Sarah Gray – Development Delay Syndrome

 

‘At 3 years Sarah still wasn’t putting two words together, she spoke about twenty words that were barely understandable, and was very unstable on her feet.  She could not jump, climb or run without tripping.  Sarah’s tolerance to pain had always been very high; so high my husband often wondered if she could feel it at all.  She did not concentrate deeply and would move from thing to thing and person to person like a butterfly, always smiling, and giving hugs. Sarah did not answer to her name, nor could she say it.  She was just the happy little girl, with the biggest smile, that gave the best hugs, lighting up the room and making you happy, but did not communicate with you.

 

About two weeks before Sarah was due my husband and I were told the placenta may be failing. Her birth was normal and was a very easy baby. My husband started to notice something wasn’t right at about 18 months but thought he was being paranoid.  He became more concerned at around 2 years of age but I didn’t want to believe him, I was very heavily pregnant with my fifth and did not have the time and energy to take him seriously.  I did however talk to the Maternal Child and Health Nurse, when I visited with my newborn.  She was concern Sarah wasn’t talking (she was babbling but not talking), but thought a little more time may help.  Sarah’s vocabulary did improve a little over time but only clear enough for a mother to understand and she would not say Dad! We waited for a few more months to see if her speech would improve, but it did not.  We went down the track of getting her hearing tested.  It was fine. Then we went to a speech pathologist (Sarah was 2yr 10mth). She diagnosed a definite language delay of about 9 to 12 months in both comprehension and talking, and advised she would need speech therapy.  The Pathologist also noticed Sarah’s walking was not good for her age and suggested we see a physiotherapist.

 

Eventually a pediatrician informed us that Sarah had ‘Globe Development Delay’ and all we could do was wait and see if she would grow out of it.  The best outcome would be that she would suddenly wake up and catch up, but the more likely outcome would be she would always drag behind her age group and need additional help learning.  There was also always the chance she would not develop further or would develop at such a slow rate as to render a child for life.

 

Sarah started hyperbaric treatment in October 2006 - she was 3-years 1-mth.  Over 86 hours of treatment - we have seen vast improvements in Sarah at a far greater rate than ever before.  Her motor skills have developed – jumping, climbing, and running around with far les tripping. Sarah is now joining words together – she sings along to songs and dances along with the Wiggles and finally calling her father, Daddy!  Sarah is also comprehending more, answering to her name and obeying simple instructions.

 

Sarah is now more alert of her surroundings and is concentrating more intently as she investigates her environment.  She has found her own will and starting to assert it. It may sound strange but she is looking more engaging in the face and is starting to feel pain. 

 

Over the past several months we have pulled back on Hyperbaric but continued with Median Nerve Stimulation. Sarah has continued to make improvement – she is now singing along with songs, speaking more sentences, socially interactive, able to concentrate whilst reading books, greatly improved balance and coordination and overall more independent. Another change we noticed was that whilst doing Hyperbaric Sarah grew! Our family is looking forward to Sarah’s continued development, and look to the future with far more optimism.’ – Susan (mother)