Big Things For A Big Girl!

I realized recently that there have been a lot of things going on with Ella and I haven't blogged about them at all...so here goes! 

About 2 months ago I took Ella to her pediatrician since I was concerned about her speech. She's going to be 4 in February and I just didn't feel like her language skills were up to par with other kids her age or for that matter kids that are younger than she is. I had tried to get her in speech therapy right before Zeke was born in May 2012. I took her to Birth to 3 and they did an evaluation of her speech and her cognitive skills. At this time Ella was 27 months old and she wasn't even putting 2 words together. For example she would say, "Milk" and "Please", but she wouldn't say, "Milk Please". Even though her speech wasn't up to par her cognitive skills were so high that it ended up bringing her score up so she didn't qualify for speech therapy. I figured that I was just being paranoid and that she would just catch on eventually. In fact after therapy she did start putting more and more words together. Her pronunciation still wasn't very good, but I figured that would get better with time. 

Fast forward to October of this year and Ella's pediatrician recommended that we get the ball rolling. First she wanted Ella to go in for a follow-up with her Neurosurgeon. Let's start off by saying I don't like surgeons, they are impersonal and ridiculous in regards to how much time they actually spend with you. So Ella saw Dr. Morris for all of 5 minutes. Mainly the appointment was so Ella could get referred to a Neurologist. Since the whole circumstances surrounding Ella's Hydrocephalus diagnosis wasn't normal she had never seen a Neurologist. 

Second Ella went to see her new Neurologist at Mary Bridge. Let me tell you the difference between Neurologists and Neurosurgeons is night and day! Everyone was wonderful!!! They spent so much time with us and they even asked Ella if she had any questions. It's was so awesome. I can't tell you how relieved I felt to actually get some questions answered and have someone truly care about Ella's situation. He even checked for swelling behind her eyes....a sure sign that her value isn't working...there was absolutely no swelling! Hydrocephalus is such an odd condition because there really isn't an easy way to tell if it's under control. It's not like I can check her blood to see if her levels are okay. The signs for issues actually mimic the flu so as you can imagine every time Ella gets sick I'm always wondering...is it her value?? Anyway while there the Neurologist decided that it would be a good idea for Ella to have an MRI. She's only ever had CT Scans so he wants to try to get to the bottom of why Ella has Hydrocephalus. She is scheduled to have her MRI this Friday at Mary Bridge. 

Third Ella's pediatrician wanted her to have her hearing checked. If there are issues with a kids speech that can be one of the reason why. Off to Mary Bridge Audiology we went. Ella did great and we now know that her hearing is perfect. 

Fourth I contacted Children's Therapy Center...the same place Jack went for his Occupational Therapy...and I set up an appointment with a speech therapist. So far Ella has had two evaluations and Ms. Kate thinks that Ella will really benefit from speech therapy. She said that Ella has some typical issues that kids have, but usually grow out of by her age and she has some atypical issues that need to be dealt with. Ella will have her first official speech therapy session on January 2nd. 

Another thing that has developed from all this is that Ella might be eligible for early education through the ECEAP program at school. We are still in the process of getting the paperwork done and then she has to meet with someone from the school district to start an IEP. We have already visited the preschool room at the boys school and Ella just jumped right in. She loved it! Even if she doesn't qualify for the ECEAP program Michael and I have already decided that next September we will enroll her in some form of preschool to give her a head start. 

So there it....as you can see Ella's been a busy girl!