A Little Backstory

It’s been a rocky little road the past 5-6 months.  At Cain’s 2 year checkup back in December, the doctor that we saw (who ended up not being a doctor, but a nurse practitioner), said that they don’t usually get concerned with speech until they are 2 ½. 

We decided to be proactive and explore all the options that were available to us.  We contacted the Hamilton County/State of Ohio Help Me Grow – Early Intervention program.  They came out and did an evaluation and decided that Cain was eligible for free speech therapy.  They started coming to our house in February. 

At his 2 ½ year checkup (the beginning of June), that same old nurse practitioner that we always seem to get stuck with said that his ears look fine.  However, she chastised us for him not talking.  Her words “he has a severe disability.”  Um, excuse me?  My kid doesn’t have a severe disability, he just doesn’t’ talk.  His cognitive skills are above average.  Chuck was so mad.  I knew that was his breaking point with this office.  She gave us a referral to Children’s so we could get an evaluation with their speech pathologist. 

We went for his speech evaluation and the SLP (speech language pathologist) told us that she doesn’t generally like to diagnose kids at the evaluation; however, it was pretty clear that he has a mild-severe case of Speech Apraxia (CAS). 

To rule everything out, she wanted us to get a hearing test.  The next week we were back at Children’s.  Cain failed his hearing test.  He has fluid buildup and they had to turn the volume up to out of the normal range before he would respond.

This is frustrating on so many levels for us.  On one hand, YES!!  We’re finally getting some answers for the little dude!  However, on the other hand, Cain has had several ear infections over the past year (his last one was about 3 months ago).  Whenever we brought up the idea of tubes to the doctor, we were told it wasn’t necessary.  What if … what if this turns out to be a hearing issue (either instead of or on top of the CAS)? 

At our current pediatrician’s office, we feel like we’re a number; like we’re bothering them if we have a question about the well-being of our one and only child.  Not to mention the fact that we almost always get stuck with this one specific nurse practitioner, even after we’ve requested not to deal with her. 

So, on top of the medical issues that we’re dealing with; now, we’re also dealing with the stress of changing pediatricians.  I hope it’s a smooth transition!