Introduction

December 18, 2009

Hello,

I'm new to this group, and I wanted to introduce myself. I have two children

, 4 years old and Elliana, 15 months old. My daughter Elli is at about a 6

month level for speech. She has been diagnosed with microcephaly, a

neurological condition where her brain doesn't grow, which in turn means her

head doesn't grow. As a 15 month old her head is the same size as my son's was

when he was 2 months old (38 centimeters around). She is physically on target

for her age (which has surprised ALL of us!). She is almost walking, but has

been crawling and cruising since 6 months old. She can eat finger foods, but

only soft stuff like bananas, and crackers.

Now as for speech, this is her biggest issue. A lot of the kids on my

microcephaly support group say their children didn't start speaking until almost

4-5 years old. But many of them can understand what you are telling them. My

daughter regularly sees a physical therapist, occupational therapist and

developmental therapist...however the speech therapy is SOOOO hard to come by

around here (I'm in FL). All of the prime times of the day have been taken, and

many places are so over booked and have waiting lists. So my question for all

of you is...any suggestions for me that I can do to help her while I wait for

speech therapy to begin? Her main problems are drooling, not saying any words

(just ba-ba, da-da...baby noises), and pushing food out with her tongue (tongue

thrusting like a young baby). I know that in speech they work on mouth muscle

development, and I just wish I had some good ideas that I could incorporate into

our day.

I'm happy to have found this group, because already, I have taken advice from

you all....I had been thinking about starting Elli on fish oil, and since

joining the group last week, I have started giving her just a tiny amount in her

food. I don't really know what the correct amount is to give her, so I just

pour a few drops in. I bought the refrigerated bottle because I read that was

the best way to go.

Thanks,

Mindy

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