Natalie at MIND

Since Jacob turned one we have been partipating in research on autism at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Insitute. One of the main studies we participate in is the "Infant Siblings", which looks at early diagnosis.

Natalie has been tracked through this study since she was 3 months old. Recently she went in for her three-year visit and we just received the report back the other day. She did really well! This is such a relief for us....although we've never really worried about her and autism or other developmental issues, it is always good to know that she's been evaluated and that no red flags came up.

Her scores this time around were so good and she just did really well all around. Chris took her to the exam and was proud of how she handled herself. She had fun with it too! One of the main exams is called the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Her results were:

- Visual, 73. This area tests things like problem solving, spatial relationships, etc...basically how she puts everything together. She was 35 months old at the time of testing and a score of 73 puts her at the average range of a 50-month-old. This put her in the 99th percentile.

- Fine Motor, 55. This put her at the 37-month range and at the 69th percentile.

- Receptive Language, 64. This put her at the 44-month range and in the 92nd percentile.

- Expressive Language, 65. This put her at the 45-month range and in the 93rd percentile.


Getting these results back is a good reminder that we need to pay attention to Natalie's needs as well as Jacob's in terms of education and pushing her to do her best. She's a really smart little girl and we should probably be doing more to nurture that in her.