Does Josie Duggar appear to have marked cognitive delays?

[3 is enough]

I am fully aware that micro-preemies like Josie do progress slowly compared to full-term babies. I also realize that any breathing issues could take years to resolve. The fact that she's walking is a positive sign.

 

Having said that, judging from the (admittedly limited and no doubt heavily edited) footage of Josie I have seen, it appears to me that she has some significant cognitive delays. JB and Michelle seem to enjoy highlighting her clapping and babbling. While I suppose this is a positive sign, this is something my kids did around 7-8 months of age. Josie is almost 2. Even factoring in expected delays, this seems to be a major setback.

 

From my limited perspective, she doesn't seem to be fully engaged. She could certainly benefit from some speech and occupational therapy, but is she getting it? Or will she? Is it possible she has hearing issues? Are they being addressed? Unfortunately, especially now with all of the focus on number 20, she has been dumped on a buddy, and relegated to the pack of forgotten howlerettes.

 

It is just sad. I really hope her idiot parents don't just try to pray any problems away.

[emmiedahl]

I doubt she is getting the therapy she needs because they are never home.

I don't think she seems that behind considering what she went through, and I am sure her hearing has been tested. I think that with the right intervention she can totally pull through, but she is probably not getting that help.

[ladypuglover]

Also remember that we are seeing footage that may be months old.

I also doubt that Josie is getting the help she needs.

My nephew was born at 31 weeks, 23 years ago and he looked like Josie during his first 2-3 years but unlike Josie, my nephew was getting daily therapy for his premature needs. Today my nephew is a bright, fully functioning adult who is normal in every sense of the word and I only hope that we can see the same for Josie.

Hell, my 4 preemies were barely preemie compared to Josie and the last 2 sons are still getting help. They are 12 and almost 10 and even the 18 yr old senior still gets it sometimes although not bi-weekly like his little brothers. But then again my preemies go to an evil public school.

[genericJname]

Hell, my 4 preemies were barely preemie compared to Josie and the last 2 sons are still getting help. They are 12 and almost 10 and even the 18 yr old senior still gets it sometimes although not bi-weekly like his little brothers. But then again my preemies go to an evil public school.

My 4 year old gets his therapy at an evil public school. We have to be careful of all the atheist worldviews embedded in the preschool curriculum though. :lol:

[Beeks]

My 4 year old gets his therapy at an evil public school. We have to be careful of all the atheist worldviews embedded in the preschool curriculum though. :lol:

We'll likely be moving to public school special education when my son turns three and ages out of EI. We've been in EI for over a year now and it has been a HUGE blessing (excuse my fundie-speak) for us so I think it's really sad if Josie needs it and isn't getting it.

[luckylibrarian]

If there is something that needs to addressed through therapy of some sort, I doubt that Josie will be able to overcome it as much as she would in another family with fewer kids and saner parents. I suspect that TLC and the family will hide any issues as much as they can. If the truth ever comes out, it won't be until Joy's tell-all book.

[Lily]

Jordyn's just a couple months younger than my 3YO and even factoring in the time delay from filming to airing the episodes, and 2 months age difference, Jordyn is significantly delayed. And my 3YO is not especially precocious either, she was slightly premature herself. She's pretty average. Jordyn was supposedly a normal birth too. For that matter, even Jennifer doesn't seem normal for a 4 year old. It seems like Hannie was the last Duggarling to really develop normally.

If Jordyn is delayed that much, Josie almost certainly would be even if she had been healthy and full term or close to it. The inattentiveness of Jichelle and Dim Bulb, combined with the constant traveling and inconsistent caregiver bonds, seem to be taking their toll on the development of all the Duggars from the younger howlers on down.

[doggie]

would they even admit she needs help? or that there is something wrong?

[Beeks]

Jordyn's just a couple months younger than my 3YO and even factoring in the time delay from filming to airing the episodes, and 2 months age difference, Jordyn is significantly delayed. And my 3YO is not especially precocious either, she was slightly premature herself. She's pretty average. Jordyn was supposedly a normal birth too. For that matter, even Jennifer doesn't seem normal for a 4 year old. It seems like Hannie was the last Duggarling to really develop normally.

If Jordyn is delayed that much, Josie almost certainly would be even if she had been healthy and full term or close to it. The inattentiveness of Jichelle and Dim Bulb, combined with the constant traveling and inconsistent caregiver bonds, seem to be taking their toll on the development of all the Duggars from the younger howlers on down.

I don't watch the show...what does Jordyn do that seems delayed?

[longskirts]

I think they might admit if she needs help. I remember in one of the episodes shortly after Jose was born, Jim Bob said something like, "We don't yet know if she'll develop normally or if she'll need therapies". So it sounded like they were open to the idea of therapy in the case of cognitive delays.

[Mythicwings]

Jordyn's just a couple months younger than my 3YO and even factoring in the time delay from filming to airing the episodes, and 2 months age difference, Jordyn is significantly delayed. And my 3YO is not especially precocious either, she was slightly premature herself. She's pretty average. Jordyn was supposedly a normal birth too. For that matter, even Jennifer doesn't seem normal for a 4 year old. It seems like Hannie was the last Duggarling to really develop normally.

I've noticed that too. It is like they have two toddlers and one baby, as opposed to two preschoolers and a toddler. :( Do they even notice?

[Guest Anonymous]

I really hope she is or will get the help she needs if there is an issue with her being delayed. My niece was born at 28 weeks and aside from some breathing/asthma issues (she is 2 now), she is completely on track for her age. I know my sister takes her in for what they call NICU checkups every six months to make sure she is on track. I hope the Duggars are at least doing that for poor Josie.

[Lily]

I don't watch the show...what does Jordyn do that seems delayed?

She doesn't talk clearly even 1/4 of the time, still communicates in a very infantile way. The few words we've seen her speak as of recent episodes are words most 15-18 month olds have, far below an almost 3 year old. The way she plays is also quite a bit lagging behind where Hannie and even somewhat Jennifer seemed to be at her age, if I go through old episodes posted online from about the same age. She's not as physically developed as either of them were, nor any 2.5-3 year old I know in my own life. Her problem solving skills seem to include one method and one method only: identify problem; scream or cry until one of the J'slaves solves it. Half the time she just wanders about looking around as though she's thinking, "where am I, who are you people, and what am I doing here?"

[marmalade]

Also remember that we are seeing footage that may be months old.

The Q&A was just taped after they returned from their trip (Josie was wearing the cannulas), so it's about 6 weeks old, tops. She had virtually no response/engagement when personally addressed (by Boob, IIRC) about being a big sister. But she has learned to clap on command, probably from observation, but I expect any 1 year old to be able to master that.

I think she's a bit delayed, but hopefully will catch up by the time she's forced to sit at the DRT for Bankruptcy Law class when she's 5. Led by Old Maid Jessa, of course.

[Daenerys]

Can Josie walk unaided? I always see her being carried around or strapped into a pushchair/bouncy seat.

Sucks especially for Jana too if she's very delayed, as it ties her to the one person least likely to be able to let her go if she ever wanted to get out of the house (marriage or escape) because she's been given a semi-permanent baby.

[gustava]

Thank you for raising this concern. Josie's eyes seem both oddly shaped (though not Downs) and somewhat recessed, and her nose seems a bit flat. Any medics on here who could provide guidance?

[dairyfreelife]

Being a preemie, and a micro one at that, she will probably be delayed for awhile. I also doubt she'll get the care she needs, but not all public school special education is something to brag about. The resource teachers in the schools I went too were mostly jerks. I know my view is warped due to negative experience with several local resource teachers. My uni requires all education students to observe in special education rooms and most of my colleagues who went to the rooms had very bad experiences with the teachers as well.

I know one girl who in a class of mine last spring who was a resource assistant teacher for autistism and mild retardation (I don't like that word, but that term is still used here) and she was planning on being an elementary teacher. She was one the rudest and most obnoxious people I ever had the pleasure of knowing. Everything anyone said she had some smartass comment to and I mean everything. If she is that way with her students, I feel awful for those children.

I still recall one time, I was probably about seven, waiting outside with my class and the resource ladies came with their charges and were screaming at them to shut up, stop that, look at them right now, etc. They weren't doing anything wrong, one boy I remember stopped to look at a board and got screamed at. :shock: It wasn't the only time. It's stuck with me since.

I just wanted to share that all is not bright with ps help. On the positive side, I heard the speech therapist at the school when I was there was wonderful (I never saw one, but other students liked her). I'm sure she's retired now. She was an older woman (maybe mid-50s) when I was there.

I hope things are different in other areas though and that many other resource teachers in schools are good ones who want to help instead of the ones I've come across.

With that said, if Josie or any other child in that family needs extra help, they are entitled to it by law. PS offers many services and with a good therapies and good teachers, they could get on track. Josie may catch up though. No way to know yet.

[marmalade]

Josie can walk; she was standing in the doorway when she got knocked over when they visited the Bateses last summer. I think she's been walking unaided for about 6 months now (in real time...it's easy to figure out the show's taping delays). I've actually seen her copying her older howler sisters and running around like a banshee a little bit. Her motor skills don't seem too much delayed, but her cognitive abilities are definitely lacking.

[Lillybee]

I think that the biggest reason why Jordyn is speech delayed is that the adults never talk to her alone. Same thing could be happening to Josie.

[Rachel333]

In the spring my mom talked to a lady who babysat Josie and some of the other kids quite a bit, and she was was walking at that point but hadn't been walking very long. She said that Josie was fine, just very tiny.

I'm not sure that that woman would know what to look for in terms of development, though. It also surprised me that they're having someone other than the older girls look after the younger ones.

[MaroonMandy]

Maybe the older girls were out registering for college classing or courting or maybe signing Joy up for soccer?!?

[VeraAnne]

She's 2, right? With preemies, they typically say that catch up development should happen by 2. If it doesn't, that's a sign that she might have some significant delays.

[Terrie]

There was a study done of hearing children of deaf parents which showed that without active engagement, they had delays in their spoken language. You can't acquired language passively. So if the younger kids are being handed off to siblings who are unengaged in their parents tasks (hardly a shock at their age), the kids on the "buddy" system will suffer in terms of tehir development. :(

[dirtyhippiegirl]

I do pediatric home health nursing -- of course, I specialize in ventilator dependent children but the majority of my vent-dependent kiddos were born at around the same time/weight as Josie. (So that's one thing that Josie has going for her.)

Josie, just from watching the obviously heavily edited videos of her, seems about on par with the rest of the kids that I see who were born with similar circumstances and are now around her age. She has about another year or two before truly marked delays will start appearing, if they're there. I think there is a lot of catch-up done in the 2-3 year-old stage which I wouldn't always say is a result of PT/OT. Usually, most of the kids that I deal with at least, only get an hour of PT/OT and maybe an hour of speech once every week. Once every two-three weeks if they're rural. Ideally, you'd expect the family and nursing staff (which I believe Josie only had for a very short time right after her first discharge?) to reinforce PT/OT/speech work but that's generally not the case, sadly.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I haven't seen enough footage of Josie to make an armchair diagnosis other than she doesn't look like she's all there mentally (yeah, I know that's not a clinical term). But that could be due to her prematurity or ongoing health issues and not an indicator of cognitive impairment.

I also wonder about Jordyn and Jennifer-- if they were my kids, I would want someone to give them a speech and language evaluation.