As I've mentioned before, Chase is progressing slowly with his speech. He understands everything we say, but getting him to actually say a word is pretty tough. He has about 15-20 words that he uses regularly, but that's it. (An average 2 1/2 year old says 300-500.) About a week ago, his speech therapist told me that she's afraid he might have apraxia, which is a disorder where the brain can't tell the mouth how to speak. It is quite rare, and difficult to "cure." Most kids with apraxia are in speech therapy 3x a week for years. After worrying nostop for two straight days, I finally started making phone calls to see what we needed to do. I contacted his pediatrician, who referred me to a speech pathologist through Primary's to get another opinion. I also contacted his ear, nose and throat doctor to get his ear tubes checked to see if his hearing was blocked.
Which leads me to today. We went to the new speech therapist, who was amazing. She worked so well with Chase, and he loved playing with her. She seems to think that Chase is just progressing at a slower rate, and isn't seeing many red flags pointing to apraxia. She couldn't completely rule apraxia out in a two-hour session (it's a difficult diagnosis), but we left feeling so much better about Chase's future.
This afternoon we went to Chase's ENT doctor, where we found out that his ears tubes are blocked, which is decreasing his hearing, and his tonsils are enlarged, which is making speaking difficult. Finally, an answer! He now has to go into surgery to replace his ear tubes and get his tonsils and adenoids removed. We've been through the surgery with Halle before, and it is hard, but we are so happy that Chase is going to be okay. We are hopeful that his speech will come shortly following the surgery.
The past week has been filled with a lot of prayers and worry, and even though we are not out of the woods yet, we think we are going in the right direction. Hopefully in a couple months, I get to post about how much Chase is saying. That would be music to my ears.
5 comments:
oh boy...your post just made me sick to me stomach. I'm so glad you've found some answers for Chase though. Dax's doc doesn't seem too concerned that he isn't talking (he says under 10 word), but now I'm really thinking we need to start looking into getting him tested for stuff. Ugh....where do I begin though?
Oh Ashley, hoping everything goes well in his surgery. Sending you prayers.
I hadn't heard about the surgery! Wow. I guess this is the year to do it, right? I hope this helps him. What a sweet boy.
I am so glad that you are finally able to have answers! What a blessing! We can't wait to see the family at Easter! I hope everybody will be able to make it!
I hope it helps, taking out enlarged tonsils also is supposed to help them eat and sleep better, even behave better. Good luck and we will keep you in our prayers.
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