The Boo-ster had her first physical therapy session on Wednesday, and it's been like a door opening for her: she's pulling herself up on everything now! Rewind to her 1-year well-baby appt – hard to believe it was only just last month – and the concern in the pediatrician's voice when I replied "no" to virtually 90% of the 1-year-old milestones on her list. No to crawling, though she was doing the commando, which doesn't count; no to feeding herself; no to pulling up on furniture, and therefore no to walking along said furnishings or with assistance (from an adult); no to standing without assistance; no to talking, or saying single words. (Yes to picking up small objects like Cheerios.) The ped recommended that I try to get Z into the state-run First Steps program: to qualify, a child has to test at at least a 50% delay for their age level. In a week, I had an appt with one of their coordinators to fill out paperwork and more than a week after that we were getting the full eval with a therapist. Neither the coordinator nor the therapist thought Z had a very good chance of getting in. Among other things, in the time between our ped appt and the eval, she started crawling properly, which I thought for sure would undermine our chances. But wouldn't you know it, she got in, surprising the coordinator and the therapist both. (Z scored at exactly 50% in motor skills.)The eval therapist thought that Z had low muscle tone in the lower body, which would account for her reluctance to stand and the general wobbliness (in the back half) that Z has when crawling; but the physical therapist was sure that low muscle tone in her core muscles was the culprit. (If you can believe it, Z slouches a lot.) She gave me a number of exercises and activities – simply pulling to standing and sitting back down (repeat) as being one of the best – to do with Z until our next appt in two weeks that will help to strengthen her core. And actually Z's already quite knowledgeable in the motions of how to stand up and get down, she just needed a little help in getting the rest of the way up and down. Now, clear in the understanding of how easy it is, she's been pulling up on all sorts of things she wouldn't have otherwise attempted... two days ago.
Next week we have an occupational therapist coming, who will help Z with feeding herself. But since the full eval, she's been excelling at that. Before, when I'd put a handful of Cheerios in front of Z, she'd pick them up and examine them only, no attempt at putting it in her mouth. Same with anything that she'd find on the floor. It got so that she could expertly pick up the smallest crumb, and look at it as if it were the most interestingly thing to come into her hands. They say some babies will concentrate so hard on perfecting one skill that the others will lag for lack of attention, which I think must have been part of the case with Z. So I don't know what we're going to do with the occupational therapist.
One other note. After Z gets caught up on her motor skills, there's a strong possibility that she will have a delay in her speech skills as well. Thankfully, we'll be able to utilize any of the therapies, i.e. speech therapy, that First Steps offers, if need be.
