motor delays???

[jessica]

Hi! My name is jessica and I live in Il. My first questin is, is there anyone in Il.?
My 2nd question is does anyone else see a relation between anopthalmia and motor delays?
My son is 5 and he just started walking a 1 1/2 yr ago. he can barely tak yet i feelhe understands well. No drs. can put all this together. delays, Left eye anopthalmia, and he also was birn with a small penis from a low hormones in his pituatary gland. I just wanted to know if anyone else had any common issues?

[Sheila]

Hi Jessica,
To give you a basic simple answer, yes, anophthalmia "can be" (in some cases) associated with other issues such as motor delays, pituitary problems, etc.

Some of the gene mutations (SOX2, SIX6, PAX6) that have been discovered to be associated with anophthalmia/microphthalmia can also be associatied with other things.

Such as children having anophthalmia with a SOX2 gene mutation may also have other problems such as: learning disabilities (mild to severe), seizures, brain malformation (that are seen on MRI), motor abnomalities and delays, male genital tract malformations, mild facial differences, etc.
(they do not need to have ALL of these, some may have some problems, some others)

My daughter has bilateral anophthalmia, and also has a seizure disorder, and some gross motor delays (late walker, coordination problems, etc). I have heard of other kids with anophthalia who also have pituitary or other hormones problems.

So yes, it "may" all be related.
Hopefully others will chime in with their experiences.
Sheila

[jodi]

Hi Jessica

My son has motor delays too. He was a slow walker (now he wears AFO's, which helps) His language is slowly coming along, he is 7 now. Hope this helps.

Take Care,

Jodi in Ohio

[VicciR]

I have microphthalmia & some advice since he has started walking, be prepared for many bumps & falls. His depth perception is not going to be very well. So he will cut corners to sharply I did all the time when I was little & as a result I have a permanent bump on the right side of my forehead. He'll be slower going down steps too, so be patient. I'm almost 30 & I live in St. Louis, MO.

[Maria]

Hi, I'm new and my name is Maria. I am 30, and grew up with microphthalmia, and never even knew its name. But my parents treated me like I was normal, and this was both hard and good. I am so happy to meet sympathetic people, and am so glad my parents believed I could do everything.
I went to college and became a teacher for a number of years. I learned in one workshop that some learning disabilities come from lack of repetitious "crossover" excersize during toddlerhood. They are finding, that to properly develop basic motor skills helps the child to advance. The most basic motor skill that was usually undervalued was the action of crawling as a baby. What the crawling does is make the baby use the right side of the body in an opposite motion from the left. This is called a "crossover" excersize. The right side of the body is doing the opposite of the left side. What happens during crossover excersizes, is that the left brain and right brain are BOTH being utilized at the same time. This helps with every kind of speech and linguistic skill. The brain, during the crossover excersize of crawling, makes the right leg go forward while the left holds still, AND AT THE same time, makes the left hand move forward whiile the right holds still. So the brain learns to control both the left and right side of the body, at the same time, in opposite motions. AMAZING! It is one of the most critical skills that a baby can have...being a good crawler.
One of my students who was very bright in math, but had difficulties in linguistics, I found, had never crawled. So we began doing these excersizes, and he improved.
I am a teacher, not a doctor. But I also have microphthalmia, and I know that if I had only used my left eye to learn, one side of my brain would be weaker than the other. I regularly make myself work with both of my hands, so that both sides of my brain are accessed. I also tend to favor one leg, and try to take walks alone, so that I can focus on balancing my body and using the right side equally with the left.
Walking is a crossover excersize, too. But only when you swing your arms. Try it. You will find that when you walk with your arms swinging, your RIGHT HAND is forward at the same time as your LEFT FOOT. This swinging is neccesary for proper balance. The right brain and the left brain are both giving commands, at the same time, but giving opposite commands to opposite sides. They are working together, taking turns commanding the limbs. If the left brain tries to give more commands than the right, the person will favor one side of the body... say for example, misstepping, because the brain "forgot" to command the right side of the body to take it's turn moving.
This knowledge helped me to keep my body challenged on both sides, and helped more than one of my students. Many of them had hardly crawled, or never mastered crawling, as infants. "Mastering crawling" means that the infant can crawl a distance without favoring one side over the other too much. For example, children who have not mastered crawling might drag one leg, and only use the other, and their hands, to pull themselves forward.
I know that as a person with microphthalmia, using only one eye can make a person strongly tend to favor one side of the brain. But if your child has healthy limbs, excersizes like the crossover excersize of crawling, can help them to learn to use both sides of the brain... through the part of their body that ARE functional on both sides!!
Feel free to take my reccommendation to your pediatrician, or a physical therapist, or a specialist in learning disabilities... I know they will encourage and possibly recommend some crossover excersizes for you to do with your child. But above all, believe! Believe that your little one can do it! Your faith that your child can do it, is the wings they will fly with!
I believe your little one can do it, with all my heart! My parents believed in me, and I did it... all the way through school, on to college, and into being a teacher! Believe!
Blessings,
Maria

[sumerian]

Thank you so much for responding. I have a daughter, adopted from Russia, with microphthalmia. Luckily she was only in the orphanage for 18 months. She's almost 3 now and doing wonderfully, no delays. But I'll be adopting another little girl, 5 years old, with microphthalmia and I'm not sure what type of delays she may have. Your simple yet elegant solution to some of the issues posted was a relief to me. It let me see that I should not be afraid of the challenges my soon-to-be daughter will have. I can always rely on the support of this group and the experiences of those adults who have microphthalmia.