As many of you know, speech and hearing are closely related. Sofie is considered to be at a higher risk for late-onset progressive sensorineural hearing loss because she was on ECMO and had to take ototoxic antibiotics when she was a baby. Some studies even show that ECMO babies who also had CDH are at an even higher risk for hearing loss than babies on ECMO for other reasons.
Because of this high risk for hearing loss, post-ECMO babies should have frequent hearing screenings into childhood. Many parents have their post-ECMO kiddos screened every 6 months. We have not had concerns about her hearing so far, but should still be having her screened regularly.
She had her initial "newborn" screen done around 2 months of age, which was normal. We should have had her screened again around 6 months and 1 year of age, but 3 reherniations took precidence, and hearing screening got pushed to the back burner. I should have set up a hearing screen at the end of last summer. But after the crazy year we'd had, we were just relieved to be getting a break, and scheduling more Dr's appointments was not high on my todo list. Then cold/flu season got here, and I didn't see the necessity of bringing my well child into a Dr's office for a hearing screen during flu season when we haven't had cause for concern.
I know. Excuses, excuses. Bad Mommy. So our plan is to have her hearing screen done in early May after cold/flu season is over. We've been "studying" for the hearing screen - haha, which is actually really funny to watch. Maybe I'll catch this on video someday soon.
So back to the speech eval - since she could get a free evaluation done by a professional IN OUR HOME (seriously, how great is early intervention!?!), we just couldn't say no. The evaluation went great, and I'm glad we did it. She scored right on track at 22 months. Yay, Sofie!!
How'd we get our stubborn toddler to perform on command for someone she'd never met, you ask? How'd we get her to dazzle the evaluator with her astonishing attentiveness and her streamlined test-taking skills? Get her to display her entire vocabulary, use each letter of the alphabet she can say in a word, follow two and three-stage commands, and bunches of other things that were part of the test that I don't remember? Cake. These people are professionals, remember? They asked her mother.
Sofie played while we talked. The speech-language pathologist asked me gazillions of questions that started with "Does Sofie...?" and I answered yes or no. The test was scored and that was it. Sofie barely said two words. Much more efficient, and I dare say more accurate, than hoping she'd perform for the test the way we see her perform every day for us.
Now if only the hearing screen goes as well. If there are going to be headphones involved, I see a tantrum in our future...
4 comments:
I last took Claire for her hearing test when she was 16 months old (I'm a bad mommy too). It went fine. They had her sit in a chair and handed her toys to play with. There were small TV screens on each side of her and in front. They would randomly show a Barney cartoon on each one to get her to look over at it. Then they distracted her with more toys while they stuck the little earphone thing in her ear (one ear at a time) to run that test.
Great news about the speech eval, yay Sofie. Marco had one a while ago as well (bad mommy too) :) and it was similar to how Cindy described.. Marco didn't mind the headphones but we are planning on doing it this Spring so who know how it will be with a 3 yr old :) Good luck!
Having been in the hearing health care industry over 20 years I cannot stress the need to stay on top of this
Best of luck to you and your child
I took Madelyn at about 13 months. It went well. No headphones. Just a very soundproof room. The speakers are on all sides of the room and we sat together in the middle. Worked out really well. They are professionals after all.
I am looking forward to the next test. I also expect a tantrum.
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