Today, I brought Elise to Texas Children's Hospital for her psychological testing appointment, which is typically part of the transplant evaluation. In Elise's case, there was no grave concern by any of the physician's regarding her physical, social, and/or emotional development, so we didn't get in for the testing until now. Anyway, I initially thought this was going to be a waste of time. I mean, really, psych testing on an infant?? It actually went very well though. The psychologist was great with Elise, and very knowledgeable about pediatric liver disease too, which was nice. Of course, she probably evaluates all the babies waiting on transplant there, so I'm sure she's made it her business to be well-versed on the subject.
Anyway, using a combination of direct play/ interaction with Elise and the answers I provided to her questions, the psychologist completed several different infant and early childhood psychological and developmental assessments....and Elise "passed" with flying colors!! Elise is currently 8 months old, and she scored between 8 and 10 months old in all spheres! Her highest scores were in fine motor skill development and social development. I'm having her mail me a copy of her complete formal report once it's done.
So, despite Elise being born 5 weeks early, spending a total of 7 weeks thus far in a hospital bed, and having an NG tube since April which complicates activities such as "tummy time," Elise has managed to meet and even surpass the developmental expectations for babies her age! That makes me one happy and very proud mommy!!
After Elise's appointment, I enjoyed visiting with a fellow "liver mom" Jennifer and her kids. Jennifer's middle child had Biliary Atresia and had a liver transplant a little over 1 year ago....she looks so wonderful!! It was great to see them!
No comments:
Post a Comment