Monday, April 08, 2013

The Hearing Test

Quentin's hearing test went well on Thursday at the Children's Hospital. The tubes he had put in are working efficiently, he can hear perfectly. We did not do a test before the tubes were put in his ears, so we don't have a basis for comparison, unfortunately. So, yes, he has speech delay (they can see from listening to him) but because of his age, and because he can hear now, he's low priority for speech therapy through the Children’s hospital here. They will submit a request, but they warned me there is a TWO (crap!) year waiting list for speech therapy. The lady we had the appointment with did say that maybe because of everything that he's been through with his Laryngomalacia and everything else, that maybe he might go through the system quicker than 2 years, but it's not an urgent need to get him speech therapy, it's more to help he move along/catch up. She told me I could go private, if I had insurance through work (which I don't), or I could check with my local CLSC (health and social service centres) - as some CLSC's have resources like an "in house" speech therapist. I stopped in at the CLSC in my area and they don't have in house, or the girl didn't know what I was talking about, but gave me the phone number to call their social work department, as they might know further info, or might have a good direction to point me in. So I did. And someone called me back on Friday and I picked up a questionnaire to fill out. They would basically only help us if Quentin is behind developmentally in 2 areas or more. After reading over the form/questionnaire, to me, it seems that there is more than one area that Quentin is behind in (for example he cannot walk up stairs, he crawls them, and doesn't do a bunch other things in the gross motor list, so he would fail that section and be behind in that too... as an example). I filled out the questionnaire in full this weekend, some things I had to do activities with Quentin to see what he does, and I have an appointment end of April to meet with them - there was a 2-3 week wait for an appointment, which isn't bad). So we'll see if I get anywhere with the CLSC. Lastly, I can check to see if my daycare coordinator has any resources, because some CPE's ('Centre de Petite Enfance' (Early Childhood Center)) (though we're not a CPE by name and not 7$ a day(7$ daycare is government subsidized completely) (I pay $16.50 per kid per day at our daycare), but we're not private either so I might have access to CPE benefits, like speech therapy, but I have to call the government and see what resources we are entitled to) have resources for speech therapists to come to daycare, to help your child, and it's free. I think I'll try to push to see if that can help me out in any way whatsoever. Worst case, I might take a private appointment, just to get Quentin assessed to see where he's at, and if they can give me some tools to work with him, so that I can do it on my own, and just pay that 300$-400$ for the initial assessment for a speech therapist. It's expensive. Private speech therapy after assessment runs 100$ an hour.

And that's that. I am so glad he's hearing well, and the tubes are working. He is still young enough that he can catch up and not have any effects with his speech, but you never know, and if I can correct it, now would be the time, since he's still very young (28 months, 1 week).

I’m trying to be as pro-active as I can. I am glad this was all caught now, though, we might have been able to avoid all this had our doctor taken my concerns more seriously, and if they were, maybe his adenoids and tubes surgery would have been a year earlier, when he would have been learning to talk, and this all wouldn’t have been an issue at all. Maybe some of this is because he was premature, but who knows. All I know is I will try to do all I can for my son, and that’s all that really matters now.

9 comments:

Celia said...

Ugh! I'm sorry you are having to jump through so many hoops. Is there anything you can do at home in the mean time.

Sandra said...

You are absolutely doing it for the right reason - Quentin. We had some speech therapy becasue of a tendency to lisp (must be hereditary - I had a lisp as well!), but we paid for the private to fill in the time before we got the school based therapy - it was really worth it. He flew through the school based therapy, and now you would never know. But, we were dealing solely with the speech - if Q has other motor skill delays, you should be able to get help quicker - good luck!

Caroline said...

You're a great mom Robyn. I hope Quentin can get the help he needs! I'm sure he'll catch up!

Unknown said...

I'm glad the tubes are helping! He'll catch up, he's young, and they're so resilient at this age. Maybe do some of your own research on how to help him at home, there has to be something, games to play, to help him out?

Taci simmons said...

Yes that is all that matters and you are doing a wonderful job as a mom and he will appreciate it someday.

Una said...

I just thought my comment might help as we went through something similar. My daughter never rolled over or crawled and didn't start walking until 21 months old. She went up stairs on all fours and came down on her bottom for YEARS. Strangers had trouble understanding her speech and her teachers were becoming concerned. There was a long wait for speech therapy which we never had eventually. The things that helped were drama lessons which increased her confidence and really helped with her speech. She also loved swimming and reached bronze medal standard. She now talks clearly and walks normally. People used to say she would catch up and she did in her own time. If your son likes music he might benefit from singing lessons and maybe dance lessons. Best wishes with everything.

Jennifer Hays said...

Hi, I came here from the Blogging group on Rav. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I have been there myself; my son does not have ear tubes but he did have a very serious speech delay and went through much testing and evaluation before I finally got him approved for Early Intervention therapies when he was a toddler. He had apraxia of speech and a lot of core-strength issues, probably related to a larger set of issues he has involving his urinary tract, kidneys and spinal development. It helped him immensely when he was finally able to start it. He is going on eight years old now and you wouldn't be able to tell he'd ever had trouble with his speech. I really hope your son will benefit too, or that the delay will resolve itself soon. It's not an easy road, I can completely attest to that. Hang in there. Your blog is really interesting, I'm following you and looking forward to reading more. :)

g-girl said...

You already know my thoughts on this. Sending positive thoughts your way. :)

katie metzroth said...

Kids are resilient. Best wishes for Quentin that he catches up soon!