Emma had a hearing and speech evaluation today.
Last year, when she was at Little Miners Montessori, she had the same evaluation. The results came back and she had failed the hearing test in her right ear. They also said that her voice sounded like she was talking through her nose. They suggested that maybe she had a cold and had fluid in her ear. I waited about 2 months and then took her to our family doctor to have it evaluated. They didn’t do a hearing test, but checked to see if her eardrum would move with an air test. He couldn’t get the eardrum to move, but he didn’t seem very concerned about it. It wasn’t effecting her speech or her development so we just decided to wait it out.
A few weeks ago Ian had his evaluation at school. He passed with flying colors, but it got me thinking about Emma’s hearing again. I called the audiologist and scheduled an appointment for Emma.
Luckily she passed the hearing test, but they did identify a few problems. Her voice was still quite nasaly. The audiologist felt that the nasal voice combined with her snoring and mouth breathing indicated a problem. She probably has enlarged adenoids and will probably need her tonsils and adenoids removed. The next thing is they said she has a slight speech impediment. She has a slight lisp and a tongue thrust. She recommended a program to help her stop sucking her thumb. Hopefully that alone will fix the speech issues, but if it doesn’t, then she will need to do some speech therapy too.
The first thing we are going to do is have her see a pediatrician to be evaluated and referred to a pediatric ENT. We have an appointment for tomorrow, so we will just have to wait and see what they recommend.
Once school is out for the summer, we will start the thumb sucking cessation program. Emma will have a consultation with the audiologist. She will start a journal and wear some “thumb buddy” gloves to sleep. The audiologist says that most kids stop sucking their thumbs within 3 days! Hopefully it will work as well for Emma.
Hopefully we will know a little bit more tomorrow. I’m not really worried about it, but I feel kind of negligent about the whole thing. I knew that her voice was nasaly but I didn’t know that was something to be concerned about. As far as the lisp goes, I have honestly never noticed it. I just attributed anything I ever heard was due to her crooked teeth and her weird bite. I hope that she doesn’t have any long term issues from this that could have been prevented.
I’ll update everyone again when I know more.
- I am Kerry, and this is my blog. I am a wife, mother and photographer. I use this blog to talk about my life, my family, and my love of photography. I also use it to showcase some of my photos. I hope you enjoy it!
I understand what you are going through. I relate from all the speech challenges we’ve had with Isaac. It sounds like they have some ideas about what is going on with her though. Hopefully things will be sorted out soon. Good luck!
By Manda on 05.15.09 4:34 pm | Permalink
don’t feel negligent, she is developing above normal and it is not evident at all…you are a great mom.
love
By yori on 05.15.09 5:52 pm | Permalink
Hi Kerry. I was in Brianna’s workshop with you. I love your blog. I think your photos are great – so much so, that you should be charging people RIGHT NOW!!!
That being said, I noticed this post in particular … my youngest son Jake (he will be 3 in June) has had problems with speech development. He is bright and has no developmental delays, just words have been slow to come and they are not always very clear.
After a year of evaluation (in which he failed one hearing test and passed another) and school district offered speech classes for toddlers, they said he was in the “normal range.” I still felt as if something was amiss. I decided to pursue a visit with an ENT (we used Bryan Taggee – offices in SLC and Park City.) He confirmed that indeed Jake needs his tonsils and adenoids out. He also explained that it can delay the speech or cause a speech impediment in some kids. Their voice doesn’t sound right to them either, so they choose not to talk at all or limited talking with undistinguishable words. I understand him, but usually play the role of translator for everyone else.
We scheduled his surgery for June 22nd, we are hoping this will help him with his speech, kicking the colds and maybe address his “snoring.”
Hope this helps, email me if you have any questions, sorry about the LONG post!
By Mickelle Marston on 05.22.09 10:00 pm | Permalink
Don’t feel negligent at all, You are such a wonderful mother. We don’t know what we don’t know. Gage has been going through some issues as well. It is so easy as the mother to blame ourselves for things that aren’t right. I know she will be just fine. Sounds like you have a good plan and getting there can be half the battle. We’ll be thinking of you.
By Gretchen on 05.26.09 11:23 am | Permalink
Kerry- after probably 3 months, I finally have had the time to explore your blog! I LOVE and adore and admire all your pictures…and LOVE your posts about ‘MY GRANDKIDS’! (ha)
About Emma’s issue..there is really nothing to forgive, but Forgive Yourself…you always do the very best you possibly can…..I’m so glad my grandkids have you to care for them!
xo Dava
By Dava on 06.20.09 8:34 pm | Permalink