Morgan Kate

So, it's not 100% official. Meaning that the paperwork hasn't been filled out or signed. But I think it's still safe to tell you all that as of last Friday Morgan Kate has been discharged from occupational therapy. Yahoo! She has graduated!

We all knew that Morgan Kate was improving and catching up, but the assessment that our OT completed last week just confirmed things. Our OT assessed MK in the two areas she struggled with - grasp and visual motor integration (VMI). Obviously, grasp is her ability to reach for things and pick them up. She has to pick up blocks and balls and other objects. The OT looks for how easy or how hard it is for her and also looks at finger placement, etc. Bet you all didn't know that there is "technical" way a child should grasp something. Ha. Visual motor integration is her ability to use her hands and movement, or something like that. In this area she had to be able to pull pegs out of a board, pull up puzzle pieces and pull a string towards her in order to get the toy tied to the end of it. When the assessment was all said and done she scored high in both areas. (*Remember her actual age is one year and her adjusted age is 9.5 months.) In the area of grasp she scored 12 months and in the area of VMI she scored 10 months. Both were above her adjusted age! Absolutely no delays with grasp and only a minor delay according to her actual age in VMI. Now that she is crawling that minor delay will improve in no time. While crawling, babies take in a lot of information through their hands - all kinds of tactile things and sensory things. We (me and all of MK's therapists) have decided that right now we want to keep MK crawling so that she can continue to get all of this great information. In the next few weeks we will begin work on walking.

It's funny. I was very hesitant when MK first qualified for OT. I have mentioned this several times. But I really got accustomed to it and accepted it and when we were discharged last week I was hesitant about that. It's like I know she's catching up and improving, but I'm so reluctant to let go of our therapists. However, I know this is the best thing and I couldn't be happier. Just three months ago she wasn't reaching or grabbing or grasping for anything. Nothing. And now she can't keep her hands off of things. I love it!

Next Wednesday we have our speech evaluation. Please say a little prayer!