple months ago because she kept complaining about her teeth, they couldn't find anything then and now here we are! She'll have to be put out under general anesthesia in the hospital to repair them. 

Children sure are expensive. The assessment will cost us about a grand for this somewhat basic one. Last time Madeline underwent sedation for her teeth it was over a grand, now we'll have the hospital fees, plus an additional 3 appointments they require, and 75% of the work to be prepaid. Ahhhh, and who ever said children were cheap!

Florida vacation

We survived! It was touch and touch there for a while, the girls were still recovering from a stomach bug, we tried to do too much there, and my sister was a PIA. Note to self, NEVER go on a vacation with Katie ever again. Disney was ok, way too many people even for a weekday in the off season. Madeline loved Splash Mountain. The beach was the biggest hit, so much that I'm considering trying to rent a beach house somewhere later this year for a week. We went to Daytona, I hadn't been in years and I had forgotten how run down it looks with all the old hotels everywhere. 

Ryan took Madeline to Wet and Wild and tried to kill her, seriously. He went on the wrong slide, he was trying to go on one of the 5-6 story slides with a raft, instead they went on that high that spun them around and dropped them straight down. The biggest issue was she was way too small for the raft and kept sliding out so he was trying to grab her to keep her from being thrown off, and did I mention it was pitch black? She survived, although she isn't too fond of water slides right now. I promise to post pics soon, I am awful about uploading pics. 

assessments

Forgot to mention that both girls will be getting assessed soon. Gabrielle for speech, she is 18 months and only barely talks, she has 3 words that she says. Madeline for learning disabilities. She is 5 and only knows a couple letters, despite me working with her frequently over the winter. I will update as I know more, we could wait months for the evaluations. 

yet again

We have ANOTHER illness. We barely recovered from the chicken pox, we just started going out this week. The girls did great with the pox BTW. Madeline got stomach cramps Thursday am, she is vomiting today, Gabrielle has a fever. Madeline's dance recital was tonight so she is missing that. She is highly disappointed, poor thing. I am worried that it will affect the trip to FL we were supposed to leave on Monday am.