Bone Age

We recently took Avery for her 5 year old check-up.  Her previous pediatrician had just retired so we were meeting her new pediatrician for the first time.  Avery behaved well during the visit until it was time for her shots.  The girl had a come apart and it took both April and I (and the nurse) to hold her down.  Needless to say she HATES shots!!!  Since this was a new pediatrician and since Avery had just reached the 5 year milestone we felt it was appropriate for us to voice her concern about her size.  She has honestly weighed 25 pounds forever and we worry about her size as she starts Kindergarten in August.  We found out that she is in the 3rd percentile on the average growth chart.  Dr. Crum told us about a simple test that would let us know if we should be concerned.  This Bone Age test was a simple x-ray of her forearm and this x-ray would be compared to other images.  The radiologists could give Avery's bones an age....the younger her bone age the better because it would mean that she would grow longer than most people.  Avery's bone age was 40 months (and she is really 60 months old) so this was a good sign but she did measure really close to the standard deviation that would have her classified as "short stature".  A short stature diagnosis would mean more testing with an endonicrologist.  Dr. Crum felt that right now we should just keep a close eye on her growth and continue to have Bone Age tests at her 6th and 7th year old check-up.  It's possible that she is just going to be petite....but without knowing her genetic make-up it was important to us look deeper into the matter.