OT Update

For those of you that don't know, at Julia's one-year doctor's appointment in February, her pediatrician recommended we have an evaluation done because Julia wasn't pulling up on anything, standing, or pulling herself uo to a sitting position. To get around she was army crawling. She didn't even like swinging, was leary of things like big balls, was clingy in new situations, and couldn't tolerate chunky baby food let alone table food. Julia was evaluated at the end of March by an Occupational Therapist and was diagnosed with sensory defensiveness with her tactile and oral systems. All of these difficulties she was having were explained by her sensory defensiveness difficulties.

Since she started OT, Julia has made a tremendous amount of progress. Andrew and I weren't sure how Julia would respond to the therapy or the at-home exercises, but in the first week she was already starting to pull up on things, standing, pulling herself to a sitting position to play, got up on her hands and knees a couple of times, and was even tolerating more food texture in her mouth. It was amazing!

Now that she has been in OT for over a month, Julia is pulling up on EVERYTHING, standing to play a lot of times, crawling the stairs, cruising around, LOVES swinging, isn't leary of things like big toy balls, will take a couple of steps if you hold her hands, is consistently eating the chunky stage three baby food, and even will put things like puffs and graham crackers in her mouth.

A couple of weeks ago we had a little setback because Julia fell and busted her lip pretty bad and tore the flap of skin that goes from the top of your lip to your gums. Her confidence was shattered, she stopped putting foods like puffs and graham crackers in her mouth, and she wouldn't get herself down from a standing position. In the past week, she has regained her confidence and continues to make progress.

Julia's OT, Andrew, and I are so impressed with her progress and so proud of our little girl! Here are some cute pics of Julia practicing her skills...