Lara's therapy is through the Early Intervention program. For babies under a year old who might need therapy, they always have a developmental therapist do an evaluation, basically to gain more of a wholistic perspective of the child, because gross and fine motor skills overlap so much at this young age, and you also have to take into account social/emotional/cognitive aspects as well.
Lara has had 2 therapy sessions so far, and it has become very obvious to me that Lara does not need this. Lara had a session this morning, and I was disappointed to see that the therapist did absolutely nothing different with Lara than what I do every day. She also set some goals for us to work on, all of which Lara has already accomplished or something we have already been working on very hard by now. I was concerned that the DT felt we needed to work on some things that Lara has already accomplished...weeks and weeks ago. I believe she is probably not accurately assessing Lara and is putting us in a situation in which Lara's physical progress is not going to go anywhere.
She also told me this morning (Tuesday) that she wants me to make a toy. She wants me to take a puff container and fill it with beans and roll it around. If you read my previous post, you will see that I already did this, like, 2 months ago.
So I am now asking myself if there is any productive point to this whole developmental therapy stuff. I am starting to believe that this is more for parents who really lack education and effort in growing their children, and need a lot of outside help. This is not our case. Lara just has muscle stiffness, and we know what we need to do. I believe that in other areas, Lara is doing just great (but she can be withdrawn around other people, and rightfully so, as she is OUR child, so I think the DT didn't feel she was seeing all the cognitive things she needed to as a result...so I had to explain to her later that Lara IS doing the cognitive things she is supposed to, but you will usually only see it when she is comfortable) and we only need to focus on the physical, and she is in physical therapy, which is super helpful.
On that note, the developmental therapist did give me some good tips with physical stuff, except that I knew it already thanks to Lara's physical therapist.
On another note, I feel bad about it. Lara's DT lives here in Atlanta and is an LCC alum herself. It's great to meet another LCC family who live so close by. She is such a nice person, and so great with babies. Lara's physical therapist is not such a baby-person, so it's nice to have a therapist who is....I feel terrible to tell her we don't feel we need her.
But here's another issue: I have noticed with people that when they are giving suggestions, advice, and input, if I say, "I already do that" or "yes, I already know about that" or "Lara has already accomplished this goal," they get irritated and believe that I am being defensive. I really am not. I am just telling you that I already know that, so please tell me something I don't know. Or because Lara can already do this, let's please set a goal that is practical. So even if we do keep this therapist, I will need to sit down with her and explain that we need to move way beyond what she is saying, and I feel bad about that too. People never take that well, no matter HOW nice you try to be.
Maybe the problem is that I read too much. I research A LOT. I am not trying to say that I am a well-educated person, but I am specifically well-educated. That means if you tell me one thing I don't know, I will research it til I have it all figured out. I just feel that most of the time doctors and therapists are telling me things I already know. Lara's pediatrician is not like this so much, however. She is the best doctor in the entire world, and the reason I say this is because she teaches me new things every time I see her, she will even get out charts and pictures. It's great.
OH MY!! I am rambling. I am just trying to figure out what to do, so I am typing out loud. If you have any advice, feel free to comment and tell me what you think!
Here is a picture while Lara is doing developmental therapy. The DT is blowing bubbles and Lara is catching them...yep...that's what they did a couple of weeks ago, also....yep...
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