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Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities
Any parents of former preemies?
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Anonymous
| I am the mother of 20 month old twins who were born at 27 weeks. So far they have done well once we cycled through the first year but I am concerned about the future and wanted to discuss this with any parents who have shared a similar experience. Thanks! |
zumbamama
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| Mine was born at 27 weeks, at 3.5 oz. Four years later she is keeping up quite well with her peers in writing, reading, social and motor skills. |
Anonymous
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My 4 year old was born at 32 weeks (3 lbs 14 oz) and had montgomery county's free therapies until 3 years old. He still has a speech delay (compounded with bilingualism) and a fine motor delay, but overall is well adjusted. We are now seeking solutions for his short attention span...
I will say that early intervention really does help. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for the encouragement. I am pragmatic by nature and just want to be prepared. My twins are on track for their adjusted age so far but I'm suspecting they may have OT/ST needs down the road. My real concern, however is school. I know that issues don't frequently crop up until the elementary years. |
Anonymous
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I also have a preemie. 32 weeks 3.5 pounds. The best thing I did in order to help with elementary years was to get an IEP early (through Infants and Toddlers then early intervention). By kindergarten, he barely qualified for services, but I was able to get the school to keep the IEP going until we could see how he did once he was actually in school. Now that my DS is in first grade, new issues are cropping up relating to attention deficit, which is a different problem than he received services for in the past, but we have an entire team on board working with him. If we had to start the IEP process now, I think my son would have a very difficult time in school and would likely either require private tutoring or would fall behind.
One other thing. I didn't rely on the county for all services. The county services focus only on those issues that are likely to impact education and not all issues fit that criteria. |
Anonymous
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Preemie mom here. Born at 28 weeks and 2 pounds. She reached all of her infant developmental milestones on track with her adjusted age and was caught up by age 2. Now, at age 5, she's reading, writing, biking, etc. You'd never know she was a preemie. She was followed by developmental specialists through age 18 months (real time, not adjusted), but didn't receive any extra services. Now that she's in school, I always ask her teachers if there is something we should keep an eye on, but so far the answer has been no.
What are your concerns, OP? |
Anonymous
| My concerns really have more to do with the future especially with school My twins so far are on track for their adjusted age with their milestones and I feel they are closing the gap with their actual age. My son received PT for about a year due to some "lower end of normal" muscle tone but now he is walking, running and climbing and quite agile. However, the PT did mention he could have some fine motor issues later on but hopefully not. Did any of you hold your children back? My twins were born in February but not due until May 1 so I'm a little concerned there may be academic issues down the road. |
Anonymous
You can always hold them back. I know plenty of DC private school boys who were not preemies that were held back with Feb. birthdays, believe it or not. And I know three different sets of twins in three different cities who were all held back - two at the nursery level and one at the pre-K level. The pre-K level twins are my sister's twins - and based on her experience, I think it's better to hold the children back earlier rather than later. Best of luck to you and your twins!!! |
Anonymous
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12:55 here again.
I think you have a lot of time before you need to think about holding your kids back. They will do so much growing and changing before they are ready for school. I know it's a tendency of a preemie mom to worry a lot (I sure did, at least), but a therapist saying your child "might" have fine motor skills down the road is still an unknown at this point. They have years before they'll start school. You can encourage fine motor issues by giving them toys/clothes with zippers, making coloring with crayons a regular activity, and more. I'm sure you can Google "fine motor preschool activities" to find a list of things to practice in the coming years. My child was born in Dec, due in March. A February birthday, even when due in May, is not really on the cusp of a new school year, so unless there was a real major issue, I wouldn't hold back on that reason alone. |
Anonymous
| PP here. I did hold my son back a year. I did it the year before pre-k though, so he started pre-k a year late. My son just needed the extra time to get ready for the classroom learning experience and formal education. Because my preemie isn't my oldest, I was familiar with the expectations placed by the schools and I did not think my preemie son could do it when he hit school age. I do not regret my decision at all. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for your thoughtful replies. I realize we have many years to go before I make a final decision regarding whether to hold back or not and of course to see if any other issues present themeselves. However, I also have older sons who attend one of the more competitive private schools in DC and am quite aware of the expectations. At this point, I can only hope for the best! |
Anonymous
PP, what services did you supplement? I'm curious to know which services the school wouldn't focus on. Thanks!! |
Anonymous
| PP here. The school system didn't offer any assistance with eating issues or OT focusing on sensory issues because the school found that these issues didn't affect my son's ability to learn. It is possible to get services for both eating and sensory issues, but the circumstances have to be different than in my son's case. Fortunately, I had good insurance and only paid a nominal co-pay for services. Also, I worked with the therapists to develop a comprehensive home program and that allowed us to limit therapy to once every other week. |