Thursday, October 21, 2010

Kaylee

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We’ve been a little concerned about Kaylee’s speech development for the past few months. She isn’t talking as well as Matthew and she has difficulty saying some sounds (K,T,P are the hardest). She also gets frustrated at her inability to communicate what she wants. At her 3 year Dr.’s appointment we talked with her pediatrician about our concerns. Kaylee has a split uvula, we’ve know about it since she was a couple of weeks old but it has never been a concern. Our pediatrician said that sometimes it is a sign of a cleft palette. She felt Kaylee’s palette and thought it felt a little off so thought we should go see a specialist at Children’s Hospital.  Our Dr. got it set up for us and we had the appointment yesterday. First we met with a speech pathologist.  She did about a 45 minute language sounds test on Kaylee and scored her. Normal range is 80 and above on a scale of 100. Kaylee scored a 49. The Speech Pathologist said she definitely needs speech therapy and that Kaylee responded well to cues on how to pronounce the sounds correctly so it would be good for her.  Next we saw the audiologist for a hearing test. She did a test on Kaylee’s ears and they had fluid in them. Kaylee also has moderate hearing loss, most likely due to the fluid in her ears.  This also makes it hard for her to hear sounds correctly and make them. Finally we met with the ENT/cleft palette specialist. (we got there at 7:45 am and it was about 11:00 am). She checked Kaylee out and said she definitely has a cleft palette. It isn’t a severe one, but still is the cause of the speech problems and fluid in the ears. I guess she doesn’t get enough pressure built up in her ears because of the cleft palette and fluid stays in the ears. So we are going to get tubes put in her ears on November 5th and start some intensive speech therapy.  We are going go reevaluate in 6 months and see if her speech has improved. If it hasn’t shown a big improvement we will schedule surgery for her cleft palette. The Doctor said it is pretty likely that she will end up having palette surgery. It would be a 1 or 2 night hospital stay, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I am so grateful that our pediatrician noticed the problem with Kaylee’s palette and we are able to get her help. I had also started the process to get her tested through the school district for speech services. We are going tomorrow to meet with the district speech pathologist and will likely do her speech therapy through the Dawson Coop, which is great because it is close to us and I can take the other kids because they have a room for the kids to play in. So that is what is going on with our little Kay-Kay. I’ll keep everyone posted on her progress

9 comments:

Crysta said...

Wow, I am sure that was kind of a lot to take in all at once. However, if it will help her I am sure it will be the best for all of you. I am sure she gets frustrated that she can't hear or communicate as well as she would like. I will be thinking of you and praying for little Kaylee over the next few months.

Nicole and Preston said...

Times like these are when i am most grateful for modern medicine. I am so sorry you guys have to go through this! my thoughts and prayers are with you and Kaylee.

The Lady of the House said...

Who's the ENT doc? I have a friend that's an ENT doc at UAMS. He's fantastic. His name is Michael Gluth.

Danielle said...

I bet she'll be much happier when she can hear and communicate better. James has always had a blast a speech therapy. I hope Kaylee does too!

jennifer rogers said...

oh my goodness, bless her little heart! I'm sure this is hard to hear and go through but it's better that you are helping her fix her speech now while she's young, they are such little sponges right now and I'm sure she will just soak it all up and everything will be okay! She sure is a cutie though!

Clarissa Meegan said...

I bet it's a relief to know that you can do something to help her! Thank goodness for good doctors huh?

Our Little Hatch Family !!! said...

Gosh it is always a scary feeling for us parents when our children have to under go testing and possible surgery...I am so grateful for great doctors as well, and how help is out there now to help with these kind of problems...hang in there...PLEASE let me know if you need anything in the mean time...I am glad though that Kaylee can get this kind of treatment now...it makes a huge difference in her progress in her future...my nephew's and niece have had state help all since they were two years of age and now that they are older you can't even tell they have any problems! Good Luck with EVERYTHING and again PLEASE let me know if you need anything!

Meredith said...

Wow that is no fun BUT I bet you are grateful to know what is going on and that it can be treated, that is great news. Good luck, y'all will be in our thoughts and prayers.

Angela and Kevin Reese said...

It is great that you have caught this so early. Waiting could have caused lots of problems later on. I hope thing go well!

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