Making giant leaps

Both the speech and music therapists commented that Maria is more interactive and aware than they've ever seen her. She's in a really good place right now and seems to be making large advances. Music therapy went really well yesterday. From her belly she pushed herself up onto her elbows, she reacted to some very soft sounds she was making with the guitar and drum, and she grabbed my hand and pulled it over to the guitar like she was trying to get me to play. There have also been several incidents when she's eating (she's really been into self-feeding lately) where she seemed to be trying to put the spoon in my mouth.

In the "bad news" column, we are starting to wonder if one of her issues might be cerebral palsy. When we got Maria's AFOs the orthotics specialist asked if she had ever been diagnosed with CP. That question caught both of us by surprise. Cathy asked the physical therapist about it and the PT hemmed and hawed and said, "Well, it doesn't really matter since it wouldn't change her treatment." That pretty much says "yes" to me. Cathy got a book yesterday about teaching motor skills to kids with cerebral palsy and similar disorders. One chapter talked about the typical movements and reflexes in CP and many of them seemed to match Maria. The PT is right - it doesn't really matter. Cerebral palsy refers to motor disorders due to brain damage and is more of a descriptive term than a precise diagnosis. Still, it's a little disturbing.