Our baby turned 2 last month. He has been such a blessing. We have seen so much joy and laughter fill our house since his arrival.
His beginning was rough as he struggled to breathe on his own. He was on oxygen for several days after birth and lost weight. Once his breathing eased he began growing and has not stopped. For the most part his development has been on track.
He did not begin babbling when he was "supposed" to. He turned one and was just saying "dada" regularly and not much else.
We were dealing with issues with food sensitivities in A. The doctor had us documenting any reactions we saw and trying to avoid foods that caused the reactions until we could get in with an allergist. None of the reactions were serious and so many things seemed to be causing the reaction so it was time consuming just trying to find foods that were "safe" to feed him while waiting on the specialist appointment.
As he turned 18 months he was saying "dada", "ball", "cat" and occasionally "mama". The doctor said he was concerned but would re-evaluate at 2 years since A was beginning to babble much more. It was our hope that he would catch up. Meanwhile our specialist appointment was approaching to check on the possible allergy.
In those 6 months I worked with him on speaking. Reading to him, playing games, singing songs. I would give him directions to follow and he occassionaly would catch on. By 20 months he was able to bring me his sippy cup when I asked for it and could get his pacifier when it was bedtime. I could say "Its bedtime," and he would get his paci and go to the door to the bedroom. As far as any new "speech" he said "juice" once but never again and he said "cup" once. He would babble up a storm and pretend talk on a phone using expressive faces and hand gestures like he was speaking fluently. But no new real words. He loved to point to the alphabet on his toys and say sounds as he moved to each letter but they were not the real sounds or the real letters.
At his allergist appointment we were told he had sensitive skin but no true allergies so he was cleared to eat all foods like normal once more and we could use a skin barrier cream if we were concerned about the redness. The allergist then looked at me and said "How do you feel about his speech?" I assured him our pediatician was on top of it and the allergist said "I wouldn't be doing my job as a doctor if I didn't mention it." Obviously we were not making enough progress.
Shortly before his second birthday I had a lady come up to me as I picked A up from the nursery and ask me if he was hard of hearing. I was surprised and assumed she meant because of his lack of speech. She said that it wasn't his speech that made her question it. She had tried to get his attention several times and he seemed like he couldn't hear her and then she tested a few different ways to see if he would turn to her and he never did. This shocked me because I am with him most days and I had not put it together. We knew it was hard to get his attention but just assumed he was being stubborn or distracted. He seemed to hear when his dad called him from downstairs and he seemed to move to the music on his shows.
As the days passed and I began observing him differently I began to see things I hadn't put together before. He always stood in front of the television when his shows were on. He had always done this and we thought it was just because he didn't like to sit to watch them. So I put him on the couch and turned the volume of the tv up and was floored when he stayed on the couch laughing and watching the screen. I turned the volume back down and he immediately got off the couch and stood in his spot wiggling back and forth as he watched. I moved him back to the couch and he immediately got back down to the floor in front of the TV. I turned the volume back up and put him back on the couch and he sat and stayed for the remainder of his show!
I began speaking louder to him as I read him stories and sang the alphabet song. He began trying to imitate my sounds. Still not many words but we were just beginning.
At his 2 year appointment the doctor said he was globally delayed and mentioned Autism to me. I asked if we could have his hearing tested. He said they could do the screening right there. The nurse came and hooked up the machine and the right ear passed. When she tried the left ear she thought the machine wasn't working right so she tried it a few times. Finally she showed me the screen as nothing registered. She went to tell the doctor that his left ear failed the test.
We got refered to the children's hospital for hearing tests and speech evaluation.
I began researching unilateral hearing imparment in toddlers and learned a few things I didn't realize before. In our minds if he can hear out of one ear then he should be fine but through reading I found that it isn't the case we use both ears to filter what we hear and when you only have one ear that is functioning correctly there is no clear way to filter the sounds well. So it makes it hard for him. He can focus on one sound at a time. When his show is playing he isn't intentionally ignoring us when we are calling him he just doesn't hear us calling to him. Some things that have helped: having the room quiet while I read him a story, having him sit on my lap with his good ear towards me, speaking louder than I normally would, and making sure we have his attention when we give him directions. All in all we have seen him gaining some speech with just these small changes.
His appointment with the children's hospital won't happen until the end of the month. Until then we will continue to try things and see where we get.
I don't know if this hearing loss is permenant or if it can be fixed. Two of our boys needed ear tubes in elementary school when they could not hear. Both of them were speaking before that happened. In both cases thier hearing improved once they got the ear tubes. If it is just something simple like that we will be excited and thankful. Until it can be fixed we will need to work with him where he is at and let him have the volume turned up as we teach him letter sounds and words. We will work with speech therapy to get him caught up once he is hearing clearly as well.
If it is something that is permanent we will continue down this road and see what is in store. I have never been there and we aren't there yet. I will try to research and learn what I can.
I see his desire to communicate and his excitement at interactions with us. I believe once he catches on there will be no stopping him from telling us all the things on his mind!
As far as the global delay, we will see what the future has in store. Part of me believes most of the delay is due to the inability to hear clearly. So we will tackle one thing at a time and see where we end up.
My oldest son has been diagnoised with high functioning autism so it is not beyond reason that A could also have autism. One step at a time and one assessment at a time. No diagnosis needs to define him. But the more information we have the better we can work to meet any needs he may have moving forward.
