Follow-up visit to International Adoption Clinic

July 6th Lukas had his regular visit to Kennedy Krieger's International Adoption Clinic. Overall Dr. Davoli was very pleased. Lukas is now testing pretty much at his age level. When he first arrived home and had is initial visit at age 3 1/2 he was testing between age 2 and 3. Six months later at age 4 he was doing better at a ge 2 1/2- 3 1/2 but still behind and classified as mild developmental delay. He is now clearly testing at normal intelligence. His language scores are still testing all over the place but his average score has increased from 60th percentile to 80th percentile.

His physical growth is still improving exponentially as well. He started out not even on the growth chart at the first visit and is now in 17th percentile for weight and 19th percentile for height. That is a 10 percent improvement from 6 months ago. His head circumference is at 40th percentile. He is still on the small side for his age but still growing at a fast pace.

She took a gander at his ears and doesn't feel the inner ear issue is affecting his language skills. She recommended we see the pediatrician or an ENT for follow-up. She said some doctors will just wait it out and see if the fluid dries up, some will prescribe meds to help dry them out or in severe cases recommend tubes. She didn't feel his were bad enough to warrant tubes at this time.

So we will see her again in 6 months. She is scheduling an appointment with a language specialist for the fall because she feels his language deficits may be to subtle at that point for her to be able to detect them at that point. Since he tests all over the board on langauge we felt it was important to keep a close eye on it so it doesn't create a problem when he start kindergarten a year from now.

His reward was a visit to his eastern shore grandparent's to swim and play on the farm for the rest of the week.