[Tammi5143]

Hi Everyone!

Well, with all of the support that is out here on this forum, I thought I would ask for some of your advice, suggestions, and/or comments.

Yesterday, Friday, our 19-month old foster daughter "L" came to us. She is very, very sweet. However, she does have some delays, and I am trying to pin-point them (yes, I am making a list) and I wanted to see if anyone else has fostered/adopted a child with any of these symptoms:

• She crawls to get around - or basically, scoots around on her knees, hopping to get from point to point.
• She does not walk. (She is only taking about 3-5 steps and then down she goes.) (We bought her one of those walk-behind walkers and are trying to work with her with that.)
• She does not talk. Although today, she did say "ma".
• She does not look you directly in the eye - it is as if she is looking at you, but past you. And her eyes tend to roll upwards when she is trying to focus in.
• She has slight shakes to her body. Not all the time - various times during the day, but they do not last long.
• She does not feed herself - I have to spoon feed her. She does pick up food that is put on her tray with her fingers, so that is good! But when she goes to put the food in her mouth, it seems that she is not sure where the food is to go and it kind of goes around the mouth, before actually getting in there.

She is not classified, as of yet, as SHP. I am going to try to help make that determination. If she does need SHP (after taking her to the specialists, etc.), then I will let my resource worker know and we will make the correct placement at that time.

I don't have any specifics concerning her past 19-months. Not sure if she was full-term, drug exposed, etc., etc. I am working on that information, so I at least have that to give to my pediatrician so he can refer me accordingly. I think she basically spent time in a walker (from the positioning that she keeps her legs in), and in front of the TV (you should see how she jolts her head when the TV is turned on!). So, maybe no stimulation/interaction regarding play, etc.

I am not sure if part of this is psychological and/or environmental, or a little bit of both. I think it may be a little of both from what I am seeing. I am starting to do research on the internet regarding different things (autism, etc.), to see what I can come up with.

She is such a sweet, happy child. She has the cutest laugh, and cutest smile! And she does respond to my other children (all 4 of them). She goes down easily at night for bedtime, and takes a nap during the day, and I hardly ever hear her cry (I am not sure if this is a good thing for a 19-month old if you know what I mean).

I will be taking her to our pediatrician w/in the next few weeks - once I get her HMO switched over (thank goodness for a contact at DYFS to get her HMO switched over asap, and she will back date it for 9/1 and not 10/1). Once I get her to the pediatrician, then I can get her to other specialists (orthopedic to check out her legs and hips, etc.)

Can anyone offer any insight or direction that I should take?
Has any one ever had a child that had any of these symptoms and what was the diagnosis?

Any advice or websites that anyone can refer me to would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks much!

Tammi

[Luke+Dawn]

Please contact your county's Early Intervention Services for an evaluation. It sounds like there is occupational and developmental delays that need to be addressed.

[leenab]

Hi Tammi,
Forgot to tell you, you may want to check out the special needs forum here, under special needs adoptions. They've been very helpful to me. And the parents have a ton of experience with kids with diffent dxs.

It's such a difficult to task to figure out what's going on. I know R didn't look us in the eye for a few months. And it took J about 10 days to actually look at us in the eyes. Part of the whole attachment/adjustment cycle. So she may look at you, or it may be a medical/psych issue.

Let me know if you need anything,
Leena

[RandomReality]

Bug the caseworkers till they give you more information about her. They shouldn't expect you to guess. She has some issues and you need to know what they are. All the information about her is in a file. All they need to do is READ it and tell you. Bug them till they do so you are prepared for her visit to the pediatrician. Good luck with her. She sounds like a sweetie.

[Dawn-NJ]

I would also advice you to call your county's Early Intervention program. They do not need any medical insurance or medicaid card, all children in the county that need services get them. But the red tape and amount of calls necessary to get services can be a pain at times. She should be getting physical and some ocupational therapy.
After you get the medical coverage you can get your Social worker to recomend a place for a full evaluation for mental health.

[Tammi5143]

Thank you to everyone who offered advice and suggestions regarding our foster daughter. Believe me, this has been an experience .... I have been keeping a detailed log of her progress (and yes, she has made progress in the 10+ days that she has been with us), anything that appears out of the ordinary, etc., etc. I have e-mailed her worker w/ my comments and concerns. We shall see what happens.

I also reached out for Early Intervention in Middlesex County and asked for the case to be tranferred to Warren County. She was receiving services 2x/week. So this ball is already rolling, and hopefully, without too much of a delay.

I have her pediatrician appointment scheduled for later this month and I will note all of my concerns at that visit. Hopefully, I will have more info regarding her first 19 months of life by the time I go to that appt. I do know that I want to take her to a pediatric orthopedist to check her hips (when she walks, she walks with a "cowboy" type walk) and also maybe to a pediatric neurologist (eyes rolling into the back of her head several times a day). I am not sure if she is rolling her eyes to the back of her head because SHE CAN or if she is doing it because there is some type of neurological problem. We will get to the bottom of this at some point.

Other than that we are doing okay. Having 5 back in the house is an adjustment, but we are doing good.

Thanks, again!