15 Month Check Up

The Stats

Weight: 23 pounds 9 ounces

Height: 32 inches

Shots given:

DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis)

Pneumococcal Conjugate

Chickenpox

Concerns:

Woot! None really. The doctor wants me to continue trying dairy. (Liam had some yogurt this morning and so far no bad diaper rash or big loud long farts coming from him.) I explained the findings from all the therapists that came to take a look at Liam. And since I haven't updated since this post - here's a quick run down. Developmental therapist came first - found him to be doing either above his age for most areas of development, but below for gross motor skills and speech. The occupational therapist came and found that he may have a slight motor planning delay. The speech therapist came and found him to be more behind than the developmental therapist found in both areas of receptive and expressive language. She also felt he may have processing difficulties when trying to make new sounds (could be related to the motor planning delay). I met with all the therapist plus a coordinator and the speech therapist was wishy-washy about whether or not Liam needed to start speech therapy right away. Since he had just started walking and seemed to do everything, "on the late end of the normal spectrum" (which is wrong - walking at 15 months is not the late end - walking at 17 months is at the late end - anyway...) she thought maybe he'd pick up more sounds and stuff on his own within the next few months. After discussing our options I choose to set it up so that we can start speech therapy whenever I choose. If I notice that in November or October Liam is still not picking up new sounds then I'll call and they'll get the ball rolling to get a therapist out here. If I feel that he's doing okay, then I'll call and we'll just do a re-evaluation in Dec. or Jan. Either way - we have re-evaluations set up for the developmental and occupational therapists sometime after December. SO - I talked with the doctor about this and she really seemed to be thinking "in his own time". I suppose I struggle with the "wait and see" attitude because I sometimes have to deal with parents who seem to be in denial about what it is exactly their child can and cannot do or what they do or do not need. It felt good to hear another professional agreeing with me to let Liam go at his own pace right now without bringing in someone to do therapy with him. I know it's all play based therapy at this point, but still, it would be someone coming into the house and trying to make him do or make certain sounds and even though it's through play it is still hard work and demanding.

So - all in all - it was a good quick visit. Oh, quick up until the point when we had to wait for the nurse to come in at the end and do the shots. That part took forever.