Post by sammytkitty on Sept 18, 2006 23:46:50 GMT -5
We suspected Em's speech delay was from her PDA surgery (heart). There was a risk of damanging the vocal cords, and because she is not talking, cannot make certain sounds, and has a very low horse voice, we were sure she had nerve damage. Well, today she passed the screen. We had one done last month, and she passed, but the ENT wanted a video of the procedure to make sure both vocal cords work (he can tape the proedure and slow motion it for accuracy because he still suspected damage despite his intial viewing without the taping). This is good and bad news. Good in that nothing physically is preventing her, but bad because now we have no idea why she is so delayed. We had to go to a speciality clinic for this scope today, and the doctor just dismissed her delay due to prematurity. She was still adjusintg Em's age! I pointed out that she is 30 moths, so beyond adjusting, and that with a year and a half of speech therapy 2x a week, she has made little progress. She did the irratating, '"Everyone develps at their own pace" speech. Now I am far from dumb when it comes to development, and especially with preemies and their challenges, but come on! She is at best at a 14-18 month level. My grandparents in-law blame me too. They say I let Bridget talk for Em, and also that they know kids who did not talk for 3-4 years. That's nice for them, but were their parents forced with possibly having to seperate their twins for preschool because one has been determined to need developmental preschool? Did they have a child who clearly is acting out and upset because not even Mommy can understand more than 7-10 of their words, or a child who is frustrated because their mind is far ahead of their speech? I hate people like that. Don't dismiss the seriousiness just because some Joe down the road in another country supposedly had nothing to say until age 4, so they never spoke. She did not even babble until age 16 months. Her first word was at 18 months. Sure, she probably will talk, things will progress, and eventually, all this therapy and stress will be a thing of the past, BUT, I just wanted answers. If it were physical, I could fix it. If it were neurological, I could work around it. But, not knowing makes me feel like her ped, my in-laws, and even dh just think it is OK for a 2 1/2 child to rely on her twin to tell me why she is crying, or for her to be 1 1/2 years delayed while not blinking an eye. Argh!
Laura
Laura
Bridget and Emily Fall 2009
Anna Madeline Fall 2009
