Development

So, in my last post I mentioned that exciting things are happening in regards to Levi's development.  Over Christmas break he started doing and saying things he has never done or said before! He started mimicking words regularly (something he did very infrequently before).  He started making animal sounds at the appropriate animals without being prompted to do so (he would rarely do it when he was prompted and only for a couple of animals).  Now he knows several animal sounds!  He started pretending to eat toy food and talk on phones.  This is a huge step as he had never pretended before.  He has also starting bringing us toys and books to play and read with him.  Again, this is something he's never really done.  These things might seem simple to most people, but they are things he should have been doing six to twelve months ago.  So, to see growth like this so quickly is very encouraging!  We are quite encouraged by this development and are hoping to see him continue at this rate.

The main thing to keep praying for is that he is still inconsistent in all of this.  This could be caused by his yucky seizure meds, but the developmental specialist said it could also be a sign of autism.  She said he is not on the autism spectrum at this point, but that if he continues to be inconsistent in his attention and his performance that we may have to reevaluate.  Before we do that, though, she wants to try to get him off of his current seizure medication and onto something that doesn't cause developmental problems like this one does.  The ONLY reason he's on it, at this point, is because his seizures were doing more damage than the medicine could do and the regular seizure meds weren't stopping the seizures.  But, since they've been stopped for awhile, we'll be talking with Dr. Q about when we can make some changes.  He's the ultimate deciding factor for that. But, once we do change his meds we'll be able to tell what is causing his inconsistency.  Please pray that it's the medication and that we can switch to something new soon!!

We have another appointment with Dr Q as well as another EEG in a couple of weeks so I'll have more to share soon.