Straws and IQ

Alanna is engaging in her favourite pastime in these photos:  drinking juice.  She loves juice.  I have several spare PECs on deck for juice because it is what she asks for most frequently.  Now, before you accuse me of loading her up on sugar, "juice" is really short for "mostly water with some juice for flavour".  Attempts to give Alanna water have so far failed miserably - and attempts to give "wean" her off the juice additive have failed too.  We could probably do it if we wanted to, but the amount of total juice she is getting is still not that much overall.

Notice the difference between pictures!  The photo on the left is Alanna using her sippy cup.  The photo of the right is Alanna using a straw.  Woohoo, the girl uses a straw!  Most parents, if asked how their kids learned to use a straw, will tell you a story like this:  "Well, I had a cup with a straw and she wanted it so I let her try and she liked it."  Not this girl.  Oh no, not even close.  This took weeks of trying, and we finally had a breakthrough when we used a juice box because we could squeeze it into her mouth to show her good things were inside.  Every little victory is huge for us, including this one.

On another note, Alanna received her first assessment since beginning funded IBI.  Cognitively, she is at the 16th percentile - which translates to an age equivalent of 24 months, or an IQ of 85.  This means that Alanna does not appear to have an intellectual disability at this time!  We are thrilled with this result because studies have shown that IQ is a major predictor of outcome.