We're heading back to Kennedy Krieger Institute!

Hi Friends!

It's been a long time since I posted to this blog, but here we go again!

Ethan is scheduled to be readmitted to the intensive feeding program at Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD on April 16, 2012. It has been almost 3 years since his last admit at KKI. You can read the history in the blog below.

In a nutshell, we were sent to KKI because Ethan would eat only 1 food and drink only 1 drink at 6 and a half years old. During his time in the feeding program, he made some progress, but it was determined that his feeding issues were due to physical issues, namely an aberrent right subclavian artery which was wrapped around his esophagus. We left KKI in July 2009 and Ethan had surgery to reimplant the artery in its proper place in November 2009. Two years post surgery (2011) Ethan had nearly doubled his weight, but would still not accept new foods.

Ethan was also diagnosed with ADHD/Combined Type and a feeding tube (gtube) was inserted for medication administration. After months of evaluations to ensure no additional physical issues remained, Ethan is heading back to Kennedy Krieger to work on intensive feeding therapy. We hope to expand Ethan's diet and to get him to feed himself independently.

For those of you new to the blog, Kennedy Krieger arguably has the number 1 feeding program in the world. It is located at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore MD. KKI takes 12 kids at a time and works INTENSIVELY on feeding. Last time, Ethan's daily schedule included medical checkup(s), 4 one hour feeding sessions, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Play Group, Behavior Therapy, and Parent Training. KKI employs Applied Behavior Analysis, an extremely effective therapy option. Kids come from all over the world to be part of this program.

I'll try to update the blog as often as I can to keep you updated on Ethan's progress and on his antics.
Thanks!
Molly