Today was Ella's hearing test.
Since she still isn't talking, it was decided to get her hearing tested just to make sure that a hearing problem wasn't contributing to her other issues. Ella has a fantastic receptive vocabulary for a non-talking child, so we thought that she probably didn't have any major hearing problems, but it is better to cover all the bases.
So, Ella and I are sitting in a sound proof room and they are pumping different sounds into different areas of the room and then lighting up toys as a reward when she turns her head to look for the noise. She didn't make it very long before she started wailing and squirming around. The more we tried to get in a few more tones/sounds the worse she got.
Now, I have to admit that sitting in a sound proof room is a bit creepy. I think I would have started crying if I was a toddler, too.
Next, we sit in an office (not sound proof) and they use a machine to, what they called, take a picture of her middle ear/ear drum. Of course, this involves putting something into her ears. Not a good idea. I ended up having to "bear hug" my daughter (restrain her by hugging her tightly with her arms pinned up against her sides) while an assistant held her head as still as she could so that the audiologist could hold this wand in her ear for at least 3 seconds. Mind you, they had to test both ears. Ella was screaming bloody murder and I was trying to calm her down by singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in her free ear.
Needless to say, they didn't get enough testing in to pass her with flying colors. So, we have another appointment to go back in 2 weeks. I do believe that we will only have to be in the booth again, and not have to deal with the ear drum picture thingy because they said that that test came out "within normal ranges".
All in all, this was worse than when she got 3 shots in one day at the doctors. So, I say (dripping with sarcasm) that I can't wait to go back!
Really, it wasn't all that stressfull for me. I just felt sorry for Ella. I guess all her crying was easier for me to handle because I knew that I wasn't the cause of it.
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2 comments:
That sucks for Ella (and you). I would ask them if re-testing in the sound booth was absoltely necessary, given that the other test was within normal limits. I am a big fan of eliminating unnecesary tests for my patients. MDs sometimes have away of ordering tests with low yields of info, just because they can.
Unfortunately, they probably are.
Ella passed a hearing test on how quite a voice she can detect, and the tympanometer proved there's no water in her ear.
What we don't know, is are there any frequency-range voids in her hearing. This is, unfortunately, the actual part the SLP is most interested in.
A child who has a "notch" in their hearing will hear words differently than they reall are spoken. That can lead to them being unable to reproduce words, or only reproduce thme heavily distored, even if they understand words.
The most common cause of such notches is trapped water, which we know she doesn't have, but that doesn't eliminate other posiblities.
It's still a longshot, but it's something you really want to rule out early, before you set yourself back 3 years on something that could have been easily treated.
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