You Want Me to Swallow That?

Last Thursday Kaitlyn had a modified barium swallow study done. We had to be downtown at the Children's Hospital at 10 am to check in and register for our 11 am appointment. Unfortunately they were running behind, so they didn't call us back until 11:45.

The test was performed by a radiologist and a speech pathologist. They made a mixture of juice and barium for Kaitlyn to drink from her bottle. This is the second time we have done this procedure (first was at 6 weeks) and again she drank it like a champ. She was overall pretty unhappy being there, so the first few minutes were tough - trying to get her to sit down in the chair so they could x-ray. But the poor girl was thirsty and finally settled down and drank. They got to see some good swallows, but she was not interested in eating any food.

All in all, they were pleased with what they saw. They did see some instances of penetration (when the liquid goes into the trachea and stays above the vocal cords) but no instances of aspiration. They indicated that the penetration was likely occurring because she was drinking so fast and that if she transitioned to a straw, that would help. In addition, they told us not to let her lean her head back too much while drinking.

I guess good news that they didn't see any problems with her ability to swallow. We were done in 15 minutes. $1,000 well spent?

Autism Evaluation

Today we had our appointment for the autism evaluation. The appointment started at 9 with a developmental pediatrician, a speech therapist, occupational therapist and behavioral therapist. They took turns playing with her and trying to get her to do certain activities in order to assess her. They observed from behind a two way mirror and we answered tons of questions. By 11 they were done and went to compile the results. We waited for 45 minutes or so and then the developmental pediatrician came back to talk to us. Kaitlyn was a champ! Very patient! We didn't leave to head home until 12:30. Poor kiddo was tired.

The diagnosis: Provisional Autism Spectrum Disorder. And Mixed/Global Developmental Delays. The developmental pediatrician was not willing to definitively diagnose. She felt like she definitely has some red flags, but she also sees so many sensory processing issues that they might be getting in the way of her development.

They assessed her developmental in each of 7 areas in order to determine her developmental age - gross motor, fine motor, self help, problem solving, social emotional, receptive language and expressive language. Her strengths were her gross motor and fine motor. Her weakest areas were self help (driven by the fact that she doesn't feed herself) and expressive language (driven by the fact that she doesn't speak or point).

She was given a 34.5 on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). A minimum score of 30 is the cutoff for a diagnosis of autism on the mild end of the spectrum. Her score puts her in the mild range.

Her DSM-IV-TR (standardized criteria to help diagnose) was a 5. A score of 6 or more is considered on the spectrum.

They recommend more of the therapy she is currently getting - speech therapy 2-3 times per week and occupational therapy 2 times per week. They also want us to add behavioral therapy 2-3 times per week. Most likely we will have to do this through a private company as I don't think the agency we are currently working with can meet that frequency (and they don't offer behavioral therapy). We are to return for another visit like this one in 6-12 months.

Lots to process... but hopeful to have a new plan in mind.

Love the Ball Pit!

Kaitlyn gets to play in a ball pit at school and they say she loves it. So when she got one from Uncle Scott and Russell, we were super excited. She was a little wary of it at first. She would reach in and grab the balls but that was it. Tonight she was brave and stepped right in.

Feed Me?!?!

Kaitlyn did the cutest thing tonight! I was snacking on Wheat Thins. She came over and snatched one out of my hand. Then she put it in my mouth! Very interesting! She then kept doing it. I had to hurry to swallow so she could put more in (funny what you do for your kids).

This is huge for us - she doesn't put anything in her mouth. So seems kinda significant that she would even put something in someone else's mouth!

Mommy and Me

October in the Red Room

Here are the latest pics from daycare. I liked this one because she seems to be playing with another kid (although he doesn't look like he is having fun) and I've never seen her play with a shopping cart!

And look at this smile - she loves the ball pit!

Here she is again playing with another kid - and it is a girl!

A box? Looks fun. Birthday idea...?

An adorable yellow crayon!

Kaitlyn had a fun filled Halloween. She had a party at school so Eric and I joined her in the afternoon. We hung out and played on the playground. Then they had a parade where the kids walked around and showed off their costumes. It was really neat seeing Kaitlyn playing at school. She looked very happy! She didn't really enjoy the parade... maybe next year.

After we left school, we stopped by each of the Grandma's houses to show off the costume. From there we went home and took a trip around the block in her pink car. At that point there weren't many kids outside but she did enjoy the ride. She was completely tired though and was asleep by 7:10! Hopefully next year we can really go trick or treating! Here are some pics from school: