Child Of The Month

Ryan Ogden
Age 4

Darren and I were married 7 years before we had Ryan. We had a healthy pregnancy and a normal delivery. We loved being parents as it came easy and natural to both of us. Ryan was a healthy baby. He slept and ate well. He was always a week or more off when hitting the first several milestones such as smiling and rolling. Ryan was not as interactive or curious as I would have thought he should have been. We struggled in getting him to engage in a toy. Between 4 and 6 months of age we began to worry as he wasn’t grabbing toys, wouldn’t put anything in his mouth and showed no interest in toys in general. After bringing up our concerns to our doctor, he agreed that testing was needed. Our first test, the MRI., came back with minor incomplete mylenation. This was not very significant to the doctors. The EEG was normal. The last test was the chromosome study which showed us that Ryan had inverted duplicate chromosome 15. He was 8 months old when we got this diagnosis and we were pregnant with our second child.

We were seen by all the top doctors at Miami Children’s Hospital. We were initially concerned with the news of the pregnancy but were assured that there were slim possibilities that the baby would also have this chromosome abnormality. Darren and I also had a chromosome study which showed normal results. Ryan began speech, occupational and physical therapies at 7 months of age. Although he didn’t have his diagnosis at that time, we were told that early intervention was essential.

Ryan made very slow and steady progress over the first 2 years of life. He eventually began to pick up toys, get on his hands and knees and began to interact with us. We kept Ryan very busy with involving him with our daily activities and events. We took him on vacations, were involved in play groups, and he started the PALS program at our local Easter Seals. (Preschool Activities for Language Stimulation - 2 mornings a week) This was a positive experience for the whole family. This was our first exposure to other families with special needs children and we have maintained a strong relationship with them.

We soon realized that having our second child, Blake, was the best thing that would ever happen to our family. As Blake began to grow and develop, Ryan became stimulated and developed a desire to move. Ryan didn’t do a traditional crawl, but adopted a “bunny hop” in which he would hop around and chase after his brother. They became inseparable.

We had a difficult time deciding where to place Ryan when he transitioned from Part C to Part B. Although we leaned towards the PLACE program in our local public schools, the preschool evaluation team recommended ARC Broward. After touring the school we found a perfect home for Ryan. He began soon after his 3rd birthday. He received speech, occupational, feeding and physical therapies at school. After being in school for 7 months, he began to walk while wearing his AFO’s and using a walker. In 2 short months, he was able to walk unassisted with no leg supports or walker. Although we were initially hesitant in sending Ryan to an all day program, our worries were quickly alleviated by the caring family of staff members, therapists and nurturing environment.

Ryan is currently 4 years and 4 months old. He is a happy and interactive boy who loves playing ball, reading books, swings and watching ANY sports! We can’t get him away from a TV if a football game is on. One of his greatest challenges is Ryan’s oral motor skills. Ryan will babble and try to verbalize sounds but has not yet spoken any words. He finally started putting his hands in his mouth and now we can’t get them out of there! Ryan is very orally defensive and attends several feeding therapies a week to stimulate his mouth to accept dry, crunchy foods. Ryan hasn’t developed a chewing pattern and his diet is still a soft texture.

Our doctors have been very happy with Ryan’s progress and have seen much growth over his 4 years. Ryan hasn’t had a seizure yet and we pray to remain “seizure free.” His cognitive abilities are delayed but can follow his routine and simple commands. Ryan is not yet potty trained but hope this will come in the next year of so. He is using augmentative devices in school for communication but has not yet had a “breakthrough” with this. Recently he started to pick up his shoes when he wanted to go outside and hover in the kitchen when it is mealtime. These are great signs for us!

Our family has grown even more with the new addition of yet another brother, Connor. Ryan loves to give kisses and hugs to his brother and tries to make him laugh all the time. Ryan’s affection towards others brings a smile to everyone’s face including his own. Ryan tries to comfort his brothers with a kiss if they become upset. His sweet deposition is such a blessing to us. He blends in with the family and brings us joy daily. Ryan has a wonderful extended family including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that love him dearly.

We have been thankful and excited to be a part of IDEAS. Although our doctors didn’t inform us of the support group, Ryan’s Aunt Amy found the site while searching in the internet. We hope that by sharing Ryan’s story we are able to help another family like ours.

Child Of The Month Archive

Child of the Month	Travis Ritter
Child of the Month	Lisa Poore
Child of the Month	Spencer Gray
Child of the Month	Lindsey Young
Child of the Month	Olivia Taylor
Special People Profile	Cheyenne Rain Jackson
Special People Profile	Naomi
Special People Profile	Bobby
Special People Profile	Kevin
Special People Profile	Olivia
Special People Profile	Megan
Special People Profile	Sarah
Special People Profile	Cheyenne D
Special People Profile	Joshua
Special People Profile	Robert
Special People Profile	Frederique
Special People Profile	Julia
Special People Profile	Ryan
Mount Prospect Times Article	Jake
Epilepsy Foundation Newsletter	Will
Exceptional Parent Magazine Story	Joshua D