After we finished in Columbia, we got in the car and headed north. Our final destination was UNC, but we stopped in Charlotte to visit with some friends of mine. These ladies are part of a small group of women that met when we were all pregnant back in 2006/2007. I'd never actually met them before, but it was just like catching up with old friends. It was unfortunate that our little 5 year olds couldn't all be there as well, but so wonderful to finally meet both of them in person. Even so, I had a wonderful time eating oreos, drinking margarita punch, and just talking. It's hard to think we can't just make plans and go out for a girls night sometime, not just with these two but all the women in our group! Hopefully when we return next year for Emma's 24th month visit we'll be able to get together again but with the kids.
We left Charlotte and headed into Durham/Chapel Hill before dark on Sunday. It was neat to be driving into Chapel Hill and start recognizing the area from when we were there in August. East Lansing has a special place with me and is wonderful to live, but if we ever had to leave this would certainly be a city I wouldn't living in. The atmosphere and people are much like home and part of why I fell in love with East Lansing --friendly, smiling, overall just happy, and comforting. Plus the area is beautiful!
We settled into the hotel just fine, and just as in August had amazing service. Emma didn't want to sleep with any light or noise so I spent the evening in the bathroom on my laptop. She slept at least, but it wasn't very comfortable! On Monday morning we headed to our first stop of the day. I keep in touch with one of the people on the team on Facebook and she was the person doing the evaluations. It was awesome to see her again! The evaluations did not go as easily as they did in Columbia. I think just all the travel was wearing on Emma finally and she was very ready to be done. We headed out of the evaluations directly to the MRI. Thankfully she was so sleepy she went right down and slept through most of the MRI. We ended up not finishing completely this time, but they got through enough for the study.
I've posted before about this study, but to read a little more on some of the results they are seeing, you can see the latest news on Delayed Gaze Shifting an Early Marker for Autism.
Our flight wasn't supposed to leave until 5:45pm the next day. With the help of the group at UNC though we did end up changing to an earlier flight. I was SO thankful we had too, because a nice storm of ice/snow was getting pretty bad as we came into town - 4 hours earlier than expected. Our flight from Detroit wouldn't have made it until much after 11pm if we would have stayed with our original flight (which I know because that is where my luggage ended up) so it definitely worked out.
Also..since I am such a procrastinator, I have the results back from her testing. The behavioral assessment that was completed at UNC (Mullins) came back with all test scores in the normal range. Even though her receptive language appears low with a monthly value, it is still in the normal range.
Fine Motor: 15 Months
Gross Motor: 13 Months
Visual Reception: 12 Months
Receptive Language: 11 Months
Expressive Language: 12 Months
The adaptive behavior assessment was done at USC (Vineland) and also came back with all scores in the normal range. This refers to basically how she meets her daily needs. Her standard scores were from 100-110 in all areas (communication, daily living, socialization, and motor skills). "Normal" or "Adequate" score is between 85-115.
Overall, very good results. She is continuing to develop normally and I continue to question each time she falls a little outside a "normal" developmental milestone. It's a good combination!
And because I don't have a great picture from our time away...here's a nice video to show Emma's new favorite thing -- animal noises.
We settled into the hotel just fine, and just as in August had amazing service. Emma didn't want to sleep with any light or noise so I spent the evening in the bathroom on my laptop. She slept at least, but it wasn't very comfortable! On Monday morning we headed to our first stop of the day. I keep in touch with one of the people on the team on Facebook and she was the person doing the evaluations. It was awesome to see her again! The evaluations did not go as easily as they did in Columbia. I think just all the travel was wearing on Emma finally and she was very ready to be done. We headed out of the evaluations directly to the MRI. Thankfully she was so sleepy she went right down and slept through most of the MRI. We ended up not finishing completely this time, but they got through enough for the study.
I've posted before about this study, but to read a little more on some of the results they are seeing, you can see the latest news on Delayed Gaze Shifting an Early Marker for Autism.
Our flight wasn't supposed to leave until 5:45pm the next day. With the help of the group at UNC though we did end up changing to an earlier flight. I was SO thankful we had too, because a nice storm of ice/snow was getting pretty bad as we came into town - 4 hours earlier than expected. Our flight from Detroit wouldn't have made it until much after 11pm if we would have stayed with our original flight (which I know because that is where my luggage ended up) so it definitely worked out.
Also..since I am such a procrastinator, I have the results back from her testing. The behavioral assessment that was completed at UNC (Mullins) came back with all test scores in the normal range. Even though her receptive language appears low with a monthly value, it is still in the normal range.
Fine Motor: 15 Months
Gross Motor: 13 Months
Visual Reception: 12 Months
Receptive Language: 11 Months
Expressive Language: 12 Months
The adaptive behavior assessment was done at USC (Vineland) and also came back with all scores in the normal range. This refers to basically how she meets her daily needs. Her standard scores were from 100-110 in all areas (communication, daily living, socialization, and motor skills). "Normal" or "Adequate" score is between 85-115.
Overall, very good results. She is continuing to develop normally and I continue to question each time she falls a little outside a "normal" developmental milestone. It's a good combination!
And because I don't have a great picture from our time away...here's a nice video to show Emma's new favorite thing -- animal noises.
If you have an infant or know someone with an infant with a premutation or full mutation of Fragile X OR has an older sibling with Autism, please consider being part of this study. It's very difficult to find children that young to participate and the amount that is gained for helping others is so vast. Even if you just want more information, I can put you in contact with the study and/or give you more in-depth at what we did, arrangements etc.
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