Thursday, July 07, 2011

the one where i shamelessly go on and on about my amazing child

ryan's final NICU follow-up (30 month adjusted) was today. he scored well above his adjusted age at his last (18 month adjusted) appointment, but i figured it would be fun to see how far he's come.
we met with the speech and occupational therapists and they worked with him together. the occupational therapist plays "games" with him, asking him to do things like stack blocks, put puzzles together, and thread a string through blocks. at the same time, the speech therapist is asking him questions about the objects and talking to him about pictures.
he scored at 35 months in occupational and receptive speech (listening) and at 42 months in expressive speech (talking). 42 MONTHS - that's a 3.5 year old, a year older than his actual age. pretty impressive to be a year ahead when you've only got 2.5 years under your belt. the speech therapist said that he would have likely scored higher on the receptive speech but he was more interested in the "games" that the occupational therapist had. :)
the doctor said that we are not only on track to having the biggest preemie ever, but also the smartest. i couldn't agree more! :)
in observing his time with the therapists i noticed that he definitely gets bored when he's not challenged. he was sitting back in his chair with an "are you kidding me" look on his face during a large part of the speech therapy portion. at one point, as they were asking him to name the color of specific crayons, he started giving intentional wrong answers and then correcting himself when the therapist moved on without doing so. apparently he's a smartass in addition to being a smart little dude. but it gives me insight into what we need to keep in mind when school starts.
i couldn't be more proud of my little man. he was on his best behavior, used his manners, and obviously cooperated for the therapists. ryan has kicked prematurity's ass. i wish i could take credit for his growth and development, but i honestly think it is mostly him. he's a strong, independent, strong-willed person. he has come so far and this only goes to show that the sky is the limit.
congratulations ryan on your NICU follow-up graduation!

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