The Beginning...

I contacted Early Intervention, and two days ago they came to my house to evaluate Mya. She performed like a show pony. They asked me about her medical history and when she hit certain milestones. She showed them her tricks and her new walking skill. She played games, engaged and laughed. She was herself. She was shy at the beginning and then, she took a real interest in one therapist, buddying up to her to get some extra playtime. Aside from her not responding to me when I called her name (hello----she’s a Diva, she only does that when she is interested in talking to you), I thought the appointment went swimmingly well. When they finished the evaluation and they were doing their calculations I started to feel a little like I may have wasted their time, when the therapist finished what she was doing and said, “Well, the good news is….” [The rest of the sentence filled me with more emotions than I expected.] “Mya qualifies for the program.” I laughed a bit. I felt light. I felt like someone had finally heard my concern. And then I felt a little water in my eye, realizing that this meant that my worrying was for something and there is an “issue.”

They went on to explain to me that she had been measured as advanced in the Social/Emotional & Self-Care category, things that were pretty obvious to those who knew Mya. She tested average in two more categories and she was delayed in gross motor skills & communicative expression, also pretty evident in our daily lives. They were very upbeat as they explained the next steps, and how they believe the program will help Mya strength her muscles so that she would begin to develop closer to her actual age. They reassured me that I did the right thing by contacting them, and that the pediatrician had let us down by ignoring the issue when Mya wasn’t standing independently at her 15-month appointment and they showed me some ways to adjust the way that we help Mya, so that she is forced to work the correct muscles to stand and walk.

Very excitedly, I absorbed a few different techniques at the evaluation. I showed Angel & we began implementing them immediately. We’ve started to correct her when she sits improperly, and we are working to find a word to signal to her that she needs to change her position. Instead of giving Mya our fingers for her to pull up from a crawl to a stand, we stand behind her, place her hands on the floor so her head is leaning forward, adjust her feet and spot her from her midline as she engages her muscles to lift herself up. [I couldn’t believe my eyes when, within just one day of doing this, at a party she fell on the dance floor, put her hands and head forward, she turned her own feet, engaged her core and stood up on her own! Again, I had tears. It gives me so much hope.]

We are at the very start of this. I’m scared, but who wouldn’t be? We’ve had to develop a thicker skin in the past couple of days and we are struggling ourselves to explain that this isn’t a diagnosis of something being “wrong” with Mya, it’s a course of action to help us help her so that she doesn’t fall behind. She has no cognitive delays. This is just a different path, with more help, that she has to take to make sure her quality of life is what it should be. It doesn’t lessen us as parents, it shows we care enough to bite back on our pride [and fear] and help our daughter, even when those around us don’t agree. She is a whole, beautiful, kind, loving and funny baby, who needs a little hand learning how to use her muscles properly, so that her body can get on track with her development. And we know that she is smart, she is a quick learner, so I have no doubts that she will be improving her muscle tone, as she learns to use them properly with the right help.

Maybe there just aren’t enough words to make it make sense to others. Maybe in the end it doesn’t need to make sense to anyone else because we are her parents, and we are doing what we think is right for her.

In a couple of weeks we will sit down with a few different people and come up with an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP). We’ll talk about the goals that we want Mya to reach and the goals the evaluators want to see and we’ll put them in writing. They will decide what kind of help they think she will benefit from the most, and then a therapist will come to our house a couple of times a week and they will work with us, as we go through our daily routine and will suggest ways to incorporate Mya’s exercises into our everyday lives. I’m looking forward to sharing how this all plays out. And I’m looking forward to looking back and seeing this a just another blip on the first few years of our lives as a family, a small anecdote that the Co-Valedictorian (Ian will be the other, of course!) can share in her College Graduation Speech, where she recounts her small start and the first hurdles she had to overcome, that helped to shape her character.

Mya Girl --- I Love You, Baby!!