Momma's Standing Turkey

The day after Thanksgiving, while in New York, Landon, crawls out of the room and pulls himself up to the banister. (I''m running to grab my phone, gotta get this) 

My Turkey is checking things out!!!!

Ummm....yup, I did that!! 

He's checking out the pool scenery...

Maybe he's  thinking, "I wanna go down there"...

A for Applesauce

Landon gets an "A" for AWESOME job during Occupational Therapy today and self-feeding!!!!

THERAPY NOTE

Worked with Landon in the classroom during breakfast and free play. Landon was sitting at the table with his hands in the applesauce. Wiped off his hands and gave him his spoon back. He did hold the spoon with his right hand but did not initiate feeding self. After hand over hand several times, Landon was able to scoop his food and feed himself 4-5 bites on his own. He scooped the food and brought the spoon to his mouth. During playing, positioned him in standing while he engaged with toys on the shelf. He picked up instruments from the basket and shook them. He did not hold onto two instruments at the same time. Positioned him in sitting on the small chair with the cube in front with a panel cause and effect toy. He closed all the panels several times. He communicated consistently by touching OT's hand to indicate that he wanted all the panels to be re-opened multiple times. Landon did great today self feeding and communicating his needs through gestures. Continue with OT goals.

Walk Now for Autism--Team LRG

The day of the walk had finally arrived. And luckily it was a lovely day with perfect weather for walking. The event was amazing; it was such a great experience to be apart of something so common in our very own community. We noticed while fundraising and recruiting for our team how many people are touched by autism. Fortunately, we were blessed to have so many family and friends contribute by donating and/or joining us for the walk.

Team LRG raised over $1100.

Dad & I decided that we will participate yearly in the Autism Speaks Walk!!!

Team LRG - before the walk started...

Take 2 - halfway through...

Landon  literally cruised on through the finish line...

And were DONE - Team LRG!!!!



Team LRG's THANK YOU post via instagram!

Kennedy Krieger - Day 2 of 2

Day 2 arrived and this day was much longer. The first evaluation was assessed by the speech language pathologist and the last evaluation was assessed by the developmental pediatrician.

The speech language evaluation consisted on Landon interacting with the therapist to show how well he communicated. Upon entering this evaluation room, he appeared to act differently than he did on Day 1, but he proceeded with checking his surroundings and moved in-towards the therapist. The activities on this day included more fine finger grasping, self-feeding and how he feeds himself; showing signs and/or gestures to indicate he if wanted more. He also had to show interaction with a play baby and stuffed animals and imitating motions or faces made by the therapist. This evaluation ended with the therapist reviewing her testing scores by the Mullen Scale and sharing some recommendations.

Landon sitting in the evaluation room, awaiting the therapist to return.
 

Landon's favorite part of the day... EATING!! Lunch at Miss Shirley's.
Of course he isn't in picture mode, he's only ready to eat.

Upon our return back to the center after enjoying a nice lunch, Landon was triaged and had a slight physical evaluation before heading in for the last appointment of the day. Finally, we were called...

After a long intensive overview and evaluation assessed by the Dr., we were told there were definite visible red flags of autism. However she proceeded with assuring us all of Landon's delays where associated with the Kleefstra Syndrome. However she did mention this particular rare syndrome was very new to her but according to her research she was very confident there wasn’t a need to diagnose Landon with having autism. She did move forward with offering to continue assisting us with by helping us locate a pediatrician who specialized in rare genetic disorders to avoid any oversights that can be associated by this syndrome. She also requested to see Landon in one year for a follow up.

Dad & I left that appointment with such comfort and ease. We shared with her how we wished we would have come to the KKI sooner, especially considering we had become so frustrated with the back and forth we had experienced with Children's National Medical Center.

As for now, we're awaiting the final report from Kennedy Kriger and referrals for other pediatricians, meanwhile we are pleased knowing what direction we can move forward with continuing plan of care for Landon.

 

 

Kennedy Krieger Visit - Day 1 of 2

The first day consisted of an evaluation performed by an occupation therapist. The occupational therapy evaluation was completed to assess fine motor and gross motor coordination, visual perception and visual motor skills, self-care skills, sensory integration, motor planning and neuromotor skills.Upon entering the room with deemed lighting, filled with a small amount of toys, Landon immediately begin to observe his surroundings. He became engaged as she pulled different toys to his attention. He did activities such as releasing items into horizontal and verticle slots, and/or containers, cup stacking, scribbling on paper with hand over hand direction, and fine finger grasping. Eventually the evaluation was moved from this room to the therapy room where the therapist attempted to place Landon on the swing, which was made of a tire rim and rope, but he appeared to be uncomfortable with this and was removed back onto the floor. We then placed Landon into the ball pit where he immediately showed his interest by laughing out loud. The remainder of the evaluation continued with an electronic questioned based test for Dad and I to answer according to Landon's ability. We finished with the therapist reading and reviewing some of  her scores from the Mullen Scale for Early Learning. And last she voiced some recommendations and told us the conclusion of the evaluation will be based upon the next two evaluations to be done the following day.




Landon playing with his Dad the morning of our visit in the waiting area...

Landon having fun in the ball pit...