It's been a while since I've made a post (although I did update the "Recent Progress" list earlier this month), so we're more than past due for an update.
This past weekend was Ella's cousin's birthday party. Ella had quite a lot of fun at the party, and managed to do a few new things as far as eating goes. The most notable was that she ate cake without incident. In the past (even as recently as this summer) Ella was not able to eat cake, as the crumbly texture caused her to gag. That is a good thing as far as mouth control and texture tolerance goes.
She also tried a hot dog (well, a pig in a blanket) for the first time, and succeed in biting a chunk off and eating it. It is only very recently that we've been successful in getting Ella to bite chunks off of larger food items, and it's even better that she did it with something "unfamiliar". She's been fairly resistant to eating foods outside her normal day-to-day foods. Fortunately her day-to-day foods comprise a fairly balanced diet with all the major food groups represented, but there's not a lot of variety there.
In general Ella's "safe" foods are:
chicken nuggets of most any sort
turkey meatballs
peanut butter and jelly topped pancakes (a little weird, but she likes them)
Dr. Praeger's spinach pancakes
Dr. Praeger's broccoli pancakes
Earth's best spring vegetables and pasta (yes, it's a baby food, but she loves it and it's vegetables.)
American cheese
yogurt
Cheerios, Kix and Rice Crispies
Any common fruit (esp grapes, blueberries, and canned pineapple)
french fries
a variety of crackers and cookies.
All in all, not too shabby for a fussy two year old. You've got meats, vegetables, dairy, and grains in there. I'd be happier if she was more adventurous in her eating, but at least its a healthy diet, and we're not fighting to find a vegetable she'll eat.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
ABC's and more..
Again, I haven't done this in a while, so sorry about that.
One of our recent discoveries is that Ella can recognize at least half the letters of the alphabet. I've been testing her with the letters from her word whammer, and she's been doing well as long as she can maintain interest in the game. She's had a strong interest in her "alphabet town" toy over the past few months, and it's starting to sink in.
She's also now taking pretty strongly to imitation, which was previously one of our biggest barriers in teaching her.
Other than that, she's got several new signs, including "floss teeth", which she uses often as she actually enjoys having her teeth flossed. (we use a pre-threaded plastic flosser). Why she likes this so much, I don't know, but she actively asks for it. Ahh, the interests of a two year old.
In other news my site has recently gotten a lot hits to older posts from people searching about omega 3's and dyspraxia/DCD. In light of that, I figure I'll refresh my opinions on the matter. If you're not interested in this topic, you can skip the rest of the post. :-)
We've had Ella on 1/4tsp of highly refined Cod liver oil (250mg's of omega-3's, mostly dha) per day since June. After, I really don't think it's directly done much for her motor wise. However, she's had a dramatic change in her motivation levels since we started it, and that's made all the difference. And that dramatic change is still in full force, and that's wonderful for us. In may, Ella was really hitting a deep low in development and was difficult to motivate. About 4 weeks after we started giving her cod liver oil, she really started being motivated to explore and try things.
I still can't say the oil has actually done anything for Ella, as it could all be a coincidence and she was just "ready". However, given the current streak of development, we're not stopping it. If you pressed me, I'd say that it's probably helped her a little bit on an intellectual and behavioral level, which in turn has resulted in motor progress. However, that's really a theory that fits my observations. The scientific evidence to support it exists, but it's a little thin.
There's also a lot of supplemented products with DHA only in them here in the US. Those products didn't seem to do much for Ella. She was on those pretty much since she was 2 months old (formula, then yogurt, and fruit/cereal containers), averaging 40mg a day of DHA. Admittedly the dosage is higher on the fish oil, but it's also got a noticable amount of EPA in it. Givent that going from 40mg DHA alone to 150mg DHA + 100mg EPA made a big difference, I find it hard to believe that DHA alone is the important piece.
One of our recent discoveries is that Ella can recognize at least half the letters of the alphabet. I've been testing her with the letters from her word whammer, and she's been doing well as long as she can maintain interest in the game. She's had a strong interest in her "alphabet town" toy over the past few months, and it's starting to sink in.
She's also now taking pretty strongly to imitation, which was previously one of our biggest barriers in teaching her.
Other than that, she's got several new signs, including "floss teeth", which she uses often as she actually enjoys having her teeth flossed. (we use a pre-threaded plastic flosser). Why she likes this so much, I don't know, but she actively asks for it. Ahh, the interests of a two year old.
In other news my site has recently gotten a lot hits to older posts from people searching about omega 3's and dyspraxia/DCD. In light of that, I figure I'll refresh my opinions on the matter. If you're not interested in this topic, you can skip the rest of the post. :-)
We've had Ella on 1/4tsp of highly refined Cod liver oil (250mg's of omega-3's, mostly dha) per day since June. After, I really don't think it's directly done much for her motor wise. However, she's had a dramatic change in her motivation levels since we started it, and that's made all the difference. And that dramatic change is still in full force, and that's wonderful for us. In may, Ella was really hitting a deep low in development and was difficult to motivate. About 4 weeks after we started giving her cod liver oil, she really started being motivated to explore and try things.
I still can't say the oil has actually done anything for Ella, as it could all be a coincidence and she was just "ready". However, given the current streak of development, we're not stopping it. If you pressed me, I'd say that it's probably helped her a little bit on an intellectual and behavioral level, which in turn has resulted in motor progress. However, that's really a theory that fits my observations. The scientific evidence to support it exists, but it's a little thin.
There's also a lot of supplemented products with DHA only in them here in the US. Those products didn't seem to do much for Ella. She was on those pretty much since she was 2 months old (formula, then yogurt, and fruit/cereal containers), averaging 40mg a day of DHA. Admittedly the dosage is higher on the fish oil, but it's also got a noticable amount of EPA in it. Givent that going from 40mg DHA alone to 150mg DHA + 100mg EPA made a big difference, I find it hard to believe that DHA alone is the important piece.
Monday, October 27, 2008
A quick update...
Ok, it's been *way* too long.. sometimes life just gets busy..
In any event, the three of us have been fighting colds for the past week or two. At this point Ella's pretty much over it, and me and mentalmother are on the down-swing of it.
In other recent progress, Ella started standing up on her own, without using anything to pull up on, a little over a week ago. At first it was rare unless you specifically asked her to do it, but she's now doing it quite regularly on her own as a way to get up to standing. Previously she'd have to crawl over to something to hold onto to either pull (tall item) or push (short item) up on.
She's also continuing to develop her signs, and they're now coming fast enough I'm sure I've missed documenting some of them. But she's up to 52 I've documented, and who knows how many more she has. Back in august she had 15 that I posted as a list. Here's her current signs, in more-or-less the order she learned them:
Eat, More, Milk, Light, finished, Dog, Open, Book, Shoes, Daddy,Music, Hug, bird, Drink, cracker, cereal, play, cheese, on ,wash hands, brush teeth, potty, please, sorry, cookie, bath, flower, thank you, time (used to request signing time videos), swing, tree, grapes, slow, car, motorcycle, clothes, silly, rock, game, train, boat, ice cream, socks, cold, like, blanket, hat, excused, break (this one she invented her own sign, and was not taught the ASL version), bed, baby.
That's not a huge vocabulary, but it's enough to express a lot of basic needs and interests.
Anyway, I best get some sleep. Hope you're all well.
In any event, the three of us have been fighting colds for the past week or two. At this point Ella's pretty much over it, and me and mentalmother are on the down-swing of it.
In other recent progress, Ella started standing up on her own, without using anything to pull up on, a little over a week ago. At first it was rare unless you specifically asked her to do it, but she's now doing it quite regularly on her own as a way to get up to standing. Previously she'd have to crawl over to something to hold onto to either pull (tall item) or push (short item) up on.
She's also continuing to develop her signs, and they're now coming fast enough I'm sure I've missed documenting some of them. But she's up to 52 I've documented, and who knows how many more she has. Back in august she had 15 that I posted as a list. Here's her current signs, in more-or-less the order she learned them:
Eat, More, Milk, Light, finished, Dog, Open, Book, Shoes, Daddy,Music, Hug, bird, Drink, cracker, cereal, play, cheese, on ,wash hands, brush teeth, potty, please, sorry, cookie, bath, flower, thank you, time (used to request signing time videos), swing, tree, grapes, slow, car, motorcycle, clothes, silly, rock, game, train, boat, ice cream, socks, cold, like, blanket, hat, excused, break (this one she invented her own sign, and was not taught the ASL version), bed, baby.
That's not a huge vocabulary, but it's enough to express a lot of basic needs and interests.
Anyway, I best get some sleep. Hope you're all well.
Monday, October 6, 2008
A weekend of Ella fun.
A while ago, a friend had recommended Dutch Wonderland as a good place to take a young child after he took his daughter there. This weekend, we decided to take a long weekend and go up to Lancaster, making Dutch Wonderland one of our stops.
The amusement park was quite good. Ella was only able to ride the smallest group of rides, but there were quite a few for her, and she had a good time on them. She particularly enjoyed a "VR" ride, that was essentially a small movie theater in a bus-shaped capsule that rocked wildly on hydraulics. She laughed hysterically the whole time.
During our trip, we chose to stay at the Willow Valley Resort. This was a really nice place to stay too, and is very child-friendly. The resort has a indoor pool complex that's a lot like a small water park and Ella had a great time there. A lot of the water was shallow enough Ella could walk around in it. Walking in water threw her off for a little bit, but she quickly got the hang of it. We wound up getting a package plan that included breakfast and dinner at the resort. The breakfast smorgasbord is decent, but the dinner one generally left a lot to be desired. We actually wound up using one of our dinners as credit towards their Sunday brunch instead, and that was really very good, bordering on excellent which is really surprising in a buffet-style setup. It was really a day-and-night scenario with no comparison at all.
We wound up staying 3 nights, which was probably more than we needed, but it let us take our time and enjoy ourselves. I think next time we'll go for a shorter stay, and avoid the in-house dinners, but it's certainly worth doing again sometime later on.
The amusement park was quite good. Ella was only able to ride the smallest group of rides, but there were quite a few for her, and she had a good time on them. She particularly enjoyed a "VR" ride, that was essentially a small movie theater in a bus-shaped capsule that rocked wildly on hydraulics. She laughed hysterically the whole time.
During our trip, we chose to stay at the Willow Valley Resort. This was a really nice place to stay too, and is very child-friendly. The resort has a indoor pool complex that's a lot like a small water park and Ella had a great time there. A lot of the water was shallow enough Ella could walk around in it. Walking in water threw her off for a little bit, but she quickly got the hang of it. We wound up getting a package plan that included breakfast and dinner at the resort. The breakfast smorgasbord is decent, but the dinner one generally left a lot to be desired. We actually wound up using one of our dinners as credit towards their Sunday brunch instead, and that was really very good, bordering on excellent which is really surprising in a buffet-style setup. It was really a day-and-night scenario with no comparison at all.
We wound up staying 3 nights, which was probably more than we needed, but it let us take our time and enjoy ourselves. I think next time we'll go for a shorter stay, and avoid the in-house dinners, but it's certainly worth doing again sometime later on.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fun at a wedding
This past weekend was my cousin's wedding, and we went, taking Ella with us. The rehearsal dinner turned out to be a blast for Ella. One of my other cousins has a 4 year old daughter, who was dressed in a bright-pink frilly tutu type dress. Ella thought this was the greatest thing ever, and proceeded to spend most of evening running following her and laughing her head off. When Ella would catch up, the other girl would turn around and poke Ella in the cheeks. This caused Ella to stick out her tongue and laugh even harder.
It was really great to see Ella having such a good time running around and interacting with other children.
Ella has also recently started walking around in grass without having her hand held. Since the surface is uneven this is a bit more difficult for her, and she's been resistant to doing so. However, by Saturday she was chasing her cousin Jake around the yard of the church.
On the language front, Ella is now up to34 signs. The 17 new signs ella has learned since August 12th are: cheese, on, wash hands, brush teeth, potty, please, sorry, cookie, bath, duck, flower, thank you, time, swing, tree, grapes, and slow. So, Ella has doubled her signs in a month and 10 days.. not too shabby.
Ella is also taking much better to the toddler bed. She finally took a nap in the bed. For a while she wasn't napping, then she started napping on the floor in her room, and now she's napping in the bed.
It was really great to see Ella having such a good time running around and interacting with other children.
Ella has also recently started walking around in grass without having her hand held. Since the surface is uneven this is a bit more difficult for her, and she's been resistant to doing so. However, by Saturday she was chasing her cousin Jake around the yard of the church.
On the language front, Ella is now up to34 signs. The 17 new signs ella has learned since August 12th are: cheese, on, wash hands, brush teeth, potty, please, sorry, cookie, bath, duck, flower, thank you, time, swing, tree, grapes, and slow. So, Ella has doubled her signs in a month and 10 days.. not too shabby.
Ella is also taking much better to the toddler bed. She finally took a nap in the bed. For a while she wasn't napping, then she started napping on the floor in her room, and now she's napping in the bed.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Toddler bed, signs, etc
Ella did something a little different last night. After we put her in bed and left the room, she stood up in bed and started screaming her head off. Since this was very out of the ordinary and she was completely hysterical, we went in and calmed her down.
After some crackers, water, and more book reading, we put her down again and left the room. Almost immediately she stood up and started screaming again. This time however, she got back down, went to the side of her bed and got out. From there she walked over to her door, touched it, walked back and got back in bed. Then she stopped crying.
Yesterday at her naptime was the first time Ella had gotten out of bed with nobody watching. Apparently she just wanted to prove to herself she could do it again.
In other news, she's up to 27 signs now, and one of her newer signs is "potty", and she's starting to occasionally use the sign to request to use the potty.
She's also starting to be more responsive to our attempts to shape her vocalizations, and I managed to get her to say "duck" last night. This brings her up to 4 spoken words: bubuh (bubble), ella, dada, and duck. However we haven't heard her say bubble in a couple weeks, so she's really only using 3 at the moment.
Regardess, she communicates her needs to us fairly well using the signs, and she's actually very receptive to our requests. Of course, she's two so she might just do what we ask for 2 seconds and then go back to whatever she was doing before, but she nearly always follows simple directions when you ask.
After some crackers, water, and more book reading, we put her down again and left the room. Almost immediately she stood up and started screaming again. This time however, she got back down, went to the side of her bed and got out. From there she walked over to her door, touched it, walked back and got back in bed. Then she stopped crying.
Yesterday at her naptime was the first time Ella had gotten out of bed with nobody watching. Apparently she just wanted to prove to herself she could do it again.
In other news, she's up to 27 signs now, and one of her newer signs is "potty", and she's starting to occasionally use the sign to request to use the potty.
She's also starting to be more responsive to our attempts to shape her vocalizations, and I managed to get her to say "duck" last night. This brings her up to 4 spoken words: bubuh (bubble), ella, dada, and duck. However we haven't heard her say bubble in a couple weeks, so she's really only using 3 at the moment.
Regardess, she communicates her needs to us fairly well using the signs, and she's actually very receptive to our requests. Of course, she's two so she might just do what we ask for 2 seconds and then go back to whatever she was doing before, but she nearly always follows simple directions when you ask.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Toddler bed follow-up.
Well, Ella has taken fairly well to the toddler bed. The first couple nights, she fell out once or twice. Since the bed is so low and we put pillows along side, this didn't really bother her and she just snoozed on the floor till I came in and put her back.
The only "hitch" of the transition was that up until Monday she *refused* to nap in the bed and would cry hysterically if left in the bed at naptime, so we had a couple napless days. However, that passed and now she naps in the bed without fussing about it.
Other than that, things are going well here. This morning we tried Ella in jeans for the first time since she started walking, and the reduced mobility resulted in several falls while trying to run around target. We spent the middle of the day indoors as tropical storm Hanna blew through, but it didn't really do much here but rain and blow down some small branches.
Anyway, I hope you're all well.
Matt
The only "hitch" of the transition was that up until Monday she *refused* to nap in the bed and would cry hysterically if left in the bed at naptime, so we had a couple napless days. However, that passed and now she naps in the bed without fussing about it.
Other than that, things are going well here. This morning we tried Ella in jeans for the first time since she started walking, and the reduced mobility resulted in several falls while trying to run around target. We spent the middle of the day indoors as tropical storm Hanna blew through, but it didn't really do much here but rain and blow down some small branches.
Anyway, I hope you're all well.
Matt
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Toddler bed...
Well, tonight is Ella's first night sleeping in a toddler bed instead of a crib.
We tried to get her to nap in it this afternoon, and she got scared of it, so no nap today. However, at the moment she's actually asleep in the bed. We'll see what happens in the middle of the night :)
We tried to get her to nap in it this afternoon, and she got scared of it, so no nap today. However, at the moment she's actually asleep in the bed. We'll see what happens in the middle of the night :)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
More signs, etc.
since my last post, Ella has added 4 more signs: cheese, on, wash hands, brush teeth.
In other news, while we're not yet working on potty training yet, we have been working on familiarizing Ella with it. At this point she doesn't request to use it, but when she's on it, she knows what it's for and will use it if she has to. This will hopefully make things a lot easier later on.
Ella's also had a lot of instances of waking up in the middle of the night over the past couple of weeks. We may wind up having to adjust her sleep schedule, because after some research, it looks like she's in bed for more hours per day than the average child her age needs.
In other news, while we're not yet working on potty training yet, we have been working on familiarizing Ella with it. At this point she doesn't request to use it, but when she's on it, she knows what it's for and will use it if she has to. This will hopefully make things a lot easier later on.
Ella's also had a lot of instances of waking up in the middle of the night over the past couple of weeks. We may wind up having to adjust her sleep schedule, because after some research, it looks like she's in bed for more hours per day than the average child her age needs.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ella's signs..
Well, Ella has 2 new signs today, cereal and dog.
Actually, they're not entirely new signs today, but as of today we now know their meaning.
Ella's first version of a sign can be pretty deformed from the proper sign, so they're tough to correlate with a meaning unless she uses them in the right context. She also doesn't tend to start using them right away in response to being taught them. They tend to lay dormant and then sometime later she'll just randomly start using the sign. It could be hours, days or weeks since we last tried to teach her that sign or she saw a video containing it. (Ella does have a good collection of signing time videos, and has learned several of her signs from them. The videos really are quite good and I highly recommend them to parents who want to teach their child sign.) .
I also realized I've never put up a "list" of all of Ella's signs, so here they are:
Bird, Book, Cereal, Cracker, Daddy, Dog, Drink, Eat, Finished, Hug, Light, Milk, More, Music, Open, Play, and Shoes.
She also has a few common gestures that I'm not sure if they're other signs, or just things that are fun. We'll see.
Actually, they're not entirely new signs today, but as of today we now know their meaning.
Ella's first version of a sign can be pretty deformed from the proper sign, so they're tough to correlate with a meaning unless she uses them in the right context. She also doesn't tend to start using them right away in response to being taught them. They tend to lay dormant and then sometime later she'll just randomly start using the sign. It could be hours, days or weeks since we last tried to teach her that sign or she saw a video containing it. (Ella does have a good collection of signing time videos, and has learned several of her signs from them. The videos really are quite good and I highly recommend them to parents who want to teach their child sign.) .
I also realized I've never put up a "list" of all of Ella's signs, so here they are:
Bird, Book, Cereal, Cracker, Daddy, Dog, Drink, Eat, Finished, Hug, Light, Milk, More, Music, Open, Play, and Shoes.
She also has a few common gestures that I'm not sure if they're other signs, or just things that are fun. We'll see.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
More walking, signs, etc.
First, a brief progress update.
Ella walked on her own in the yard for the first time today. She struggled a bit walking up the gentle slope, but seemed to enjoy it.
She also used a new sign today, completely without prompting. I was feeding her lunch, and I started off with a few cracker pieces. After those were gone I gave her veggies, cheese, grapes, etc. About halfway through all this, she spontaneously signed "cracker" at me, not quite perfectly, but quite close. So, I gave her more crackers, showed her the correct sign and she echoed it properly while chewing away happily.
After that was gone, I asked her if she wanted "more cracker", and she signed both words at me. This is the first time Ella's used a two-word phrase.
Not bad for one day.
Finally, something unrelated to Ella but made a rather odd twist to my day
If you encounter one of these (saddleback) caterpillars, don't touch it. I brushed against one today and I can tell you first hand they hurt quite a bit. Very much like a good solid bee sting where they've had time to inject lots of venom. I used the scotch tape trick, washed, and used meat tenderizer to extract the venom. After all that my arm hurt for about 4 hours, and still has a mild tingling sensation 8 hours later.
Leave it to me to find a caterpillar that actually has venomous stings. Apparently that one is quite potent as stinging catepillars go, but there's one that's clearly more potent (the puss caterpillar, and it can be found in Maryland too.)
Ella walked on her own in the yard for the first time today. She struggled a bit walking up the gentle slope, but seemed to enjoy it.
She also used a new sign today, completely without prompting. I was feeding her lunch, and I started off with a few cracker pieces. After those were gone I gave her veggies, cheese, grapes, etc. About halfway through all this, she spontaneously signed "cracker" at me, not quite perfectly, but quite close. So, I gave her more crackers, showed her the correct sign and she echoed it properly while chewing away happily.
After that was gone, I asked her if she wanted "more cracker", and she signed both words at me. This is the first time Ella's used a two-word phrase.
Not bad for one day.
Finally, something unrelated to Ella but made a rather odd twist to my day
If you encounter one of these (saddleback) caterpillars, don't touch it. I brushed against one today and I can tell you first hand they hurt quite a bit. Very much like a good solid bee sting where they've had time to inject lots of venom. I used the scotch tape trick, washed, and used meat tenderizer to extract the venom. After all that my arm hurt for about 4 hours, and still has a mild tingling sensation 8 hours later.
Leave it to me to find a caterpillar that actually has venomous stings. Apparently that one is quite potent as stinging catepillars go, but there's one that's clearly more potent (the puss caterpillar, and it can be found in Maryland too.)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Distance record...
Well, Ella set a new distance record today. Twice today she walked from our bedroom to our kitchen without touching anything, about 48 feet, and also did a similar distance at the food court.
Go Ella go!
Go Ella go!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
May I have a word please?
Or, well, two actually.
Ella now has two verbalized words! She's finally speaking!
Her first word is "buhbuh", for bubble. Her second word is her own name, Ella, although it sometimes comes out "eya" or "lala". This is a very good thing, and on top of it, Ella has been engaging in a fair amount of imitative behavior lately, which hopefully means we'll be able to teach her more.
We're not really sure what has brought all this progress on, it could be that she was just ready, or it could be some of the changes we've made lately in therapy or diet. But whatever it is, we're going to keep doing it.
One thing we changed in mid June was we started giving Ella a highly purified cod liver oil supplement. Admittedly the best study (Oxford-Durham) I previously found suggested there are no motor benefits, only behavioral. However at least one study that wasn't as well controlled (Stordy 1997, summarized by Richardson) suggests significant motor benefits.
Thus far we've been keeping the dose low, 1/4 tsp a day providing 155mg DHA, and 102mg EPA. Cod liver oil can cause problems with too much Vitamin A, but this dosage is under 20% of her daily vitamin A and has only traces of Vitamin D. Needless to say, it certainly doesn't seem to be hurting, and differs from most of the Omega3's Ella's gotten so far in popular supplemented kids foods which tend to only contain DHA.
Ella now has two verbalized words! She's finally speaking!
Her first word is "buhbuh", for bubble. Her second word is her own name, Ella, although it sometimes comes out "eya" or "lala". This is a very good thing, and on top of it, Ella has been engaging in a fair amount of imitative behavior lately, which hopefully means we'll be able to teach her more.
We're not really sure what has brought all this progress on, it could be that she was just ready, or it could be some of the changes we've made lately in therapy or diet. But whatever it is, we're going to keep doing it.
One thing we changed in mid June was we started giving Ella a highly purified cod liver oil supplement. Admittedly the best study (Oxford-Durham) I previously found suggested there are no motor benefits, only behavioral. However at least one study that wasn't as well controlled (Stordy 1997, summarized by Richardson) suggests significant motor benefits.
Thus far we've been keeping the dose low, 1/4 tsp a day providing 155mg DHA, and 102mg EPA. Cod liver oil can cause problems with too much Vitamin A, but this dosage is under 20% of her daily vitamin A and has only traces of Vitamin D. Needless to say, it certainly doesn't seem to be hurting, and differs from most of the Omega3's Ella's gotten so far in popular supplemented kids foods which tend to only contain DHA.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Developmental Pediatrician, round 2..
Today, Ella went to see the developmental pediatrician from UMMC. This is essentially the 6-month follow-up to the previous visit. However, this time Ella saw a different doctor, as the previous has moved on to work for a county government. Actually, she wound up seeing two doctors, as they were running quite behind when they finally got to us and wanted to team up to make the testing parts go faster.
In general, this visit wasn't a whole lot different from the last. One doctor interviewed us while the other gave her a developmental assessment, using the CAT/CLAMS test pair, which showed her to be about 25% delayed (18 months). This is a bit different from what the county school system came up with (12 to 15 months, with one area at 18 months), but they use a different test (ELAP), and the past two weeks have shown a LOT of progress for Ella.
After the developmental assessment, they gave her a physical examination. During this they tested her reflexes noted her muscle tone was slightly low, but not of any great concern. This also matches up with the previous observations of Ella's physical therapist. They examined her eyes, inner ears, mouth, teeth and throat for abnormalities and found none. They also made some observations of Ella's facial and body features and compared them against ours looking for signs of genetic deviation. Ella has a few "off average" features, but she comes by most of them honestly (like my smallish mouth and long toes).
After all that we spent some time talking. They again said there were no signs of autism, just the motor problems we already know about. They said they could refer us to a geneticist, but at this point the only reason to do so would be to find causality (with almost no likelihood of finding anything of therapeutic value) and therefore didn't recommend it. While that might be interesting to know, I tend to agree with them it is not worth subjecting Ella to more tests for something that's merely interesting.
They also suggested a form of speech therapy that works well for children with motor disorders (PROMPT), but after some research, I think our SLP is using some PROMPT techniques.
Finally, they suggested we set up another visit in 6 months to continue to track her progress, this time at a different center as they might want to bring in some other experts.
So, that was basically what happened there.
In general, this visit wasn't a whole lot different from the last. One doctor interviewed us while the other gave her a developmental assessment, using the CAT/CLAMS test pair, which showed her to be about 25% delayed (18 months). This is a bit different from what the county school system came up with (12 to 15 months, with one area at 18 months), but they use a different test (ELAP), and the past two weeks have shown a LOT of progress for Ella.
After the developmental assessment, they gave her a physical examination. During this they tested her reflexes noted her muscle tone was slightly low, but not of any great concern. This also matches up with the previous observations of Ella's physical therapist. They examined her eyes, inner ears, mouth, teeth and throat for abnormalities and found none. They also made some observations of Ella's facial and body features and compared them against ours looking for signs of genetic deviation. Ella has a few "off average" features, but she comes by most of them honestly (like my smallish mouth and long toes).
After all that we spent some time talking. They again said there were no signs of autism, just the motor problems we already know about. They said they could refer us to a geneticist, but at this point the only reason to do so would be to find causality (with almost no likelihood of finding anything of therapeutic value) and therefore didn't recommend it. While that might be interesting to know, I tend to agree with them it is not worth subjecting Ella to more tests for something that's merely interesting.
They also suggested a form of speech therapy that works well for children with motor disorders (PROMPT), but after some research, I think our SLP is using some PROMPT techniques.
Finally, they suggested we set up another visit in 6 months to continue to track her progress, this time at a different center as they might want to bring in some other experts.
So, that was basically what happened there.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Revised Therapy services..
Ok, I'm posting a lot lately, but since Ella turned 2, a lot of her specialists are having their annual reviews or follow-ups.
In any event, the Howard County Infants and Toddlers program which handles the bulk of Ella's therapy recently did their re-evaluation of Ella's progress and planned new services.
Previously at 1 year old, Ella was 50% (6 months equivalent) delayed in gross motor, and 25% delayed in communication (9 months equivalent). During the Evaluations in June she was 35% delayed in gross motor (15 months equivalent of 23) and 45% delayed in communication (12 months equivalent of 22). Those numbers are slightly skewed, as the ELAP really doesn't count use of sign language as expressive vocabulary. However, it's still clear that Ella's area of greatest need is communication. It's even more clear when you account for the gross motor progress ella has made since the evaluation.
In light of that, at the end of August Ella is being switched to a different Special Educator that has a lighter case load and can spend more time on her. This will likely result in Ella getting two special educator visits per week instead of one. This is a good thing, as the Special Educator primarily works with us on activities to increase imitation and use of sounds to express herself. The rest of her team is going to remain the same (she also has a Physical Therapist, Occupational therapist, Speech Pathologist).
In any event, the Howard County Infants and Toddlers program which handles the bulk of Ella's therapy recently did their re-evaluation of Ella's progress and planned new services.
Previously at 1 year old, Ella was 50% (6 months equivalent) delayed in gross motor, and 25% delayed in communication (9 months equivalent). During the Evaluations in June she was 35% delayed in gross motor (15 months equivalent of 23) and 45% delayed in communication (12 months equivalent of 22). Those numbers are slightly skewed, as the ELAP really doesn't count use of sign language as expressive vocabulary. However, it's still clear that Ella's area of greatest need is communication. It's even more clear when you account for the gross motor progress ella has made since the evaluation.
In light of that, at the end of August Ella is being switched to a different Special Educator that has a lighter case load and can spend more time on her. This will likely result in Ella getting two special educator visits per week instead of one. This is a good thing, as the Special Educator primarily works with us on activities to increase imitation and use of sounds to express herself. The rest of her team is going to remain the same (she also has a Physical Therapist, Occupational therapist, Speech Pathologist).
Cardiologist visit...
Ok, I'm actually backfilling news from last Friday, July 25th.
Ella went and saw her cardiologist to check on her PDA with an echocardiogram. This is going reasonably well, but the opening is now larger than expected. It's not causing her any harm, but they're now expecting they will eventually have to close it (via a catheter type procedure). However since it is still fairly small and not causing her any problems, they're going to wait and check on it again when she turns 3.
The cardiologist also told us that they'd be able to see any signs of trouble on the echo long before we'd see any physical symptoms. Apparently the first sign is enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart, which Ella isn't showing in the echo. They also did an EKG and they did not note any irregularities in heart rhythm (another sign), and we've not observed her being unusually short of breath (the first sign we'd be able to see).
Ella went and saw her cardiologist to check on her PDA with an echocardiogram. This is going reasonably well, but the opening is now larger than expected. It's not causing her any harm, but they're now expecting they will eventually have to close it (via a catheter type procedure). However since it is still fairly small and not causing her any problems, they're going to wait and check on it again when she turns 3.
The cardiologist also told us that they'd be able to see any signs of trouble on the echo long before we'd see any physical symptoms. Apparently the first sign is enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart, which Ella isn't showing in the echo. They also did an EKG and they did not note any irregularities in heart rhythm (another sign), and we've not observed her being unusually short of breath (the first sign we'd be able to see).
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
More walking..
In the past week or so Ella has continued to become more outgoing about walking and demonstrating more skill at it than ever before. This is good because for a while she had regressed, at least in what she was willing to do, but as of today she matched her previous distance record. (down the hallway and around the corner to the bathroom, which she last did mid march)
She's now walking without merely concentrating on where she's going and quickly walking there. Instead she's looking around or down at her feet, playing with her hands, etc. She's also picked up the cute habit of walking around with her hands clasped behind her back. I need to get a photo of this because it really is very cute :-)
She's also doing a lot of turning without touching things. When she's walking back and forth between me and Karla, more than half the time she'll come up to you and without touching you (or just poking you on the nose with her fingertip) she'll turn around and head back to the other parent. I can also get her to follow me around corners without touching the walls, at least some of the time.
She's now walking without merely concentrating on where she's going and quickly walking there. Instead she's looking around or down at her feet, playing with her hands, etc. She's also picked up the cute habit of walking around with her hands clasped behind her back. I need to get a photo of this because it really is very cute :-)
She's also doing a lot of turning without touching things. When she's walking back and forth between me and Karla, more than half the time she'll come up to you and without touching you (or just poking you on the nose with her fingertip) she'll turn around and head back to the other parent. I can also get her to follow me around corners without touching the walls, at least some of the time.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Recent progress, more walking/babling.
Ok, I've been *really* busy lately, but I really feel bad about not blogging lately.
In any event, Ella is continuing to progress albeit at her own pace.
In the walking department, Ella is starting to show more bravery about walking on her own. She's still not fully walking independently, but without hesitation she'll take 6' "jumps" between objects. She also tends to not be constantly touching things when walking along them, instead walking with a hand hovering near things, but not on them. Our current gross motor work is focused on developing the ability to stand up in the middle of the floor, and improving her climbing.
In the speech department, Ella has been starting to use vocal sounds in relation to items, like "buh" in relation to bubbles. She doesn't do it all the time, but we do see it occasionally.
In any event, we've got a lot of preparation to do for the weekend, so I best head to work so I can head home sooner.
In any event, Ella is continuing to progress albeit at her own pace.
In the walking department, Ella is starting to show more bravery about walking on her own. She's still not fully walking independently, but without hesitation she'll take 6' "jumps" between objects. She also tends to not be constantly touching things when walking along them, instead walking with a hand hovering near things, but not on them. Our current gross motor work is focused on developing the ability to stand up in the middle of the floor, and improving her climbing.
In the speech department, Ella has been starting to use vocal sounds in relation to items, like "buh" in relation to bubbles. She doesn't do it all the time, but we do see it occasionally.
In any event, we've got a lot of preparation to do for the weekend, so I best head to work so I can head home sooner.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Progress, etc..
First, sorry it's been forever since I've posted. Ella's been continuing to make progress, but it's lots of smaller things, with no "big items" since my last posting.
First, her special educator has shifted our activities towards increasing Ella's sensory stimulation. This tactic has been fairly successful. In the past, Ella alternated between making progress in motor and communication, completely stalling progress in one while progressing in the other. With the stimulation exercises, she seems to be progressing in both at the same time.
On the motor front, Ella has progressed in skill, but her courage levels have devolved a bit. Her maximum walking distance is much shorter than it was, only 5 feet or so between parents. However her skills are increasing. She's now readily getting herself down from standing onto her hands-and-feet using inanimate objects to brace herself with one hand. She's also fairly regularly letting go with both hands to play with toys while she stands.
However, she's still not willing to stand without being near a hand-hold, and she's not walking around freely yet.
On the communication front, her sign vocabulary is continuing to grow. She's got 5 signs she uses regularly, and is "close" on another 3 or 4. Her babbling is increasing constantly, but she doesn't yet use any of it with apparent intent.
Anyway, I hope you're all well, and I'll hopefully post again soon.
First, her special educator has shifted our activities towards increasing Ella's sensory stimulation. This tactic has been fairly successful. In the past, Ella alternated between making progress in motor and communication, completely stalling progress in one while progressing in the other. With the stimulation exercises, she seems to be progressing in both at the same time.
On the motor front, Ella has progressed in skill, but her courage levels have devolved a bit. Her maximum walking distance is much shorter than it was, only 5 feet or so between parents. However her skills are increasing. She's now readily getting herself down from standing onto her hands-and-feet using inanimate objects to brace herself with one hand. She's also fairly regularly letting go with both hands to play with toys while she stands.
However, she's still not willing to stand without being near a hand-hold, and she's not walking around freely yet.
On the communication front, her sign vocabulary is continuing to grow. She's got 5 signs she uses regularly, and is "close" on another 3 or 4. Her babbling is increasing constantly, but she doesn't yet use any of it with apparent intent.
Anyway, I hope you're all well, and I'll hopefully post again soon.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
pinball walking....
Ok, so last night I had a big update on Ella's walking progress from Sunday night. This morning I got to see another.
Ella is now "pinballing", free walking back and forth between multiple different pieces of furniture, all in rapid succession with little hesitation. From the chair to the couch, from the couch to the ottocube, to the loveseat, couch, chair, tv, ottocube.. boing, boing, boing..
It's all very cool to watch, and she finds it very enjoyable.
Now we've still got plenty of gross-motor skills to to work on, but this is great progress. She still needs to work on stopping, standing around and starting again. She can already do this, but it is really the rare "I got distracted" thing, not something she'd do intentionally.
Ella is now "pinballing", free walking back and forth between multiple different pieces of furniture, all in rapid succession with little hesitation. From the chair to the couch, from the couch to the ottocube, to the loveseat, couch, chair, tv, ottocube.. boing, boing, boing..
It's all very cool to watch, and she finds it very enjoyable.
Now we've still got plenty of gross-motor skills to to work on, but this is great progress. She still needs to work on stopping, standing around and starting again. She can already do this, but it is really the rare "I got distracted" thing, not something she'd do intentionally.
Monday, March 17, 2008
More walking updates...
Sunday night me and Karla did more "walking practice" aka "baby tennis" with Ella. This is our usual bit where we sit 5 to 10 feet apart, then have Ella walk back and forth between us.
Sunday I tried something a little different. While Ella was coming down the hall at me, I scootched across the floor so that I was around the corner from her. And to my surprise, she rounded the corner just fine and got me. After a few passes of this, I was able to let Ella go at the bathroom, and she'd take off and round the corner heading for mom without even being able to see her when she took off. For us that's a major advancement in walking bravery, which is very important as her primary obstacle to walking seems to be fear of falling or taking chances.
Her total trip was 16 feet, 5 1/2 feet from the bathroom to the corner and another 9 1/2 feet from the corner to mom. So it's also a new distance record.
We were not able to get her to make the return trip blind. I had to lean my head out around the corner to get her to take off, but it's still a major advancement. With a few more goes at it, I'm sure we can get it going.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any walking practice today, I had to head to work in a hurry when I woke up at 8 this morning, and worked past Ella's bedtime. Hopefully we'll get some in tomorrow morning.
Sunday I tried something a little different. While Ella was coming down the hall at me, I scootched across the floor so that I was around the corner from her. And to my surprise, she rounded the corner just fine and got me. After a few passes of this, I was able to let Ella go at the bathroom, and she'd take off and round the corner heading for mom without even being able to see her when she took off. For us that's a major advancement in walking bravery, which is very important as her primary obstacle to walking seems to be fear of falling or taking chances.
Her total trip was 16 feet, 5 1/2 feet from the bathroom to the corner and another 9 1/2 feet from the corner to mom. So it's also a new distance record.
We were not able to get her to make the return trip blind. I had to lean my head out around the corner to get her to take off, but it's still a major advancement. With a few more goes at it, I'm sure we can get it going.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any walking practice today, I had to head to work in a hurry when I woke up at 8 this morning, and worked past Ella's bedtime. Hopefully we'll get some in tomorrow morning.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Flu and emergency room update...
As I mentioned in my last post, late Thursday afternoon we took Ella to the emergency room for hydration. Thursday night was a bit rough, but she's now almost completely better.
Today, two days later, Ella is doing well and no longer shows any major signs of being sick. She had no fever today and didn't vomit at all. She did sleep a lot, ate a little bit less than normal, had one loose stool and a lot of gas, but that's all for signs of sickness.
One thing that did come up in her emergency room visit was her liver enzymes were a little elevated. Nothing serious, and viruses can cause this, but it's a little rare in stomach flu type viruses. In a month we need to take her in for a liver function test, just to make sure there's not an ongoing liver problem.
Today, two days later, Ella is doing well and no longer shows any major signs of being sick. She had no fever today and didn't vomit at all. She did sleep a lot, ate a little bit less than normal, had one loose stool and a lot of gas, but that's all for signs of sickness.
One thing that did come up in her emergency room visit was her liver enzymes were a little elevated. Nothing serious, and viruses can cause this, but it's a little rare in stomach flu type viruses. In a month we need to take her in for a liver function test, just to make sure there's not an ongoing liver problem.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Stomach Flu again..
Well, Ella's sick with the stomach flu again (or rotavirus, or whatever else is going around).. She got violently ill yesterday, and couldn't keep anything down, not even water. By late afternoon she was getting listless and shaky, so after my wife called the pediatrician, we took her to the hospital.
Going to the hospital perked her up because it was a new place, and the doctor who saw her wasn't terribly concerned, but ordered and IV of fluids and a little bloodwork as well. Originally they were just going to IV her for an hour (200ml/hr of sodium chloride 0.9% solution), however after the bloodwork came back they upped that to 2 hours and gave her a dose of zofran for nausea.
So, we spent a bit under 4 hours at the hospital last night (from about 5 to about 9), but it turned out to be a good thing. about 75% of the way through treatment Ella felt much better and started drinking water out of a soda bottle (I got it for my wife, but Ella protested vehemently until we gave it to her). She drank about 8oz and kept it down, which was really good.
She's still quite sick, but has been able to keep fluids and simple foods down now without immediately vomiting. She got sick once today, but that's not so bad.
As for the parents, both of us are feeling a bit run down, but it's hard to tell if that's lack of sleep and stress, or if we're coming down with it too...
Hope you're all staying well...
Going to the hospital perked her up because it was a new place, and the doctor who saw her wasn't terribly concerned, but ordered and IV of fluids and a little bloodwork as well. Originally they were just going to IV her for an hour (200ml/hr of sodium chloride 0.9% solution), however after the bloodwork came back they upped that to 2 hours and gave her a dose of zofran for nausea.
So, we spent a bit under 4 hours at the hospital last night (from about 5 to about 9), but it turned out to be a good thing. about 75% of the way through treatment Ella felt much better and started drinking water out of a soda bottle (I got it for my wife, but Ella protested vehemently until we gave it to her). She drank about 8oz and kept it down, which was really good.
She's still quite sick, but has been able to keep fluids and simple foods down now without immediately vomiting. She got sick once today, but that's not so bad.
As for the parents, both of us are feeling a bit run down, but it's hard to tell if that's lack of sleep and stress, or if we're coming down with it too...
Hope you're all staying well...
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Stair Climbing/crawling..
Our home has no stairs in it, so Ella gets little exposure to them other than concrete steps outside. So, normally she's only given the opportunity to practice walking up them.
Today we were over visiting the 3 B's and Ella successfully crawled up a short 3 step staircase without any help. Generally speaking that's no major achievement, but it was also the first time she'd ever had a chance to try :)
Also, while she was walking around between adults she did a really nice change of direction. She managed to stop, turn 90 degrees, and start going again without wiping out. While it wasn't the most graceful maneuver, it was impressive none the less. In the past she's managed to stop and resume, and she's managed to turn while walking, but she's never turned in place before.
All in all it was a lot of fun, and only mildly chaotic.
Today we were over visiting the 3 B's and Ella successfully crawled up a short 3 step staircase without any help. Generally speaking that's no major achievement, but it was also the first time she'd ever had a chance to try :)
Also, while she was walking around between adults she did a really nice change of direction. She managed to stop, turn 90 degrees, and start going again without wiping out. While it wasn't the most graceful maneuver, it was impressive none the less. In the past she's managed to stop and resume, and she's managed to turn while walking, but she's never turned in place before.
All in all it was a lot of fun, and only mildly chaotic.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Ok, make it 10 feet...
Tonight Ella was in a braver mood, and did 10 feet (17 steps) of free walking, shattering this morning's 7 foot record. And she did it repeatedly, at least 5 round-trip laps.
One other thing I neglected to mention.. She steers herself while walking. She might start off headed at a 45 degree angle to where she's going, and she'll properly curve to get where she wants to go.
This is all very good.
One other thing I neglected to mention.. She steers herself while walking. She might start off headed at a 45 degree angle to where she's going, and she'll properly curve to get where she wants to go.
This is all very good.
Walking progress..
Well, Ella's still not walking completely on her own, but she's definitely making a lot of improvements. Since Yule we've been having her walk back and forth between us for a few steps at a time, then collapse on the receiving parent. For a while, she regressed and got more hesitant, but recently she's made good progress again.
This morning, Ella will walked a bit over 7 feet ) without touching anything to go between us (10-13 of her steps). We were sitting in the hall and our hands were about 8 1/2 feet apart, but I subtracted a bit for reach-out and push-off. She also no longer needs you to "catch" her. You can simply put one hand up (in a "stop" motion), and she'll walk over, reach out with one of her hands, and grab it for stability while she turns herself around. Most of the time she can turn around with no more stability, but occasionally she gets excited, whips around and falls over.. oops.
We still haven't gotten her to do very much in walking towards inanimate objects, but she will take 3 steps or so to get to something she's really interested in (such as her mother's keyboard so she can bang out some music..). We've had no luck at all getting her to push off from inanimate objects, although we have gotten her to use one of our knees as a push off instead of our hands.
This morning, Ella will walked a bit over 7 feet ) without touching anything to go between us (10-13 of her steps). We were sitting in the hall and our hands were about 8 1/2 feet apart, but I subtracted a bit for reach-out and push-off. She also no longer needs you to "catch" her. You can simply put one hand up (in a "stop" motion), and she'll walk over, reach out with one of her hands, and grab it for stability while she turns herself around. Most of the time she can turn around with no more stability, but occasionally she gets excited, whips around and falls over.. oops.
We still haven't gotten her to do very much in walking towards inanimate objects, but she will take 3 steps or so to get to something she's really interested in (such as her mother's keyboard so she can bang out some music..). We've had no luck at all getting her to push off from inanimate objects, although we have gotten her to use one of our knees as a push off instead of our hands.
Monday, February 4, 2008
The flu and speech therapist...
Well, thinking I was "coming down with" the flu was an understatement.. both me and Karla got hit quite severely by the flu on Saturday night. Although my stomach recovered fully by Monday morning, I was still a bit sore and weak as my body was still recovering from the abdominal muscle strain, dehydration and fever. As a result, I took today off work to recuperate.
Flu aside, Ella saw a Speech Pathologist this morning for the first time. That was fairly helpful, and we got some feedback on some of the tactics we've been using, and some tips on recognizing some of her attempts at speaking so we can better encourage them.
It was also recommended we take Ella in for an audiological screen. This is a detailed hearing test, and a test with a device called a tympanometer that bounces sound waves off the eardrum and tests the movement of the eardrum by analyzing the reflected sounds.
Ella's hearing appears to be fine because she's got an excellent receptive vocabulary (she can clearly discern over 100 words that we've counted). However, because she keeps pulling on her left ear they want to screen for fluid trapped in her ear. It's probably just a frustration or boredom habit, but it could be a sign of trouble there.
Flu aside, Ella saw a Speech Pathologist this morning for the first time. That was fairly helpful, and we got some feedback on some of the tactics we've been using, and some tips on recognizing some of her attempts at speaking so we can better encourage them.
It was also recommended we take Ella in for an audiological screen. This is a detailed hearing test, and a test with a device called a tympanometer that bounces sound waves off the eardrum and tests the movement of the eardrum by analyzing the reflected sounds.
Ella's hearing appears to be fine because she's got an excellent receptive vocabulary (she can clearly discern over 100 words that we've counted). However, because she keeps pulling on her left ear they want to screen for fluid trapped in her ear. It's probably just a frustration or boredom habit, but it could be a sign of trouble there.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Biting lemons and the flu..
Sorry it's been a bit, but life's been busy. Ella's got the flu, and I seem to be coming down with it too.
As for the Lemons...
Last Weekend, Ella got together with JP and his mother. Among other things, we all went out to dinner at Applebees. While at dinner, JP was eating the lemon out of his mother's tea. Apparently he likes them, and is rather insistent upon having them if they're on the table...
So, I decided to try to give Ella a taste of mine.. lo and behold, she likes them too. She does make reel back and twisted faces right after biting it, but then she opens her mouth back up, leans forward and takes another bite.
However, in some of my recent reading, I found that giving a child strong-tasting foods, such as lemons, Tabasco sauce, etc , is actually a therapy method used in aiding children with speech delays. The idea is the alarming tastes cause them to focus on their mouth more, aiding oral motor development. This is, of course, presuming the child doesn't over-react to them.
So, shout-outs to JP's mom.. thanks for the free speech therapy :)
As for the Lemons...
Last Weekend, Ella got together with JP and his mother. Among other things, we all went out to dinner at Applebees. While at dinner, JP was eating the lemon out of his mother's tea. Apparently he likes them, and is rather insistent upon having them if they're on the table...
So, I decided to try to give Ella a taste of mine.. lo and behold, she likes them too. She does make reel back and twisted faces right after biting it, but then she opens her mouth back up, leans forward and takes another bite.
However, in some of my recent reading, I found that giving a child strong-tasting foods, such as lemons, Tabasco sauce, etc , is actually a therapy method used in aiding children with speech delays. The idea is the alarming tastes cause them to focus on their mouth more, aiding oral motor development. This is, of course, presuming the child doesn't over-react to them.
So, shout-outs to JP's mom.. thanks for the free speech therapy :)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Omega-3's and dyspraxia..
Recently, there's been a lot of attention of how various omega-3 fatty acids, particularly DHA, affect autism. This has also spawned a lot of research into how various omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids affect other disorders, including dyspraxia.
Probably the best study on how fatty acids affect dyspraxia is the Oxford-Durham study from 2005. The study used 117 students with DCD, ages 5-12 in a double-blind random study (no crossover). For 3 months they were given a blend of fish oil (EPA and DHA in a 3:1 ratio) and evening primrose oil (provides GLA, which easily converts to ARA) or a placebo of olive oil. At the end of the study they found several improvements cognitive learning rate and behavior, but no motor improvements relative to the placebo group.
So, omega-3's aren't a magic arrow for the motor problems of DCD. That said, there are several DHA supplemented baby foods Ella still strongly enjoys, so her typical daily diet does contain 40mg of DHA and 8-40mg of EPA. (none of the products label their EPA content, but are fish oil based and there's always some EPA. How much varies with blending and processing.)
Probably the best study on how fatty acids affect dyspraxia is the Oxford-Durham study from 2005. The study used 117 students with DCD, ages 5-12 in a double-blind random study (no crossover). For 3 months they were given a blend of fish oil (EPA and DHA in a 3:1 ratio) and evening primrose oil (provides GLA, which easily converts to ARA) or a placebo of olive oil. At the end of the study they found several improvements cognitive learning rate and behavior, but no motor improvements relative to the placebo group.
So, omega-3's aren't a magic arrow for the motor problems of DCD. That said, there are several DHA supplemented baby foods Ella still strongly enjoys, so her typical daily diet does contain 40mg of DHA and 8-40mg of EPA. (none of the products label their EPA content, but are fish oil based and there's always some EPA. How much varies with blending and processing.)
Dyspraxia/DCD links...
For those who haven't noticed yet, I added a few links to websites and articles on Developmental Dyspraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Both are nearly synonymous terms for the disorder that Ella appears to have. Dyspraxia is primarily a term used in the UK, and DCD in America, but there is some crossover.
As for the links, In general, I'd say:
If you want an easy to understand overview, read the NCLD article. For the most part it's very down to earth and practical.
If you want a bit more detailed and technical approach, read the wikipedia article.
If you're a medical professional, or want a lengthy discussion, you might find the DCD primer useful. It's primarily targeted at educating pediatricians, and is 5 1/2 pages of useful text. This article is a little on the older side, 1996, but it's still quite good information.
As for the links, In general, I'd say:
If you want an easy to understand overview, read the NCLD article. For the most part it's very down to earth and practical.
If you want a bit more detailed and technical approach, read the wikipedia article.
If you're a medical professional, or want a lengthy discussion, you might find the DCD primer useful. It's primarily targeted at educating pediatricians, and is 5 1/2 pages of useful text. This article is a little on the older side, 1996, but it's still quite good information.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Teething pains...
Well, Ella's on another of her "how many teeth can come in at once" phases. Right now she's got 2 that have broken through the skin a little bit, another 2 that are swelling up to break, and 2 more that might be coming in, but it's hard to tell amidst the chaos.
So, Ella's got a good bit of the "teething grumpies", and it's been messing with her sleep. On Sunday and Monday she woke up for the morning at 4:30am and 4am, respectively.
For the most part it's been settling down a little, but she's still having bursts of "I want this, no that, no, wait, I want to stand and sit, and lay down all at once..." interspersed with sessions of "I want to sit on your lap and have you to read to me for 3 hours straight" and "I want you to walk me around the house in laps for 3 hours straight".
Fortunately, it's not really quite as bad as it sounds, but it's certainly bad enough that I feel sorry for my poor wife who has to try to keep her active and happy all day. (dear, you're the best!)
So, Ella's got a good bit of the "teething grumpies", and it's been messing with her sleep. On Sunday and Monday she woke up for the morning at 4:30am and 4am, respectively.
For the most part it's been settling down a little, but she's still having bursts of "I want this, no that, no, wait, I want to stand and sit, and lay down all at once..." interspersed with sessions of "I want to sit on your lap and have you to read to me for 3 hours straight" and "I want you to walk me around the house in laps for 3 hours straight".
Fortunately, it's not really quite as bad as it sounds, but it's certainly bad enough that I feel sorry for my poor wife who has to try to keep her active and happy all day. (dear, you're the best!)
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Ahh, the holidays have passed..
Yes, I know they passed a while ago, but it feels like they just ended recently because everything else has been so busy trying to "catch up".
In any event, Ella is doing well. Over the holidays her number of signs expanded to 3. She now does her own versions of "more" "finished" and "food/eat". Of course her versions are hardly ASL, but we've learned them.
Ella's independent walking continues to improve. She sometimes will shift directions mid-walk without trouble, and she can go up to 10 steps at a time (although usually it's more like 6) before she stumbles or won't try because it's too far. She's also gained enough confidence that she'll sometimes go to an inanimate object instead of another person. (she knows people will catch her if she falls, so she's more comfortable walking towards a person.)
In any event, I hope you all are doing well, and I hope to see all our local friends and family sometime soon.
In any event, Ella is doing well. Over the holidays her number of signs expanded to 3. She now does her own versions of "more" "finished" and "food/eat". Of course her versions are hardly ASL, but we've learned them.
Ella's independent walking continues to improve. She sometimes will shift directions mid-walk without trouble, and she can go up to 10 steps at a time (although usually it's more like 6) before she stumbles or won't try because it's too far. She's also gained enough confidence that she'll sometimes go to an inanimate object instead of another person. (she knows people will catch her if she falls, so she's more comfortable walking towards a person.)
In any event, I hope you all are doing well, and I hope to see all our local friends and family sometime soon.
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