Graduation

For the first time since Robbie was 3 weeks adjusted, he has no therapists. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch. No more 3 mornings a week schedule shuffling, no waiting for late therapists. No more critical eyes picking apart everything he does, giving every quirk a diagnosis. Done.

Last week, his speech therapist scored his evaluation and informed me that at the age of 2.8 years, his receptive language was measuring 2.7 years and his expressive language was 2.8 years. In other words- caught up. Several weeks ago she had confessed that she didn't even know what to work on for feeding. While he still prefers some textures over others, there's nothing he can't or won't eat if he's in the right mood- just like a typical toddler.

His OT never discussed anything with me at all, but her reports home because increasingly obvious she was done, too. "Robbie no longer displays resistance to ____________."

I knew it was time to fly free, but I was still nervous. I asked for our developmental therapist to come out and do a global evaluation to be sure. I was sad when they told me she was out having surgery and then thrilled when she called to set up the appointment anyway. She was the first therapist who ever saw Robbie. She's also the mother of 5 children and has always seemed to have great expertise in her field as well as real, practical experience as a mom. She came on Monday.

He did score a little behind in a few areas. As good as his speech was, she wanted him to be conversing and asking questions more. He still won't jump on a solid surface and mostly parallel plays. But none of those were enough to cause her any alarm. She was amazed at the progress since she'd seen him 6 months ago. At that point, he still tended to tune everyone out, had 7 words, hyperventilated at bathtime and refused to touch any food softer than a piece of bread. Today he uses 3 and 4 and sometimes even 5 word sentences, strips & climbs into the tub asking for a "baff" and demands applesauce and just about anything else if he's in the right mood. She didn't score the evaluation on the spot, but told me her feeling was that he was doing amazing; that the skills he doesn't have are clearly emerging and she was very pleased.

Tuesday was our IFSP. It was the usual reading of assessments. The OT report was a bit of a surprise as she had him listed as not being able to do skills that he definitely has, but most of those were also addressed in the DT report and he had done them just fine for her.

When it was my turn to speak, I asked plainly "My desire is to end services. Does anyone have any concerns about that?" Everyone answered "absolutely not." His SLP said that even if I didn't want to end all services, she was going to discharge us- her work here was done. His DT said that any areas she felt he could use work in were already being addressed by his daycare and by me, and she felt like he was doing amazing. And that was that.

We hugged, I cried. I made cupcakes to celebrate, so we had cupcakes of celebration. And then they were gone.

As of Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011, my son is free to grow and develop like any other boy.

It may not be for good, I know that. He may have trouble in school, he may need some physical help at some point because he's small and wimpy. But for now, we're going to sleep late & laze about snuggling instead of rushing to meet therapists. It feels really good.

--Trish