C and D

C and D

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Speech continued........

So, I don't know if I've really talked (pun intended) about it on here but Decky doesn't say much. He is loud, that is for sure, but he really doesn't have conversations with us and he has a hard time articulating what he wants. He says lots of words. Random words - they usually don't go together, and his speech is difficult for anyone to understand really other than me. I am around him all day everyday so I know what he wants 99% of the time but Paul sometimes struggles with it and definitely anyone other than the two of us its like yea right..................I have known for probably about 6 months or so that he was a little behind on the speech curve but its also so so so soooooooo hard to tell if something is REALLY wrong. Maybe he's just a little behind and he'll catch up. Kids do things at such different rates that it almost seems unfair to cite a "normal" list of what they should be doing and when but being around his friends and other kids I could tell he was definitely behind. And in the last two months or so it started to really frustrate him and it seemed to be something I wouldn't be able to fix myself.

I struggled with the decision to get a speech eval because again, kids do things at such different rates and he's been so far ahead of the curve on so many of the physical milestones etc that it was like ok, maybe this is something he will just be behind on but its no big deal and he will just do it on his own time. The last thing I want is to give my child a complex and have him thinking there's something wrong with him when there isn't so I didn't want to push him. I want to let him do things at his own pace, BUT when I saw him struggling and really getting frustrated at not being able to communicate adequately I figured it was time.............thus why we went yesterday.

We went to a local non-profit speech and hearing therapy joint that our doctor strongly recommended and I'm really glad we did. They start off every speech eval with a general hearing test and while I went in thinking there is no chance he has a hearing problem, turns out he might. Which could be a bit of the problem.....

The speech therapist took him after his hearing test and like I said, he went back willingly and I could hear them playing for about 30 minutes which was so great. I went back there when we were done and she went over her "findings" - the first thing she said was that "he did so great, he said TONS of words for me" which is awesome because i was sooooooo nervous that he would be a little mute with someone new. I'm glad he was comfortable enough to talk to her and she was able to hear how he speaks and says his words. She said there's nothing tragic going on here, all he needs is a "jump start" - she did say he doesn't finish his words which is very very true, paul and i have noticed that for awhile, so that makes her think it might be something with his hearing. That, and the audiologist recommended a full hearing test because Declan didn't respond to some of the test the way kids with "normal" hearing do. She asked about ear infections (he has had none) but he is around kids all the time so he gets colds a lot and when he does the fluid could be coming and going from his ear canal and although not getting infected, staying around for too long and causing basically an "underwater effect" for declan so he doesn't hear words properly thus not pronouncing them properly.

She also said that with kids Declan's age and his delay, they usually wait 4 or 5 months to start therapy because they don't have to attention span to concentrate on the therapy but she was super impressed with his attention span and said that he could/should start now and would benefit immediately. So that made me happy. And proud. Happy to start soon, proud that he does concentrate really well. He always has - from a super young age......it used to weird me out but in this instance it serves him well. :)

So anyhow, that's the long and long of it ;) He goes on Friday for the full hearing test and starts on Tuesday with Miss Bernie. I LOVED her, she's been a speech pathologist for over 30 years and really connected with Declan so I think it will be great for him. Its like she says, he needs a little jump start, and I'm glad we've found a good place for him to get it...............