The Saga Continues...
We went for the first appointment for Emma yesterday to get to the bottom of her speech delay. We were referred to an audiologist first to check Emma's hearing to see if the issues stem from hearing loss. I was of the opinion that she hears just fine and this is just some kind of issue with her speech. The results? Yes she does have hearing loss.
Emma isn't deaf, but she has a lot of fluid on her ears that contribute to the fact that she can't hear certain tones. She can hear "normally" in the middle ranges of tones, but the high tones and low tones she has trouble hearing unless they're really loud. The audiologist described it as trying to hear under water. While you can hear people talk and can understand what they're saying, it's muffled and sometimes distorted. This also contributes greatly to the fact that Emma has a hard time saying words correctly. She may be able to repeat what Rory and I say perfectly the first time, but after she hears herself say it that first time, she thinks she's saying it wrong and tries to correct it, thus incorrect wording.
The audiologist felt that a lot of other "symptoms" Emma has point to an ENT issue as well. She snores, she's a mouth breather, and she drools a lot. All of these, coupled with the delayed speech and fluid on her ears causing hearing loss, were enough for the audiologist to refer us to a pediatric ENT. So now we have an appointment with an ENT in a week and a half.
Of course, I had to go home and google ENT problems. While Emma has never had an ear infection, that doesn't necessarily mean that she doesn't have a problem. She has allergies, which is why she now takes children's Zyrtec, and she's had croup several times. She's always snored and has always been a mouth breather. I never thought to connect all of them. With what I've found and what I think the problem may be, the best fix may be tubes :( In all honesty, as much as I'm nervous for my two year old to have surgery, if this fixes all of her problems and aides in helping her speech, I will do whatever is necessary.
So now we get prepared for our next appointment with a speech therapist on Monday. I don't know that they'll be able to provide us with much more information than we've already found out through the hearing test. They may actually want to have another visit after we meet with the ENT to see if Emma will require speech therapy to catch her up if we find a fix.
I know that regardless of what we find out and what is done to fix all of this, God is in control. Emma is perfect no matter what we find out and I wouldn't have her any other way. We ask that you continue to pray that we find answers quickly so that all of this can be resolved soon!
God bless!
Emma isn't deaf, but she has a lot of fluid on her ears that contribute to the fact that she can't hear certain tones. She can hear "normally" in the middle ranges of tones, but the high tones and low tones she has trouble hearing unless they're really loud. The audiologist described it as trying to hear under water. While you can hear people talk and can understand what they're saying, it's muffled and sometimes distorted. This also contributes greatly to the fact that Emma has a hard time saying words correctly. She may be able to repeat what Rory and I say perfectly the first time, but after she hears herself say it that first time, she thinks she's saying it wrong and tries to correct it, thus incorrect wording.
The audiologist felt that a lot of other "symptoms" Emma has point to an ENT issue as well. She snores, she's a mouth breather, and she drools a lot. All of these, coupled with the delayed speech and fluid on her ears causing hearing loss, were enough for the audiologist to refer us to a pediatric ENT. So now we have an appointment with an ENT in a week and a half.
Of course, I had to go home and google ENT problems. While Emma has never had an ear infection, that doesn't necessarily mean that she doesn't have a problem. She has allergies, which is why she now takes children's Zyrtec, and she's had croup several times. She's always snored and has always been a mouth breather. I never thought to connect all of them. With what I've found and what I think the problem may be, the best fix may be tubes :( In all honesty, as much as I'm nervous for my two year old to have surgery, if this fixes all of her problems and aides in helping her speech, I will do whatever is necessary.
So now we get prepared for our next appointment with a speech therapist on Monday. I don't know that they'll be able to provide us with much more information than we've already found out through the hearing test. They may actually want to have another visit after we meet with the ENT to see if Emma will require speech therapy to catch her up if we find a fix.
I know that regardless of what we find out and what is done to fix all of this, God is in control. Emma is perfect no matter what we find out and I wouldn't have her any other way. We ask that you continue to pray that we find answers quickly so that all of this can be resolved soon!
God bless!
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