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- Jun 25, 2007
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Does anyone have any experience with Hypotonia? My niece was diagnosed with Hypotonia at about one year old. At that time, she hadn’t learned to crawl or sit up on her own which was alarming to my sister. She was diagnosed with Hypotonia after seeing several specialists who confirmed she had no other delays or neurological issues. I don’t see them often as they live across the country but have heard that she’s been making great progress with occupational and physical therapy. She’s now 2.5 years old and they are in town visiting. She’s now crawling, sitting on her own and drinking from a cup herself…yay! I’m worried though because her social responses are more like that of a 9 month – 1 year old. She’s almost completely non-verbal – communicating almost exclusively with squealing and laughing, screaming, grunting and pointing. Her responses are also not necessarily appropriate for the situation – as in it’s truly hard to gauge whether she’s enjoying something or not – her giggle is almost like a tick. It’s seriously constant if she’s not totally distracted. Also, the smallest things result in total screaming meltdown which I guess comes from the frustration of not being able to communicate verbally. When you address her, she sometimes doesn’t even make eye contact or blink or pause. She doesn’t pretend and sort of plays with all toys the same way – she drags them around and bangs on them and throws them whether it’s a baby doll, a rattle, a block etc. The only thing she knows how to “use” the right way is a book – she will turn the pages and look with intrigue (so cute!). I do realize that spending only a few days with her doesn’t really paint the whole picture but I think I may be noticing a lot as an outsider that they may be overlooking.
Anyway, I’m concerned because my sister is convinced she’s “fine” except for her motor skills. I don’t blame her because she was told not to worry about the speech delay and she’s so overwhelmed by the fact that her 2.5YO isn’t walking that she really focuses on the physical aspects of her developmental delays.
The reason I’m posting to see if anyone has experience with Hypotonia and knows whether or not verbal and social delays are commonly paired with it. I’m having a hard time finding anything on the internet.
I certainly don’t want to alarm my sister as they already feel bad and guilty about my niece’s delays but would like to be able to point her in the right direction if there is indeed a link.