My quest to just get Mandy to eat has taken me thru a wide range of professionals. We started, of course, with her pediatrician, who has sent her to a gastroenterologists and an allergist. That effort resulted in no more information than she is allergic to milk. Not helpful, merely since it's not new. I then contacted a dietician who gave me some good nutrition advice, but nothing that helped with the behavior behind the fact that Mandy will only eat a handful of items and that list continues to shrink rather than grow.
Last week, the dietician recommended a psychologist to do just that - determine the reason for the behavior. And that quest has led me to Tennessee Early Intervention, who I met with this morning. The woman got a funny look on her face early in the meeting, and that look only intensified the longer she was exposed to Mandy. It seems Mandy is on the development scale of a 4 or 5 year old rather than a 2 year old. Apparently, picking a monkey out in a picture, and noticing a squirrel on the way, is pretty advanced for a child her age. As is knowing every letter, number, color and shape. And being able to operate a pair of scissors. I could go on with the things that amazed this woman. I'm not sure what happens now. I'm not even sure whether I find the wide eyes and frantic note taking exciting or scary as this woman continued to ask Mandy questions and prompt her to do simple tasks. She said she had never evaluated a child as advanced as Mandy, and that she was testing "off the charts." It was pretty overwhelming.
But the organization does have teachers that work with the kids in the program regarding any issues a child may have, and she does seem to think she can help with Mandy's eating issues. I grow more concerned with this with every passing month, and especially with every passing month that shows no weight gain. She has gained several inches, but not even a fraction of a pound since she was 18 months old. A young child should just not go a whole year without gaining any weight. We're getting my mother-in-law a digital picture frame for Christmas and as I was loading it with pictures, I was really struck with how much thinner she is.
I continue to be hopeful that someone, somewhere, is going to be able to help me with this. And it looks like some gifted testing is going to be thrown in as well.