Over the past few years Garett and I have worried about Owen's speech. He has always been about 6 months behind where the books report he should be. As he gets older he is falling further and further behind. While Owen will tell long stories with lots of sound effects, waving arms and big facial expressions, at age 3 he still only puts together 3 recognizable word sentences. But most people don't understand any of what he is saying. He tends to say "hua?" and "what" frequently. Of all this, what has concerned us most of all is that often he doesn't seem to understand us. We try to explain the same thing to him in different ways but he still seems like he doesn't understand the words coming out of our mouths. We were concerned that he was hearing impaired. Although Owen did respond to sound, Garett and I both have deaf family members so we thought maybe this was the case for him.
When he was 2 I took him to the Babies Can't Wait program in our county. They tested him and were able to note that he had some annunciation disorder. Although they could not tell me any more than that because they stoped testing him disqualifying him for early intervention since he did not flunk more than the speech category. They told me that I should take him to a private therapist. Unfortunately that wasn't covered by insurance and $75 a visit didn't work with our budget. My pediatrician assured me that she thought he would out grow the problem and to just keep an eye on it.
As I watched Owen struggle to communicate with others I worried about leaving him any where out of my care. I'm the only one who understands what he says. What if his needs weren't met? What if someone hurt him out of frustration? I'm glad to have friends with kids who have speech problems because I don't know that I would have learned about intervention programs that were out there. Now that Owen is three he qualifies for the early intervention preschool through our county's school system.
Before being evaluated for speech I had his hearing tested and vision checked. Both came back in the range of normal. I took him in March for the school's evaluation. I was expecting to leave with a plan for speech therapy at the elementary school by our house. I was surprised when they continued to do more extensive testing noting all kinds of things that I thought were just cute toddler things but were communication problems.
I'm still waiting for the official report with all the diagnostic details. There were a list of problems they made that would require treatment. They thought that they were possibly all linked to one greater problem. It's called Auditory Processing Disorder (ADP). It is a dysfunction with the central auditory system. Not the ears ability to hear but the ability for the brain to process sound is impaired. ADP can be complicated so we have a lot to learn as we go. People with ADP can, like any other person, have a variety of other problems like mental retardation, autism, AD/HA, real hearing loss, among a zillion other things to chose from. Owen, from what we can tell, is otherwise normal and quite bright.
A good example of the way a person with ADP hears has been described as listening through water. They might not be able to discern between sounds like "g" and "d" so dog, God, dod and gog all sound the same. It can make learning to speak, read and write difficult.
Owen, to sum it up, can hear but he doesn't fully understand the meaning of sound. He does understand a lot and is able to learn but has a long way to go and should be able to catch up. He also has speech problems that need therapy. They will be teaching Owen how to cope with the problem since there is no drug or operation that can help. All this information is a lot for us to take in, but is so helpful as a parent to know how better to parent Owen. I'm hoping some recently purchased books will help me until the professionals are able to help. Since he qualifies for the school's early intervention program Owen will start 3-year-old preschool in the fall. It's half days 5 days a week. He is very excited to go to school but mostly to ride the school bus. :)
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4 comments:
What a trying experience in getting your child diagnosed. I can't even imagine how frustrating that must be because you as the mom have that gut feeling that tells you something's not right and it's frustrating when you're not getting the answers you need. I'm grateful you were able to get a diagnosis so you can create your plan of action - that gives you power! He is such an adorable little boy!
That must be scary for you, so much to learn... For me, getting the diagnosis was the relief. I felt like finally now we can help my child! Allie has ADHD and takes meds with behavior modification therapy. That works for her. My friend, her son has ADP and is in his 1st year at college. She says they have special programs in college even for ADP, allowing more time for tests and such. He's doing great. Thank goodness for the programs, help and support (better than ever now).
Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.
sidenote-how are his sinuses? For Allie with ADHD, they checked her tonsils and such to make sure she was getting the sleep she needed, Gavin was late on speech due to sinus. After his surgery, all these words came out. The sinuses had clogged his ears distorting sound, hurt for him to talk and even affected his sense of taste and eating. So much to think about.
I am so glad that Owen has such wonderful parents that will do what is right for him. I can actully not worry that he will get the very best care. Anything we can do just let us know. Love ya'll, Nicole
I am sure you will exhaust all of your resources to help Owen. the early intervention programs are wonderful and speech therapy can be amazingly helpful. You are a good mom to start helping him so early. He will thank you for it and the rewards and results will be so rewarding for you! Although it may be challenging at times, it will be a great experience and in the end you will see how resilient and amazing kids are.
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