Our Rett Syndrome Clinic visit

Here is the overview of our appointment...I have to add that I bought Caitlyn 4 of these talking picture frames to use as simple communicators throughout the house. If you are interested, here are the instructions on how to adapt them into communicators.

There is an amazing doctor at Legacy Emmanuel Children's hospital that is very familiar with Rett Syndrome. We went down this week to see her, a speech therapist and a physical therapist. They all said she looks great.
Speech therapist report: Caitlyn seems very eager to communicate. She had the opportunity to try out a computer that had a touch screen on it. There were two different colored boxes on the screen and one had a sunshine hiding behind it (you could see a little bit of it). Eric asked Caitlyn to touch the sunshine. She touched the box it was behind. the sunshine rose and then set behind the other box. Again Eric asked her to find the sunshine. and she did again!!! She used a little mac switch to ask for more crackers. It is just amazing! The therapist said she sat in front of that computer and used it like she had always used it! Then we were able to try out a TANGO communicator but Caitlyn was too tired to do anything with it. But I sure liked it! Here are a couple of links to it. http://www.blink-twice.com/tango/u_videos.html?all=1# This link has some videos. If you scroll down to the bottom, there is actually a video of a girl with Rett Syndrome using it. http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/product.asp?product=24191 this link tells more about it. The therapist is going to talk to a vendor so that when we go back in October, we can have more things to try.

Physical Therapist report: She is doing great! We need to make her wear her braces more often. They said her heels can get tighter, so we have to be proactive with it all. We also need to find a therapist outside of school that will follow her and check her spine (she is at high risk for scoliosis) and hips.

Medically Speaking: They agree that it seems as though Caitlyn's repeated sinus infections is in fact Reflux. During the night it seems that she was refluxing into her sinus cavity and causing infections. So she will remain on Prevacid for now. She weighed 37lbs and was nearly 43 1/2 inches tall! We are in the process of evaluating if we want to try a low dose ADHD medication for school. We will talk more about that with her normal ped.

I think that is about it. Overall it was a great appointment! Well worth driving 200 miles and staying in a hotel! It is nice to have doctors who know what Rett Syndrome is before we even get there! I hate educating doctors...I don't feel it is my job!

Chicago Countdown: 21 days until takeoff!!