Sunday, December 13, 2009

Terrible Twos


S. will be two very soon. Here is a little write up I recently sent my yahoo group for children/adults with his specific medical condition. I have some concerns and many questions about his behavior. But my answers may never come until he ages. Please don't misunderstand my words, S. is pure joy. He's so loveable and happy. Sometimes, now that he's nearly two, he's happy IF he gets his way.

My son S is almost 2 years old. He was born with a frontal encephalocele. He was the sweetest, easy going baby. Now
he either going through some horrible terrible twos or something else is going on. Developmentally he is doing well. He was a bit delayed in speech/communication and cognitive skills. Now he is nearly caught up with his peers.

He is VERY VERY busy, into EVERYTHING and climbs into and out of any situation. He can actually pull himself up just with his arms onto the kitchen counter! He can unbuckle his high chair buckle and climb out. He puts everything in his mouth, and I am getting very concerned about his safety. Certain words (no! stop!) don't even slow him down.

Most of the time pain doesn't deter him. He will fall and not even cry. He has very high muscle tone and often will run or walk on his toes. Our pediatrician isn't too concerned about this.

I am wondering if his behavior is just because of his age, or because he had damage to his frontal lobe. Most of the specialists S. has seen don't really want to say, maybe there is no real way of knowing? I know that in the last few months he's gotten more moody, stubborn and doesn't react to cause/effect. He just does what he wants without slowing down. Our OT is pretty sure he has some sensory processing issues.

Thoughts?
Thanks!

Yesterday my friend so graciously snapped this picture of S. in all his glory. She is great with the action shots. (hope you don't mind that I used your photo Sarah!)

2 comments:

Kathy Cassel said...

It's hard to sort out what it typical since that varies child to child and what is a concern. Jasmine has some damage to her front lobe and it affects her ability to understand directions and organize.

One Crowded House said...

Kim- you described our three year old Eli to a "t"... seriously- walking on tippie toes (it is about the only way he walks)... makes terrible choices just out of the blue... will run off in parking lots- and run away from us in stores if we put him down. He is 3 1/2 now- and will just now stand still while I put the thing in the cart for him to sit in at the store (he used to run off- and I had to keep a hand on him at ALL times).

He has a lisp- but other wise a big vocabulary.

I have been worried at times that his behaviors were because perhaps his birthmom used alcohol or other drugs while she was pregnant. Our doctor has reassured us time and again that he is "normal".

Eli too, has muscle tone like no other child I have ever seen. His biceps are big and defined, his thigh and calf muscles are defined as well (from all of that tippie toe walking!) He is strong- and rarely cries when he hurts himself (he has hit his head so hard on the floor before, running and falling, that we all stop and watch him waiting for him to scream, but he stands up dusts himself off and says "I ok".

I have thought he had some sensory issues that none of my other kids had... He FREAKED out the other day when he got a "brain freeze" from drinking a slushie. You would have thought he was being stabbed the way he was screaming.

So- whether they are "normal" or not- at least you know you are not alone!