The Einstein Syndrome??

After Ry was diagnosed and evaluated to be having speech delay and having the ability of a 17 mth old toddler, it definitely starts getting us worried. However, being an educator myself and many gentle reminders and assurances of the evaluators as well as friends, I definitely am aware that the purpose of the evaluation is for reference and should not be taken overly seriously as Ry is still pretty young to follow all the instructions given by the evaluators who are strangers and as parents, we all know, sometimes kids just march to their own drums. There are so many factors that affect the validity of an evaluation and it is a well-known fact that evaluation done with young children is often a hit and miss thing if it is only done one time, not to mention the fact that the results were normalized, often assuming that all kids follow a general pattern of development. Thanks to Dan for reminding me that the results may be normed against the US population instead of Asian / SG population as well.

Still, as parents, I would like to help Ry to speak sooner and was exploring the Internet for tips and tools to do so. While I was searching on the Amazon for the dvd series " Signing Times" as introduced by my friend here for young children to learn American Sign Language (ASL) which is also often used by speech therapists, I came across this book title "The Einstein Syndrome - Bright Children Who Talk Late" by the Stanford Professor Thomas Sowell. Immediately I was drawn to the title and upon reading the synopsis, I decided to order the book to read. It only took me approximately 3 days to finish reading the book and most of the reading was done while breastfeeding Br.

What was interesting for me is the many similarities that I found between Ry and the different stories of late talking children written in the book. According to the author, children who had the Einstein Syndrome has the following characteristics:

1. Outstanding and precocious analytical abilities and / or musical abilities
2. Outstanding memories
3. Strong wills
4. Highly selective interests, leading to unusual achievement in some areas and disinterests and ineptness in others
5. Delayed toilet training
6. Precocius ability to read and / or use numbers and or/use computers
7. Close relatives in occupations requiring outstanding analyatical and/or musical abilities
8. Unusual concentration and absorption in what they are doing

The first striking similarity is definitely characteristic number 7 and most kids in the research study has parents in the engineering / scientific field. So in our case, daddy is a scientist and mummy is a Chemistry teacher and we therefore fit the profile closely. Next, Ry displays quite a few of the characteristics. He definitely has very strong musical sense and this is commented by his previous Music Together instructor, adults who have seen him as well as the Speech Therapist who saw him this morning and marvelled at his ability to stop beating the drums when music stops and able to beat the drums softly when she gently strummed the guitar. Ry is also definitely very strong willed - a comment also made many times by my mother during her short stay with us. In fact, at times, I would say he is extremely stubborn. Also, Ry has an unusual concentration and absorption in what he is doing that he often ignores us when we call for him. In addition, he likes to observe and understands the rules first, often in new situations before he engages in participation, which to me, is often baffling because I often see other kids jump and run straight to the playground or toys. It is also mentioned in the book that many such late talking kids are very good at solving puzzles or are fascinated with locks. Similarly, Ry at the young age of 9 months old when he was barely standing was able to unscrew a bolt and nut underneath our dining table and was able to screw it back on his own. I remembered I was so surprised when he first did this and almost got a heart attack as I was worried that he may have accidentally swallowed the small nut or the table may have collapsed on him if he had gone around unscrewing all of them. In fact, his fascination with nuts and bolts lasted for quite a while and we had to be rather stern with him to stop him from unscrewing them underneath the table. Even now, he would still go around unscrewing things around the house like knobs on the toilet cabinets and then screwing them back on again.

What really connects to me about the book is how the author mentions about parents often ended up blaming themselves for having late talking child especially sometimes after insensitive comments from neighbours, family members, doctors and other adults. I have definitely experienced many of these episodes like some nurses or doctors here suggested that probably his late talking is a result of exposing him to 2 languages at home, my mother suggesting to me that we probably did not expose him to much babbling and language at home during his first year when we were busy, my MIL asking me insensitively why is Ry talking so late since no one at home talks this late and many other more little episodes like these. All these little comments and suggestions have insinuated my failure as a mother and I do find myself dispairing quietly sometimes, and these negative feelings sometimes led me getting angry with Ry when he refused to babble after me or learn a new word.

Instead, the study by Professor Sowell gives me a new perspective why some children are late talking and gives me the hope that Ry's late talking may be the result of an innate syndrome rather than due to external factors and most importantly, he will turn out fine someday. His research shows that the median age for such late talking kids to start talking is at three and a half years old and some of them as late as four. And the good news is that these kids will ultimately start talking without any form of early intervention and they usually grow up to become sociable and successful adults without much problems.

While reading this book and excitedly sharing the information with K, I was repeatedly teased by him saying that does it mean Ry is Einstein or genius? My answer is definitely a big NO since my only reasons for reading this book is to make me more informed about late talking children and I am not out to prove that Ry has superior intelligence. As a mother, my only wish for Ry is for him to grow up to be a happy and healthy child and to guide him in the way he should be.

Father's Day

On Father's Day itself, we decided to spend a day out with Thomas the train at Edaville in Carver, the southern part of Massachusetts. Ever since we became parents, we realized that we no longer plan activities around ourselves but rather, plan activities that our little tykes will enjoy. It is no surprise that we decided to go to the amusement park on the important D-day so that Ry and daddy can have a wonderful time together.

We were already having second thoughts about going to the park in the morning when we saw the cloudy skies and the impending downpour as forecasted. However, since the tickets were booked, we had no choice but to continue our plan. It started drizzling when we left the house and it proceeded to quite a heavy rain throughout the whole day. Definitely, we were disappointed but we decided to make the best out of the whole situation and braved the rain to take the Thomas the train ride and a few other rides. It was not a fantastic Father's Day that I have imagined it to be but still, we managed to have some fun together, which made me realised that it doesn't take an elaborate and perfect day to make it memorable as long as the family stays together and enjoy every little fun that comes along.

All aboard on Thomas the Train! We made the trip together with SX , A, her mum, their little boy and the newborn baby girl who is barely 1 month old in the baby carrier.

Thomas the train!

Posing a photo with Sir Thomas but little Ry is scared of the big mascot. Had to hold him tightly before he scootled away which he did so immediately after the shoot!

Speech Delay or Not Again?

This morning, Ry had a developmental evaluation by a team of 3 young ladies from the Cambridge-Somerville Early Intervention referred by his pediatrician. We had scheduled for this evaluation since Ry's 24 month old doctor visit and it took 3 months long before it is done after much rescheduling. Since this is a free service, I am not complaining much.

As usual, Ry is pretty alright playing with strangers at home due to the constant visits that he had been getting from the Home-based Learning Program each week and the occasional visits by the Cambridge social worker who come by to check on my pregnancy previously and now, the development of baby Br. So, while doing the evaluation today, Ry thought it was the usual play time with the home-based visitor and he totally did not need my intervention at all, which was good so that the results would be actually more authentic and more reflective of his abilities.

Why does the evaluation need 3 persons? Basically, 1 lady is in charge of testing the subject (i.e. Ry in this case), 1 lady is in charge of quantitatively scoring and the last lady is in charge of observing and recording the results qualitatively. This is definitely very professional in my opinion, especially that I have done courses in my ME.d program on program evaluation and learnt that the most powerful form of any evaluation is to combine both quantitative and qualitative methods. To be honest, I am totally surprised by the professionalism displayed even though this is a free service. Even back in SG, I have found that many evaluations or educational research done do not usually employ such high degree of standards.

So, what do the evaluation encompass? The evaluation is divided into a few sections like gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, understanding, language and social skills. So, the tester would bring out toys liks pegs and blocks and see whether Ry knows how to stack them or arrange them. For problem solving, they would bring out puzzles and see whether Ry knows how to solve them or they would ask Ry to sort shapes or colours. The tester also ask Ry to jump, hop and balance on beam to see his gross motor skills. For speech, they test his understanding of instructions and vocabulary by asking him to point to pictures and finally observe how he speaks. Some of the questions were directed at me like how he interact with other kids and how many words he speaks et cetra.

The whole evaluation approximately took about 1 hour long. At the end, they gave me a breakdown of the quantitative scoring and the results reflected that Ry was more advanced in his fine motor and problem solving skills at 29 months instead of his current age at 27 months. He was on par with his age group on his other areas except in speech and language, he's diagnosed to be only at 17 months, meaning that he is delayed by 10 months. This means that he is eligible for services from Early Intervention like speech therapy once a week since he is lagging behind more than 30%. They also made the observation that Ry tends to make noises with his mouth closed and he is quiet generally. This is also in congurence with my own observations as I often have trouble getting Ry to open his mouth to talk. They also suggested that his brain may be too busy developing his other areas of abilities that language and speech take a backseat. So now, Ry is officially declared having speech delay. Since he is 10 months behind his peers, my hope is that he would be able to speak by 3 years old before he goes to childcare/preschool when we are back in SG!

Strawberry picking @ Shelburne Farm _ 7 Jun 09

Yesterday marked our first farm trip that we'll be taking in our remaining 3 months here and we are already looking forward to the upcoming trips to more strawberry picking, blueberries picking, peach and hopefully, be able to get some apple picking done before we head home.

Since we missed last year strawberry picking, we had been waiting eagerly this year for the strawberry season so that we can go pick the juicy strawberries. So, once we found out that all the farms have announced that they are opened for strawberry picking in June, we immediately head out to Shelburne farm in Acton the first June Sunday morning. This is the second time we've been to Shelburne farm and we love it here because of the wide variety of activities available for kids and its huge compound that make us feel less claustrophobic when there are huge crowds out there. However, we were pretty surprised by the lack of people yesterday and the activities were not set up for kids yet. According to the young guy there manning the entrance, this was because this was the first year they planted strawberries for picking and they are more famous for apples instead, so they do not expect a huge crowd this season.

I was showing Ry how to pick strawberries.

This is the first time Ry could pick fruits without help from the adults!

We were not disappointed though as we thought this may be a blessing in disguise since it means lowering the risk of human contact especially during this H1N1 flu spread. In fact, we had a great time picking out strawberries as we were there pretty early, thanks to KP's "kiasuism" as he says the ripe strawberries would be cleared out by noon according to his research. And, I must add, fresh strawberries taste nothing like strawberries bought from supermarkets. They were so juicy, sweet and crunchy and taste so much of freshness that it already made me salivate now while thinking and blogging about it. Yummy!

Ry's favourite pose recently whenever we say "cheese" or "smile". I figured his hand sign is an attempt of the "V" sign.

We managed to pick 3 pounds of strawberries within an hour and by the time we were done, more people were arriving. And KP was right about the fact that ripe strawberries do get cleared out from the field pretty quickly because by the time we were done, the 7-8 lanes that were opened for picking were pretty much cleared out of the big, red and ripe ones. We'll definitely be going for strawberry picking every Sunday morning in June if weather permits and nothing else planned in the way! Yay!

Our loot of the day - 3 pounds of juicy sweet strawberries!

Br sucking his 2 fingers to make himself fall asleep in the car on our drive back from the farm. It's so cuteeee that I can't resist taking the picture of him!

This is one of the rare occasions that Ry went to hug baby brother voluntarily - probably a result of his good mood after enjoying a day out! Hope more of these will come and less of the jealous little tot we see now!

New Hampshire Mt Washington Valley _ 30 May - 1 Jun

I really should be more updated with my post but it has been real difficult to find time to blog when the two boys need so much of my attention. This is especially the case with Br who is now more alert and more clingy. Wonder is it the result of direct breastfeeding that he just wants me to be beside him all the time. So, below is again an outdated blog of our trip to New Hampshire.

Last weekend, we drove for 3 hours plus to Mt Washington Valley in New Hampshire. It was by far the longest driving trip that we have ever taken and it was done together with 2 young kids. Fortunately, the two boys were rather well-behaved and fell asleep promptly once the journey started and only woke up near to arrival. Initially, we were still worried that Br may not take well to traveling since he's merely just 3 months old but he was really well-behaved and was as curious and alert as his older brother, Ry when we went sightseeing.

This is our third time to NH but our first time in spring. The first stop we made was to North Conway Scenic Railways where we took a remodelled old-fashioned train for a 55 minutes scenic round trip. This was the greatest disappointment of the whole trip and we felt that it was a complete waste of our time as there was nothing really scenic in the ride and the round trip meant that going forward and backward along the same route. Although, KP and I did not enjoy the ride but Ry was totally esctatic over the train and we got him a similar model toy train later. So, on the whole, I think it is still a worthwhile experience for Ry.

All aboard on the coach class because Ry and Br can ride free!

The vacation home that we stayed at Nordic Village is a comfortable and nicely-decorated one bedroom apartment with a kitchen fully furnished with all the neccessities. So, for both nights, we had simple dinner in the apartment itself, which was a good idea because we can then prepare food that Ry liked. We still have trouble introducing bread to Ry, so there's no way he would take burgers or sandwiches. He is still pretty "cheena" with regard to food, meaning he still wants porridge/rice in his staple diet. Sigh! I really need to get him to eat bread or else I foresee I would have a hard time getting food for him when we go Disneyworld in Sept.

Our nice and comfy vacation home while we rest and relax in the evenings.

The second day, we went to Storyland, a theme park that is suited for young kids and pre-teens. Ry is still a bit young to appreciate all the rides but this is also a chance for us to have an idea how we'll handle when we go Disneyland later. So, KP and I took turns to take the various rides with Ry.

The only ride on the mini ferris wheel that we took it together as a whole family.

Daddy's turn to take a ride with Ry. Ry kept calling this "duck" instead of "swan".

We had been to different parts of NH in fall and winter respectively but this is the first time that we managed to hike - an activity that KP and I have always enjoyed in our younger days. So, the second day, we chose to do a short and easy walk that is about 1 mile long to Diana's Bath. I was carrying Br in my trusted sling and Ry was walking on his own. Definitely, Ry got tired at some points and daddy has to carry him on his shoulders. However, we managed to accomplish the short hike and we really enjoyed the scenery offered at the end. The experience made us feel that we really wish to have more time here in Boston so that we could do more such hikes in future and we are already wondering where could we do such activities back in SG where we won't die of heat and drown in perspiration.

I definitely feel that this is an achievement to make it past the muddy trail to the final destination at Diana's Bath even though that it is a relatively short hike of 1 mile with baby Br in my trusted sling.

The last day of our trip was a scenic drive along the auto road up to the peak of Mt Washington where it is the tallest peak in New England. Unfortunately, we could only do a drive halfways as the road to the summit was closed as it had ice and snow. It did not turn out to be a bad thing as we only need to pay $23 instead of $31 to drive up halfways and also, we were really too thinly clothed and ill-prepared for the cold temperature at the summit, which was around 30 deg F that day. Even when we stopped at the halfway mark, KP and I were already freezing from the low temperature and the strong wind that was gusting at 65 mph. We did not even dare to take the kids out of the car but I must admit that the view is simply breathtaking and it reminded KP and I so much of our Nepal trek in 2000. The last stop we made before having lunch and driving back to Boston was at the Settlers Green Outlet Village and did some shopping at Banana Replubic factory store where KP and I both each gotten our suits that we wanted. Needless to say, we spent a bomb too!

Along the auto road, there are various water points like this for people to cool their car radiators in case they get heated up as they drive up the mountain in low gears.

Initially, we are still worried that our "lao pok" car may not be able to make it up the mountain but it did and with ease too, so it may not be as "bad" as it looks!