Speech Evaluation

It is no secret that Ethan has problems in the speech area. He was very slow to start talking. He didn't really start saying anything until he was 2 years old, and then it was very little. He had a speech evaluation in June 2007 when he was 3 years and 4 months. He was middle of the road as far as ability went, and the mistakes he made on the test were age appropriate. The pathologist, Susan, said she didn't think speech therapy was necessary at the time and that once he started preschool he would likely catch up. He also had a hearing test done that day and has above average hearing ability.

Fast forward 8 months

He started preschool in September and he has made some improvement. You can now understand each word he says individually, as long as he only says one word at a time. The problem is that when he speaks in "sentences" it sounds like he is speaking his own language. You can tell he catches onto key words and focuses on them in a sentence. It's like when you hear a foreign language and you catch a word every now and then that sound like an English word. I, as his mother, can translate anything that he says. But Cody gets very frustrated with him and a catch phrase in our house is "Ethan, say words!!!"

So today he had a second evaluation with the same pathologist. Such a sweet and knowledgeable lady. I was so proud of Ethan because he was very brave and stayed in the room alone with Susan the whole time...never cried or had a fit once. She said once he looked out the window and asked when his mom was coming back. So unlike him! Way to go Buddy! The test took about an hour and a half.

The outcome:

Ethan is an extremely smart kid. Very intelligent and observant. However, he has a moderate/severe auditory processing problem. Something in his brain is misfiring. As an example, he hears something and then stores it in a "toy box". Everything he hears all during the day gets stored in the box, then when it comes time to regurgitate something or put his thoughts together to say something, he frantically searchers for the information in the cluttered toy box and randomly pulls things out one by one, whether they fit together or not. The more excited he gets during a situation the faster he searches in the toy box, but the harder it is to find what he needs. When Susan explained it like this to me it made perfect sense because that is EXACTLY what he does! Words and information go in through his hears, but somehow get lost and jumbled inside his brain. The he can't easily retrieve the info. She said that age appropriate mistakes he was making as a 3 year old he is STILL making now as a 4 year old. So he has not improved in that area.

So where do we go from here?

Luckily our insurance will pay for therapy. Susan told me about a therapy program that she thinks would be perfect for him. This sounds strange, but it is a music based program. Apparently the pitches and frequencies of the music used helps re-map the brain and trains the auditory system to accurately process sound. It is a 20 week program, partly done in the clinic and partly done at home by mom and dad. The only problem is that the only clinic around here that does this type of therapy has a waiting list and Ethan won't be able to get in for several weeks. So in the mean time he will be going in to see Susan once or twice a week until a spot opens up for him.

I am so excited to finally be getting somewhere with this. Ethan's speech has been a huge challenge for him, Cody, and me. It causes all of us a lot of frustration and the last things we want is for this to set him back in anyway. The great thing is that by starting therapy now he has a full year and a half before kindergarten to get on top of it. I'm anxious for Susan to get the report written up and to get the ball rolling!