and in other news....

Logan had his physical therapy and occupational therapy evaluations this week. He had some done when we first brought him home but all of us (Jim and I, the pediatrician, and his speech therapist) felt it was time to reevaluate and see where he was. There were just too many areas that seemed red-flagged to us.

Turns out we were right. Logan's fine motor skills are on target, and that's awesome. Not a particular surprise either--he loves to draw, cut, and write. It was fun to see huge progress in those areas, especially since he was just barely borderline in previous evaluations. When it comes to gross motor skills, he has fallen further despite of his progress. We've seen great advances this year, but even as his skills get better his peers continue to advance and the gap has widened. Last year, he tested out in the 26th percentile, just barely into the "not needing therapy" side. This year, his gross motor skills tested in the 2nd percentile, well below the maximum for therapy of the 25th percentile. The therapist was great--she tested his motor planning skills, not just simply his abilities. One of our big concerns about his speech has to do with apraxia, which is "an inability to execute complex coordinated motor efforts" as it pertains to speech. The motor planning evaluation revealed a significant problem in this area, so a diagnosis of "Childhood Apraxia of Speech" is highly likely when we see the craniofacial team next month.

What does it mean? Well, Logan will now get occupational therapy as well as speech once a week. The gals are awesome and they are trying to coordinate their schedules so I only have to make one trip a week. They'll look at his sensory integration issues, where motor planning falls, and see if we can integrate exercises into our daily routine to help him out. And we're going to pray that by helping his large muscles become more organized and able to execute complex coordinated motor efforts, we'll see a payoff in his oral motor skills too. We'll see--we start on Thursday!