Former 23w0d micropreemie moving to HK; looking for various recommendations

CloudCloudC

Registered User
Dear all,

My son was born 17 weeks early at 23w0d in April 2006. He is now about 2.5 years old. We are moving from Tokyo (but we are US expats) to Hong Kong before Christmas and I am hoping for recommendations to support various of his medical and special needs:

-he had ROP Level III and has poor vision in his left eye so we need to find a pediatric opthamologist who can follow up on his eyes. We are hoping for someone who is good with children. Our poor son has had very, very bad experiences with the opthamologists here in Japan so he is terrified of them. We had a much, much better experience during a recent visit back to the US with an eye doctor who was really able to engage him and keep him happy. So we are hoping to find someone similar in HK. Any recommendations?

-he recently got diagnosed with likely permanent mild hearing loss and needs ABR testing done. It was recommended that we get his ABR testing done and hearing aids fitted in HK instead of the US as follow up is required. I searched online and there seems to be quite a few hearing centers in HK. Does anyone have any recommendations as to which is the best one to go to for a non-verbal 2.5 year old?

-he is significantly speech delayed and is basically non verbal. He only says one word consistently ("car" - boys will be boys lol). There are very, very few English speech therapists in Tokyo and we have not been lucky so far. This is actually one of the main reasons we are moving to HK - because of the availability of English speaking early intervention services. It is imperative that he gets speech therapy as soon as possible but after having tried the only English SLP that is available to us and having it not work out at all (she has never worked with someone as young as my son and did not know how to engage him), I want to find a really good SLP who is good with young children who are non-verbal. Any recommendations?

-he will also need occupational therapy and physiotherapy but those are not as critical.

He will go to the CDC at the Matilda so I expect to be able to get some recommendations from them as well but hope to see what others might recommend.

Thank you very much!
 
HI CloudCloudC

I would strongly recommend you to book a session with Dr. Barbara Lam first. Dr. Lam is a very experience peadiatrician who specializes in premature babies (probably the most experience paediatrician for preemies in HK). Prior to setting up her own clinic last year, she was the head of Queen Mary Hospital which is one of the best hospitals in Asia in terms of NICU qualities and facilities. I've been taking my son (who's also a micropreemie) to her clinic and I saw many photos of preemie grown ups. The smallest one she dealt with was a 430g boy. I'm quite sure she can recommend and refer you to the best specialists you need.

As for physiotherapists, you can try Liesbeth Krebbers (www.physiokids.com.hk). I have never tried her sessions but I heard she's very good and have a long waiting list. Alternatively you can also contact Watchdog (www.watchdog.org.hk). They offer private craniosacral/physiotherapy sessions (look for 'Saturday Program' on their website) with quite good facilities.

Matilda CDC could be a good start for you but I doubt how much resources they have on special needs children. My understanding is it's more for normal babies. In fact Matilda doesn't even have NICU and they don't accept premature deliveries and they normally refer cases to Queen Mary. You may try to see if Queen Mary Hospital offers any private checkup sessions for your son's ABR test and ROP follow up.

Hope this helps.
 
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Thank you jormanliu,

I should clarify, Isaac is going to the Child Development Center at Matilda for school not Matilda hospital since Watchdog has a long waiting list. We are definitely going to look into Watchdog's Saturday program. Thanks for the reference for Dr. Barbara Lam. I will look her up.

Are there any micropreemie support groups in Hong Kong?

Thanks again!
 
Hi there, and welcome to HK.

Dr Christopher Yu is an excellent paediatric opthalmologist - we had a very positive experience with him. He was extremely cordial and my son (who is usually very shy) loved him. There are also a lot of trains and cars in his waiting room and examination office so plenty to keep your little boy occupied.

Dr. Christopher Yu Premier Medical Centre Suite 718-733 Central Building, 1 Pedder Street, Hong Kong Tel: 3651.1718

Dr Ada Cheng is the person to see for actually getting the glasses made/fittings etc - she is excellent with toddlers, and also has a little play area

http://www.hkappo.org.hk/member/adacheng/

Hope this helps!
 
I am sure you have all the support you need already. Also try Intergrate HK. They are a native english speaking group who do OT, PT and ST. I refer my patients there and most of them are happy with the therapists. PM me if you need any help.
 
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