Updates on Flynn

Let me start off this one by saying that we do not have a diagnosis, other than your generic "developmental delay". We had Flynn evaluated by a pediatric neurologist, who checked his growth, his reflexes, and then said, "it's probably autism", and wanted to order an EEG and an MRI. He didn't actually do any testing on him. We then looked into getting Flynn tested for autism, and learned that the majority of places that do autism testing do not perform the tests until the children are at least 3 years old. Flynn is 2 years and 4 months. We did find one location that does testing prior to age 3, however the reviews and what they were telling us did not sound good, so we have decided to wait.

Here are some of the new things that Flynn has been doing:

• Pointing more (with books, toys, and once at an animal at the zoo)
• Chatting more (B, D, M)
• Focusing longer (he is really good at getting your attention, and holding your face in place while he investigates)
• Interested in books
• Improvement climbing stairs
• He is responding to commands more. He responds to, "come here", "stop", or if you call his name, he will more likely look at you.

We even got a progress note from his occupational therapist this week:

"Today we practiced: bilateral integration, visual motor, motor planning, hand/upper extremity strength, manual dexterity, upper extremity coordination, and vestibular/proprioceptive input.

Today I: participated and finished my work, used good listening skills.

Flynn was able to tolerate sitting on the platform swing for ~5 minutes during the motor activities for vestibular input. He was able to independently pull apart large pop beads 3 times and able to push them together 1 time, and required physical assist for the other trials. Flynn required physical assistance to imitate vertical lines to improve pre-writing skills. He was able to roll a ball back and forth with a partner with some physical assistance required to improve joint attention and bilateral coordination. Good job, Flynn!"

We are very proud for the progress that Flynn continues to show.