8.11.2011

Oh Jace...

I'm in the middle of filling out paperwork to get Jace screened and hopefully evaluated for speech therapy through the Mesa school district. I'm increasingly worried about his ability to communicate with people outside his immediate family. His swim instructors had a hard time even understanding his name. I feel bad that he gets frustrated when he's not understood. I often have to translate for Brad. Cohen occasionally has to translate for me. Sometimes none of us understand and it's so sad for Jace.

In filling out this paperwork, I had to remember his developmental story... his milestones so far. It was obnoxious that I didn't have these things written down in one place so I'm doing that here. (I think most moms just remember this kind of stuff but not me. I have no long term memory to speak of.)

I was almost 31 when Jace was born. His delivery was fairly short and uncomplicated. He weighed 8lbs 9 oz, the biggest of our three babies. He failed the newborn hearing test twice in the hospital. He was retested at 2 weeks old and his right ear passed but left ear failed again. At 3 months, he was tested again but still failed. This time we were told that he could hear at 40 decibels but normal is 20 decibels. At 8 months, he was tested again and this time passed in both ears. He had his first of many ear infections at 9 months. He got tubes in his ears in June 2009 at 14 months old.

Besides speech, he has hit the rest of his developmental milestones appropriately. He rolled over before 4 months, sat alone by 7 months, crawled at 9 months, walked alone at 12 months, and was saying words at 14 months.

In my heart, I think he still cant hear. He has always been a loud talker. We call him Megaphone Mouth. He is incapable of a whisper. Because he's stubborn, I'm not sure sometimes if he's ignoring me or if he isn't hearing me. I think its very possible that he hasn't been hearing well all along and that's what has stunted his language development. He knows the words to say; he just doesn't say them right. He leaves off the beginning and ending of words. He doesn't make an 's' sound. He replaces most consonants with a 'd' or a 'w'. He says his name is "Day". If you ask him again, he says, "Day-der" instead of Jacer. Water is "wawer". He still calls me "Ma" instead of mom. He always says he doesn't want to get in hot lava except that he pronounces it "ha wawa".

Anyway, I'm anxious to get the screening done on the 17th. It's just a stepping stone to determine if he needs a full evaluation. Then we have to wait for the evaluation to see if he qualifies for speech therapy through the school district. I REALLY hope he qualifies. I think the longer he goes pronouncing everything wrong, the harder it's going to be to correct it. Maybe he'd be less of a stinker if he could communicate well? Here's hoping!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Sophie is in the MPS speech program, and we love it. During the initial evaluation, he'll get tested in all categories, not just speech. So he'll have another hearing test at that point. Good luck! I know how it is to have a frustrated kid (& parents) who is trying so hard!

Amanda said...

ooo...if he qualifies for speech, does that mean free preschool? Hyrum has 50% hearing loss in 1 ear. Being a mom is tough. Being a kid is tough too.

Jaime S. said...

good luck. i hope you get some answers. i think you are right about earlier is better. if my brad's dad got hearing aids sooner I think his speech would be better. but they weren't proactive in those days.

Jamie said...

I hope it all works out the way you want it too. You're such a good mom. Good luck. :)

Meagan said...

I like what Amanda said. Being a kid is tough, too. I have to remind myself that Braden isn't being a brat, he just can't tell me what he's thinking or what he wants. How frustrating that must be for HIM!