Delayed Myelin and not walking

[Zoe's Mom]

My almost 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with Delayed Myelin at age 2.  Her verbal, cognitive and fine motor skills are all normal, however, her gross motor skills are severly delayed.  She is only able to walk with braces (AFOs). Her gait and balance is extremely whobbly.  

-  Is this a common diagnosis?
-  What are our chances for the myelin to get to normal levels?
-  On average, what age does the mylin typically come in for those persons with delayed myelin?

[Quixotic1]

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's problem.  Delayed myelination occurs because the young, developing brain was injured in some way.  This can happen any time before, during or soon after birth.  Depending on what caused the injury (and often we never know) and how severe the injury was, the area may continue to develop myelin on the nerve sheaths for the first couple years of  life.  Or, the process may never be complete.

Myelin is the protective coating around the nerve that help transmit nerve signals properly and fast enough.  Without proper myelin some of the signal or information may be lost.  In your daughter's case the nerves involved deal with her ability to move around, especially with her legs.

We have not discovered anything to accelerate the proper increase of myelinization.  There is no way to know how much she will recover from this problem, but children often surprise us.  I never make predictions.  She just needs all the help and encouragement possible.  I wish you the best for her.  I'm so glad she's developing so well with her other skills.  They are far more important for her ultimate quality of life!

Quix (former developmental pediatrician)