The Story of My April Butterfly: May 2007

Friday, May 4, 2007

Electric Toothbrush

We really have to reach out to find help for Maggie and her speech. Eric talked to some of the speech therapists at school and they recommended electric stimulation. The best thing is an electric toothbrush because Maggie can bite on the bristles while the electric part of the toothbrush will stimulate her mouth muscles.

Sounds interesting, so we're trying it!

Maggie spent the first three weeks of her life in the NICU... first to investigate an irregular heartbeat- cleared with a diagnosis of a wandering pace-maker and sent home at 5 days old. She stopped breathing 2 hours after we had been home... we gave her rescue breaths, called 9-1-1 and Maggie was transfered by ambulance to the NICU, again. At 20 days old Maggie was sent home with a diagnosis of mild Laryngomalasia (floppy windpipe) and an apnea monitor to wear for 6 months. At one year of age Maggie was diagnosed as Hypotonic and spent the next 6 months of her life being seen by a Neurologist, a Genetic Counselor and Occupational Therapists. She began early intervention for her developmental delays. At age 3 she began attending a Special Education Preschool. She attended a typical Kindergarten class with RSP help for fine motor delays. Beginning in 1st grade she began her journey through Special Education for intensive help with many developmental and cognitive delays. Beginning in 3rd Grade I decided to Homeschool Maggie through a local charter school. She still received Special Ed. services, but I was in charge of her daily curriculum. We began her 5th grade year by enrolling her back in public school. This year will either prove to be a great stepping stone to the rest of her education, or it will be a year to revisit other options. This is our journey living with a child who is Hypotonic.