Specialized Child Care in New York City

I remember when I had my son I didn’t always trust my own judgement being a first time mama. I wasn’t sure if he was wearing enough layers and keeping warm, was he drinking enough and later in life eating enough. Should I let him cry it out, or rock him to sleep which the experts say is a no-no. Some of the best advice I had when trying to decide what was best for him was from my friends with children. They reminded me that it is completely normal to feel a little uncertain about many motherly decisions we have to make everyday – after all if their was a manual that covered it all, what fun would that be?

When my son was a little over 2, and had just switched up to the older children’s group at preschool, one of the teachers that started working with him approached me about what she felt was a delay in his speech. I felt pretty certain that his speech was not delayed, and other teachers that had worked with him in the past felt he was progressing at a normal rate.

I was torn, unsure as to whether I would kick myself later for not heeding her professional opinion. I spoke to his pediatrician that had known him since birth. I appreciated being able to talk it through with her. She conceded that she was more expert at physical development than cognitive. She felt their was no harm in her writing a recommendation to a Speech Therapist for evaluation. After months of waiting and wondering, we finally saw a specialist. She confirmed what my mother’s intuition knew – his speech was slightly above normal for his age, the complete opposite to what his teacher believed.

The Speech Therapist concluded that due to my son’s height, his teacher may have been expecting more from him than was the norm for his age. He has always been in the 95th percentile for height, and til this day people who don’t know him always guess him to be anywhere from a year to three years older than he actually is. This was the first of many occasions since, when people expect more from him developmentally than he can possibly offer.

I trusted the Speech Therapist as someone who had trained in this field and has her hand on all the latest developments and trends, including an overall societal shift in adult expectations of children. In fact, this was a topic she was heavily interested in as part of human evolution. I also trusted her as she was referred to me by a Pediatrician who had chronicled most of my child’s development along side me.

Have you ever questioned your child’s development?

I consider myself lucky that our children have never had long term hospital stays or chronic illnesses that require frequent trips to the doctor. The experience I described is the only time we went to see a specialist. We’ve had emergency trips by ambulance to the hospital with both my son and his sister, but thankfully they were both one-off ailments that though incredibly scary at the time and life changing have never amounted to anything.

Hospital for Special Surgery is a world leader in orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation. Located in New York City, HSS recently opened the CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center at the Children’s Pavilion providing comprehensive, individualized rehabilitation for both inpatients and outpatients from birth to 21 years.  Its multidisciplinary staff includes physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists.

Watch the video below for background information and a tour of CA Technologies Rehabilitation Center within the Lerner Children’s Pavilion. The Center is a perfect mix of world class care as well as a welcoming home away from home for the parents of children who require the specialized care.

You can keep up with the Hospital for Special Surgery on Facebook as well as on Twitter. They offer tips for parents on how to receive the best help for your child as well as support for your family. Als find out how to document your child’s milestones as a way to backing up your mother’s intuition and as factual evidence that will help the Specialists. You can also find out more about their affiliations with the New York Giants and the Bog Apple Circus.

disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Hospital forSpecial Surgery. A small donation to a charity of my choice was made in my name as a thank you for participating. You should consult with your physician or other health care provider before beginning any rehabilitation/therapy, sports training, or exercise program.