Here we go again...
Having only just freed ourselves from the merry-go-round of therapy for Cosima for the sensory integration issues and all the behavioural stuff that went with that, it now looks as if it's Cosimo's turn. Acting on the advice of a friend we have had Cosimo assessed to see if he needs speech therapy, and it's beginning to look like he might be diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. With hindsight it shouldn't have been the surprise it was - his speech has consistently lagged behind every other area of development, and he has about ten words of vocabulary when most kids his age have over 100 - but we'd allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security by everybody's (well meant) reassurances that it was early days yet and he'd be speaking full sentences before we knew it.
At the moment we're still at the stage of preliminary diagnosis - he needs an apraxia test, and then we get to see how much therapy the cash-strapped State of California is prepared to throw at him. If they do everything that the assessor recommends then we're going to be busy - she suggests 3 sessions of speech therapy/week, plus attendance at a specialist preschool. At least the timing is good, I suppose - with Cosima starting school I will have the time to shuttle him around all these different appointments.
Still adjusting and digesting and waiting to hear more at the moment. Not sure yet about how I feel about it all - I think it helps that I've already been through the "OMG my kid's not perfect" thing with Cosima. drcosmos is having a harder time with it I think.
Am also trying to come to terms with the idea that I'm going to end up being "that mum" whose kids have weird developmental issues that no-one's ever heard of. Let's take a moment just to deal with that, shall we? Good.
It has just occured to me how appropriate this particular user icon is for this post. Only maybe I should have made Cosimo look more like Maggie.
In other news, I think we have finally sorted out a school uniform for Cosima. Imagine a venn diagram, if you will, in which one circle represents clothes that conform to the school dress code, another represents the clothes available in the stores, and the last of which represents clothes Cosima actually will wear(the tactile hypersensitivity kicks in particularly strongly when it comes to clothes). The central area - the point of intersection of all three circles - is empty. Yes, that's right, empty. However, yesterday I trotted off to Joanns and picked up a length of nice soft navy blue cotton jersey, and threw together a simple gathered skirt for her. She is delighted with it. Thank God: I thought I was going to end up being That Mum who can't even get her kid to wear a school uniform.
At the moment we're still at the stage of preliminary diagnosis - he needs an apraxia test, and then we get to see how much therapy the cash-strapped State of California is prepared to throw at him. If they do everything that the assessor recommends then we're going to be busy - she suggests 3 sessions of speech therapy/week, plus attendance at a specialist preschool. At least the timing is good, I suppose - with Cosima starting school I will have the time to shuttle him around all these different appointments.
Still adjusting and digesting and waiting to hear more at the moment. Not sure yet about how I feel about it all - I think it helps that I've already been through the "OMG my kid's not perfect" thing with Cosima. drcosmos is having a harder time with it I think.
Am also trying to come to terms with the idea that I'm going to end up being "that mum" whose kids have weird developmental issues that no-one's ever heard of. Let's take a moment just to deal with that, shall we? Good.
It has just occured to me how appropriate this particular user icon is for this post. Only maybe I should have made Cosimo look more like Maggie.
In other news, I think we have finally sorted out a school uniform for Cosima. Imagine a venn diagram, if you will, in which one circle represents clothes that conform to the school dress code, another represents the clothes available in the stores, and the last of which represents clothes Cosima actually will wear(the tactile hypersensitivity kicks in particularly strongly when it comes to clothes). The central area - the point of intersection of all three circles - is empty. Yes, that's right, empty. However, yesterday I trotted off to Joanns and picked up a length of nice soft navy blue cotton jersey, and threw together a simple gathered skirt for her. She is delighted with it. Thank God: I thought I was going to end up being That Mum who can't even get her kid to wear a school uniform.