OT evaluation today

Once again we had a tiring day. And it's only 2.30.... LOL... We went in to Bill Wilkerson this morning for Benji's Occupational Therapy Evaluation. For the most part he had fun. He was in a "no" mood this morning and wasn't too happy to be stuck in his car seat for about 70 minutes. The awesome thing is it didn't start raining until we were there an in the building.

Anyhow... Benji played for the therapist and worked with her, and cooperated mostly. I was glad that she got to see him throw a tantrum when he didn't get his way. He also got a little hyper and she got to see that.

So... ultimately he was diagnosed with Muscular Incoordination (DSM 781.3) from googling it is also called Ataxia and is a neurological disorder. In addition, she believes that the coordination problem is in part because of his sensory processing issues. He was not outright diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, but that is what the occupational therapy will address. That and FEEDING!! Finally we are going to get help with him eating.

The therapist also told me that if he were given the sensory test for 3 and up that it would have turned out differently. Alot of what he does (the spinning and the crashing and wrapping up tightly in his heavy blanket) is SPD.

The other thing that I got a chuckle out of is she recommends that we get The Out of Sync Child and The Out of Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Kranowitz. I ordered it today. It was on Benji's Amazon wishlist.

Anyhow... that's pretty much it for the OT eval...

Developmental Evaluation 1/30/07

At the time of this evaluation, Benji was a 22 month old. He was referred to Foundations by TEIS with a diagnosis of having congenital heart defect. Benji is being seen by Foundations twice a month and currently has AFO's to help support and strengthen his ankles due to having low muscle tone. Benji stays at home with his mother and three year old brother during the day.

Benji is an active 22 month old who was cooperative throughout the evaluation and his results are believed to be an accurate representation of his current developmental abilities. He was in good health at the time of the evaluation and has a very supportive family. It seemed during the evaluation if Benji liked a certain toy or activity he seemed very focused on it and became unaware of his surroundings including not responding to the calling of his name and asking him questions. However he would not attempt certain activities due to lack of interest in them. He was evaluated on January 30, 2007 in his home environment, reporting by his mother and some structured activities facilitated by the assessor. Benji is showing a significant delay (20% or more) in the areas of adaptive, personal-social, receptive and expressive communication, gross motor and the cognitive area of development at this time.

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I'm not going to include everything else. Essentially, Benji is having problems. About 2 weeks before this evaluation was done I had noticed that Benji seemed infantile. His expressions and characteristics. But then 5 minutes later he seems to be all grown up. We know that Benji has sensory issues. The issues are mostly touch and oral, not that that make it easier. He still eats mostly typical older baby food... you know applesauce, eggs, pudding, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, french fries. Sometimes a cut up apple or raisins, whales, cereal bars and cereal as long as it is round or circular. Touch wise he really prefers the silky fabrics and he don't like to have no clothes on.

Now.. we are continuing with Benji's therapy and Foundations is going to have a speech eval done to see where he is and what he needs. So the fun continues!