Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Weekly Update -- 14 - 20 June 2010

Yay, I'm 180 weeks old today!!

Masinja had an interesting week. He didn't have speech because he had appointment at the Monroe Meyer Institute for his autism screening.

The visit at Monroe Meyer was 4 hours long. It consisted of a meeting with the psychologist, a meeting with the speech therapist, a play session, and then a final meeting to review their findings. We spent an hour with the psychologist and discussed some of Masinja's behaviors as well as his medical history. We spent about half an hour with the speech therapist and discussed Masinja's communication skills as well as his development. During the play session I observed while T.M. went into the play room with Masinja. Two women attempted various pretend play activities with him including playing with cars, dolls, bubbles, blocks, a telephone and having a pretend birthday party. We had a short break before meeting with the psychologist once again to review the findings. Based on the observations of everyone involved in the screening Masinja, was diagnosed with PDD-NOS which stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. Basically, in order to qualify for a diagnosis of Autism a child needs to meet 3 different criteria. Masinja only meets 2 out of the 3 criteria, hence the diagnosis of PDD-NOS. It is sometimes referred to as atypical autism.

During OT this week Masinja worked on more sensory stuff. Once again his therapist put him on the trampoline. He still wasn't impressed with it and pretty much refused to stand so his therapist just let him sit while she bounced. He also rode horsey swing again and loved it. The last sensory skill he worked on involved the playground equipment. He climbed a ladder and slid down a slide. It was a bit difficult for him to climb the ladder since he had never done it before. He loved going down the slide though. There wasn't much time left when he finished all of the sensory stuff so his therapist had him work with easy putty as a means of strengthening his hands. All in all it was a productive session.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

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