So it has been a long four weeks for us here in GP. Ethan was sick with Pneumonia at the beginning of the month and it just took him completely out. He got better for a few days then slid downhill again. On the 11th we had an appointment to catch up his immunizations. I had delayed all his shots so he would be a little older when he received them. So this was his 18 month shots. He didn’t have any problems evident from the shots. They did an assessment this day though and determined that he would benefit from a referral to Early Intervention for assessment. The assessment we did determined that he has issues with communication (no shocker there), fine motor skills and problem solving.
The helicopter Mom I am, I freaked out! I got on the phone with all his people: Speech therapist, audiologist, family doctor, daycare; and told them that we needed to get moving on intervention on his development. I talked with his Speech therapist and we will be going back to see her the first of May. We’re waiting until May so that he can be assessed as a 3 year old and our therapist is confident he will fail the assessment. Why would we want him to fail? Well if he fails then he gets to go into the intensive PUFF program in preschool. His preschool is paid for and he gets the benefit of hands on help. Our speech therapist also referred us to an Occupational Therapist to help with his fine motor skills/problem solving skills. I haven’t heard from them yet. We are on a wait list for his hearing check up. He hasn’t had a clear hearing test yet, every time we go his ears are blocked and it comes back inconclusive.
With a lot of thought and contemplation we are considering moving Ethan to a different dayhome/daycare facility. He doesn’t seem to be developing at an acceptable rate and I can’t help but think that his dayhome is part of the problem. I went this week and checked out a daycare facility here but was sick to my stomach when I left so I’ve decided against that place. Now I’m waiting for a call from the licensed dayhome society and hoping she can come up with a place for us. It is hard to change, Ethan has been there for 2 whole years already and it is all he knows. Lately he hasn’t been happy going there though so I think it’s time for a change.
So then we ended up this week back in the Doctors’ office because he was coughing and barely breathing and I was sure he had pneumonia again. After yet another set of Xrays and bloodwork we meandered home with some new drugs. He is on a liquid steroid and another inhaler. Both meant to pump up his lungs up and make them stronger. The doctor thinks he might have asthma and has referred us for a consult with the Paediatric Asthma clinic next time it runs here. Every time he gets sick we end up in the same place, wheezing and coughing. He never has problems any other time, just when he’s sick. Neither Randy or I have asthma so we know nothing about it so I have some reading to do…
So today we are better. The steroids worked like magic and he is breathing fine and not wheezing or coughing at all. We are working on some activities to help his fine motor skills and have lots of support. I love the Parent Link centre here (Thanks for introducing me to it Chantel!) They offer all kinds of support for kids development. I went to them for help and they gave me another assessment to do with him and then they will go through it with us. Together we’ll make an action plan. Ethan and I are going to attend any play group we can there as well. Most likely we will go on Friday mornings to the Singing with Liz class. It will help with Ethan’s speech and I’m sure he’ll love it! I’ve also ordered some toys designed to help with Fine motor skills and problem solving. We’ll get there, I just want to be sure we’re doing everything that he needs us to do!!!
On the whole Ethan is a happy kid, it’s our job as his parents to remove all the barriers to his success and I’m working on it! I sure love my little guy and hope that things start becoming easier for him soon!
