His 6th Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician Evaluation

The neurodevelopmental pediatrician of Gabby is Dra. Myra Altonaga. She is based in Cebu City but she comes here in Ormoc City every 6 months to conduct evaluation sessions on children with special needs. The special needs community in this city has been fortunate and blessed that she has been doing this for the past 2 years. With this set-up, we can save up a lot of money because her transportation, food and accommodation expenses would be equally divided by the number of children who are scheduled for evaluation sessions while she comes here. In 2010, we went to Cebu City to have Gabby evaluated by the same doctor. The 2-hour session could be pricey at P2500, plus we would still pay for the food, board and lodging and transportation expenses.

Today, Gabby was absent in his sped class so that we can go to his bi-yearly neuro-developmental assessment with his “Tita Doc Myra” in the Able Buddies OT Clinic. I opted to put him on a 2:00 pm schedule so that he can still rest from his regular morning classes for Grade 1. For me, proper timing is essential so that he will be cooperative to perform the given tasks.

In his confidential Summary of Neurodevelopmental Re-evaluation Report, these were noted by the doctor as her observations:

1. Gabby was compliant in the tasks but sometimes he went out of focus.
2. Although he was talkative and could already initiate simple conversation, he still has difficulty in logical or abstract reasoning.
3. Doctor was informed by Gabby’s occupational therapist, Teacher Charisse that he can initiate play with other kids, and apparently is performing excellently in his regular school.
4. Doctor was also informed by me that a little rigidity could still be noted especially that he has been really interested with reading the almanac, especially about the flags of different countries around the world.
5. Informal tests were done by the doctor. Gabby’s current level in Mathematics and Reading is at Grade 1. His current level in Reading Comprehension is at Grade 2.

In terms of his current neurodevelopmental abilities, they were measured by the doctor by letting Gabby perform tasks. Compared to his actual chronological age of 6 years and 4 months old,  these are his maturity ages in the following domains:

Gross Motor Skills – 6 years and 9 months old

Fine Motor Skills – 6 years and 5 months old

Receptive Language Skills - 6 years and 9 months old

Expressive Language Skills – 6 years and 2 months

Cognitive Skills – 7 years and 1 month old

Personal-Social Skills – 5 years and 4 months old

Adaptive Skills – 5 years and 5 months

  

Because of these results, Tita Doc Myra recommended the following:

1. Gabby will continue with his weekly occupational therapy group sessions to focus on social skills training, functional skills training and behavior modification therapy.
2. He will continue his sped classes of three times a week.
3. He must be re-enrolled in speech therapy sessions focusing on higher level of language processing. *Note: Gabby’s old speech therapist last year, who is based in Cebu City, got pregnant and she did not come back to Ormoc City after she gave birth. We will enroll him with an Ormoc-based speech pathologist once her schedule can accommodate Gabby.
4. He will continue mainstreaming in his Grade 1 classes.
5. He is encouraged to engage in sports and other non-academic activities so that he can be ‘one of the boys.’
6. Gabby’s yaya should only act as a guide in his self-care tasks so that he will not be lazy to perform them.

Over-all, I am very happy with my son’s progress. Although he is still delayed with his expressive language skills, personal-social skills and adaptive skills, I am proud of him and how far he has developed from his pre-diagnosis stage to his current state as a hybrid student now. The excel worksheet that I prepared to monitor his progress over the years show that he is progressing. He is doing his best. His dad and I are doing our best in parenting him.  And for me, that is enough. Someday, we will get to the point that we can say we have nurtured Gabby in such a way that he can reach his fullest potential. We are hopeful. J