I had a nice discussion with the child physcologists that have administered Max's neuropsych testing the last couple weeks. They were very pleased with the cognitive acheivements Max has made in the last 6 months. They have seen significant developmental growth in all areas which isn't always the case with kids undergoing chemotherapy. They reported that he was performing at age appropriate levels in all areas. He performed great in his understanding of language and is lacking slightly in his expressive language skills. Which means he understands more than he verbally shares with us, which we have always known to be the case. They encouraged the continued use of early intervention therapy and will continue to closely monitor him. They said that chemo effects on the brain can happen down the road and so it is important to keep up with regular monitoring.
It was so interesting to observe all the tests they performed last week. It's amazing to see all the test they can do on a 2 year old to assess how his brain is functioning. I was allowed to be in the testing room and he was allowed to sit on my lap, but I could not encourage, reword any questions, or respond to him in any way. He had doctors watching on the other side of the 2 way glass in the room next door and tried to assess how he approached different tasks. Lots of puzzles, books, pictures, pretend play, etc. I am not sure how accurate some of the scores really were, because the examiner would ask him to do something and he would flash his cheeky smile and do the exact opposite and watch her for a reaction. Several times she couldn't help but laugh because she knew he was trying to tease her and she didn't know how to accurately grade those tasks.
We still have his gross and fine motor assesments coming up next week and a neurological exam this afternoon. Thanks for the continued prayers, it is so nice to get good news and see all these answers to prayers.
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