10.14.09 Doctors, Educators, Case Workers, Social Workers

Happy 4 weeks Ellie!!!! Today Ellie was trying very hard to flip from her back to her tummy and she is trying to smile :-)

Some days it seems that all we do is talk to doctors, developmental specialists, social workers, case workers and whatnot. Oh and insurance companies, but that is another story. Some are in- person appointments and others involve phone tag and long on-hold times. Fortunately, Ellie does not really need to participate too much at this point. Also, this does not mean that anything is wrong with Ellie Bellie. She just needs basic assessments & evaluations because she has the DS diagnosis.

Today Jan, the caseworker early education specialist came to our house to brief us on everything ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) has to offer. Jan is the gatekeeper to things like PT, OT, speech therapy, nutritionists, therapists, support, so forth and so on. ECI is for children 0-3months. Fortunately, the diagnosis of DS automatically qualifies Ellie for all of these services. Next week Jan will come to our house to perform the official assessment so cross your fingers that Ellie Bear wows her with her skills! Today she slept through the entire information session.

In yesterday's post I commented on the need to get into the DS Clinic. It looks like the pediatrician sent in all the required paperwork because today the DS Clinic called us!!! On Monday Ellie will have a "developmental" appointment. I have no idea what that entails. In January she has a Down Syndrome appointment. Basically this is to determine what services she needs and what specialists need to evaluate her. Oh and there is labwork--whah! I still need to schedule an ophthalmology appt. to rule out any underlying issues typical for children with DS.

Andrew and I are going on a date tonight!!!!! Awa Grandma and Grandpa Bruns are going to babysit Ellie while we enjoy dinner at Andiamo's, a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant.