ECI Visit

When we went to see the Developmental Specialist in June- the visit that started us on our whirlwind "failure to thrive" rollercoaster.  They suggested we contact ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) to see if the State could provide services to help Harper. Our appointment was this morning with a physical therapist who evaluated Harper to see if she had at least a 25% delay in any area, which would qualify her for assistance.

Here are Harper's test scores which reflect the age at which she's functioning:

Gross Motor Skills: 6 months
Fine Motor Skills: 6 months
Adaptive: 6 months
Cognitive: 5 months
Communication: 7.5 months
Personal-Social: 9 months

Harper's adjusted age is 4 months and 29 days; in order to receive assistance, she had to test below 4 months 29 days. So, we won't be needing any ECI therapy. Tony and I are thrilled to see that Harper is thriving in so many areas. The therapist did give us some stretches to do to help her range of motion in her neck, but he said that she looked pretty darn good. I guess all our stretching and positioning has paid off.

While the therapist was here, he looked at Jack a little bit too and said he looked pretty good too- doing just what he should be doing. He did, however, say he thought Harper was more advanced than Jack. Go Harp! After hearing how she should be out performing her brother by every nurse in the NICU, it is nice to see that she's finally pulling ahead.

We are so blessed that the kids are doing so well; I can't believe that after our long NICU stay, we have no long-term complications (that we are aware of). I know God has big plans for my little ones and I feel grateful to see them grow and learn, and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

Here are a few pictures of the kids after ECI left; the evaluation was an hour long (during normal morning nap time) and the kids were wiped out when the testing was done. They have really started noticing each other more and I love to see them together.

Again, none of these pictures were posed, just snapped by a mom with good timing.