A LONG Day at Children's Hospital

Today was Chloe's appointment at Children's Hospital. It was a neurological screening to see if there was a medical reason behind her speech delay. Her old doctor (we have since changed to a new one) thought Chloe could be autistic (after meeting Chloe for less than five minutes she came to this conclusion), so we were also proving that wrong. It was a very long day. We had to leave home at 6:00am and drive through morning rush hour. Once we got there it was a flurry of appointments.

Her first appointments were to test her gross and fine motor skills. She was average or above average in both of those. Which we all figured. She is a very active little girl and is fairly coordinated (well most of the time). She has been working hard on her coordination and balance in dance class. Chloe than went to the audiology department to have her hearing tested. Hearing problems can also cause speech delays. But her hearing is perfect. Her ears are healthy and look great.

After a busy morning we decided to leave the hospital for lunch. It was a nice break, an okay lunch, but pickings are slim around the hospital. We got back a half an hour early for her last appointment so we hung out in the waiting room and relaxed.

We met with the neurological nurse practitioner. We went over Chloe's development history since her birth and talked about her school and speech. The nurse said without a doubt that Chloe was not autistic and had no symptoms to even suggest such a diagnosis. We of course knew that all along. She also agreed with Matt and my decision to not place Chloe in the developmental kindergarten class in the fall. She was worried (as we are) that the focus would not be on her academics but the behaviorial and social problems of children in the class. She agreed that Homeschooling seems to be the best option for Chloe. (Not that we are going to change our mind about her school but it was nice to have a professional say that it was the right choice).

All in all, today confirmed what a special, beautiful little girl that God has blessed us with.