EE Update
Because I've put some of the other parts of this mess on here ... I thought I'd do this one too.
Today G had his food evaluation. At D's 15mo appointment G came up again and we were discussing his limited diet and how it might be time to see a food therapist to see if we can get his diet expanded. I hesitated. But the doc sent the referral in and they called me and I made the appointment because due diligence and all that.
That appointment was today.
We saw an occupational therapist, a speech pathologist, a psychologist and a nutritionist. The OT guy said G had no sensory issues. He touched the sticky toy. He touched the smushy toy. He stacked the blocks. He knocked down the blocks. He didn't mind being touched. He was engaging. He was actually pretty charming. To all of these people. It's like he knew he was being evaluated.
Well and he did know. I told him. I prepped him for what would happen.
Anyway so OT clears him. No OT needed unless fine motor skills don't seem to be coming along. I'm 90% confident they will. He seems no different than any other 3yo boy who's learning to write his name.
Nutrition comes in. We do a battery of things. While she's talking to me speech is working with G on eating pudding. On eating crackers. On biting a stick. On swallowing. On a bunch of things. I told him a nice woman (I guessed) was going to help him with eating so he wasn't in the least put off. Again, he was charming to all of them.
But nutrition. We go through his diet. Where we've been. She is impressed I did what I did and do what I do. This validates me in so many ways. She takes his measurements, pulls up his BMI and does some other math to plot him on the chart and to figure out how much he's gained this past year. 8.6grams a day. Normal kids gain 5grams a day so he's catching up beautifully. He's also grown since he was last measured in January, another quarter of an inch. So I'm eager to get him charted at his next check up, see what the pedi has to say.
Psychology went pretty much the same, he's come a long way, looks like bad habits formed from a medical reason, medical reason now under control, let's learn how to eat varied foods.
Which is what I told them. So it's baffling and strange that these medical professionals just parrot back what I say. But I need to give myself credit because I've spent a life dedicated to this issue, and they haven't, and they know that, so they do trust my guidance.
I told psychology, after it was decided he'd do OP, ST/FT twice a week to try to do food chaining to see if we can get him on a more advanced diet, that I was not dedicated to the therapy, and that what I envisioned, was that I would take him for a few visits, be trained so to speak on how to introduce foods and how to deal with refusals and what not and just LEARN and then we would stop going. I was honest with her that part of the challenge I have is convincing G that he is normal, that there is no such thing as "G food" and that there is life outside of chicken nuggets, peanut butter and goldfish.
She agreed with me but honestly what can she do? Another funny moment. Speech told me to read this book called Food Chaining, but then she told me that the author's son had a serious case of EE and I said .... yeah, probably not going to read that. I have to be careful what I put in my head. It stays there and causes me problems.
Coincidentally apparently insurance companies are dropping coverage for speech therapy. After age 3 the school systems have to pay for it so I guess medical insurance felt like they'd just make them? I'm not sure. I don't completely understand why food therapy is done by a speech therapist but there you have it. I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do, I'm fairly confident that it'll get covered as a medical necessity for his EE but if it doesn't ... I may still go to a few sessions then discontinue. His speech is fine. He talks. He moves his mouth in the right (normal? standard? average? I dunno) ways. In fact it was hard to get him to stop talking. Such a social guy.
The nurses / therapists all kept waiting for me to get mad about the insurance piece. I just shrugged. I love my coverage. If they don't cover it I'll figure it out.
The other piece ... G did not fit in with the other kids that were there. Those children had real issues with motor skills and development. Those kids need intensive therapy. That part of this experience has me wondering how far I should pursue this. G can feed himself. He can swallow. It's just a matter of getting him to try new things. And I think that I can get him where he needs to be. I have the cycles to dedicate to it and I've pretty much single handedly gotten us this far.
Sometimes we're shown things so we can understand the fears in our head are not the reality of our situation. Sometimes perspective is the lesson.
G is a great kid. Through this whole mess he's been a happy kid. No one worried because he was always just so happy. We'll figure out what to do with the therapy appointments.
Today G had his food evaluation. At D's 15mo appointment G came up again and we were discussing his limited diet and how it might be time to see a food therapist to see if we can get his diet expanded. I hesitated. But the doc sent the referral in and they called me and I made the appointment because due diligence and all that.
That appointment was today.
We saw an occupational therapist, a speech pathologist, a psychologist and a nutritionist. The OT guy said G had no sensory issues. He touched the sticky toy. He touched the smushy toy. He stacked the blocks. He knocked down the blocks. He didn't mind being touched. He was engaging. He was actually pretty charming. To all of these people. It's like he knew he was being evaluated.
Well and he did know. I told him. I prepped him for what would happen.
Anyway so OT clears him. No OT needed unless fine motor skills don't seem to be coming along. I'm 90% confident they will. He seems no different than any other 3yo boy who's learning to write his name.
Nutrition comes in. We do a battery of things. While she's talking to me speech is working with G on eating pudding. On eating crackers. On biting a stick. On swallowing. On a bunch of things. I told him a nice woman (I guessed) was going to help him with eating so he wasn't in the least put off. Again, he was charming to all of them.
But nutrition. We go through his diet. Where we've been. She is impressed I did what I did and do what I do. This validates me in so many ways. She takes his measurements, pulls up his BMI and does some other math to plot him on the chart and to figure out how much he's gained this past year. 8.6grams a day. Normal kids gain 5grams a day so he's catching up beautifully. He's also grown since he was last measured in January, another quarter of an inch. So I'm eager to get him charted at his next check up, see what the pedi has to say.
Psychology went pretty much the same, he's come a long way, looks like bad habits formed from a medical reason, medical reason now under control, let's learn how to eat varied foods.
Which is what I told them. So it's baffling and strange that these medical professionals just parrot back what I say. But I need to give myself credit because I've spent a life dedicated to this issue, and they haven't, and they know that, so they do trust my guidance.
I told psychology, after it was decided he'd do OP, ST/FT twice a week to try to do food chaining to see if we can get him on a more advanced diet, that I was not dedicated to the therapy, and that what I envisioned, was that I would take him for a few visits, be trained so to speak on how to introduce foods and how to deal with refusals and what not and just LEARN and then we would stop going. I was honest with her that part of the challenge I have is convincing G that he is normal, that there is no such thing as "G food" and that there is life outside of chicken nuggets, peanut butter and goldfish.
She agreed with me but honestly what can she do? Another funny moment. Speech told me to read this book called Food Chaining, but then she told me that the author's son had a serious case of EE and I said .... yeah, probably not going to read that. I have to be careful what I put in my head. It stays there and causes me problems.
Coincidentally apparently insurance companies are dropping coverage for speech therapy. After age 3 the school systems have to pay for it so I guess medical insurance felt like they'd just make them? I'm not sure. I don't completely understand why food therapy is done by a speech therapist but there you have it. I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do, I'm fairly confident that it'll get covered as a medical necessity for his EE but if it doesn't ... I may still go to a few sessions then discontinue. His speech is fine. He talks. He moves his mouth in the right (normal? standard? average? I dunno) ways. In fact it was hard to get him to stop talking. Such a social guy.
The nurses / therapists all kept waiting for me to get mad about the insurance piece. I just shrugged. I love my coverage. If they don't cover it I'll figure it out.
The other piece ... G did not fit in with the other kids that were there. Those children had real issues with motor skills and development. Those kids need intensive therapy. That part of this experience has me wondering how far I should pursue this. G can feed himself. He can swallow. It's just a matter of getting him to try new things. And I think that I can get him where he needs to be. I have the cycles to dedicate to it and I've pretty much single handedly gotten us this far.
Sometimes we're shown things so we can understand the fears in our head are not the reality of our situation. Sometimes perspective is the lesson.
G is a great kid. Through this whole mess he's been a happy kid. No one worried because he was always just so happy. We'll figure out what to do with the therapy appointments.
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