Andrew's diagnosis

Well, long time no blog. It's because I've been busy, both with photo shoots and with appointments for my children. Anyway, the biggest news right now is that after our 2 day assessment at the clinic last week, it has been determined that Andrew has motor dyspraxia. Motor dyspraxia affects particularly the fine motor skills, and Andrew, while testing high on all other IQ assessments, tested in the first percentile for writing. He is at the level of a 15-30 month old for fine motor skills. Andrew turned five on August 25th. So what the plan of action is is to move forward with weekly Occupational Therapy appointments. They will work on things that Andrew has trouble with (writing in particular, but also buttons, zippers; cutting with scissors).

Dyspraxia affects boys more than girls. Four out of five diagnoses are boys.

They also stated that he has SID (Sensory Integration Disorder) and that there are some issues there, but nothing too serious (we notice that he loves long sleeves and that may just be an "Andrew" thing and certainly nothing that will negatively impact his day-to-day functioning). He fights us when he gets his hair washed, nails clipped, or teeth brush -- so that could be a sensory thing. He has issues with noise -- I.E., when I went to his classroom last year on Dr. Seuss' birthday and we all read books out in the halls of the school -- Andrew covered his ears and said, "it's too noisy, Mom" even though it was really just the noise of a lot of people reading at once. He could not focus.

He is being monitored for ADHD -- but not diagnosed with it at the time. He is also being monitored for dysgraphia, which is the inability to write or the inability to write clearly. OT and time will tell how well he does there. As of right now, he can trace letters, but cannot replicate or write out any letters.

The staff were so helpful and great and I'm very hopeful that Andrew will "fit in" just fine. He already is having a better school year this year than last (I am hereby recommending ANYONE with doubts on whether to send their young child to kindergarten early -- please hold back your summer birthday boys for a year because it will help them so much in the long run) and has many friends he plays age appropriately with. Last year, for comparison, he would only play at the sand/corn table (sensory) and didn't want to do anything else. He also had more outbursts/tantrums last year and this year he's holding it together.

So there you have it. Andrew will not be treated any differently by us as his parents and we hope that he succeeds and finds that one thing that interests him and goes for it. He may not be in sports, but maybe he will be a good writer someday. He's very social and makes everyone around him smile with his charming personality and questions he asks.