Matthew

Matthew was born on April 25 2007.

Matthew is behind in walking (ataxia), talking and physical size. He can stand up on his own and start to walk, but stumbles along the way. I have seen him walk approximately 15 feet without falling. When he crawls he constantly shakes his head back and forth. He does the same when he is walking (even if he is holding on to something) and he seems to shake his head when he is tired. With the exception of his walking, physically he is not that far behind. He is very efficient at crawling and in his toddler gymnastics he is ahead of the class. He goes up and down stairs with ease, he has figured out ways to crawl up to the kitchen counters (we have to keep chairs and stools away from the bar tops and lock all the drawers) and he can climb up a high bed by stepping on the frame and get down by himself. He scares us because he seems to have no fear.
Cognitively he seems okay, actually he seems to have very good problem solving skills, he is determined is his tasks. For example he has on occasion unbuckled his car seat and he is starting to manipulate the child locks on the cabinets (you can see him look at the locks and he realizes they are stopping the doors so he tries to tear them off). In playing with toys, watching videos, and playing games he has a very short attention span. He will look at something for a few moments and then move on. The one exception to this seems to be cords or ropes. He likes to play with phone cords and jump ropes.
His speech is behind, however, he will copy tones, tunes and syllables. For example, if you hum a short tune, his mimic is surprisingly accurate. If you tell him to say a three syllable word he will produce a sound that is three syllables.