The Journey (Part 3)

Back in December I had talked to several friends who highly recommended the speech center at the local university, where they train their SLP students.  Even the school district SLP was recommending this center.  After some investigation, there was more paperwork to be completed, and Nate was put on a list.  About a month later, I called to follow-up and he had been selected as one to be assessed.  Since this university is looking for a variety of speech issues, Nate was probably a good candidate.  In February he was assessed at their center.  Around this time I had met another mother (through Facebook) living nearby whose son was currently being seen at the university center and her support and encouragement was very helpful.  The assessment went well and at the conclusion of the review, he was recommended for immediate intervention....so what does immediate mean?  Immediately in the fall.  Since the semester was currently underway, Nate will have to wait until the fall semester begins in September.  There is the possibility there will be a small summer program, so I'm hoping we'll get a call for that.  Although none of this is free, it's at a reduced cost and nothing in comparison to what other hour-long one-on-one therapy might cost.  On the downside, they only see students for 3 semesters (approximately 1 1/2 years).  So although this is a wonderful option, I felt like it's a dead too.

So now what?  Since  no one wants to officially diagnosis the problem....or maybe it's more that no one knows what's going on...I decided to further pursue our health-care provider to see what additional services he might need or possibly qualify for.  I know it's better to intervene as soon as possible rather than wait and see.  So off to see a different developmental pediatrician, one who has done some work in neurology.

We saw this new developmental pediatrician yesterday and we walked away with no new information.  She initially suggested autism and I immediately told her that wasn't the case.  After her thorough questioning and examining, she agreed that he is a smart boy just can't talk.  No autism or autism spectrum disorder here.  One of the most asinine questions we get asked is this (and she did ask)-

      "He has older brothers, right?  Do they talk for him?"

What kind of question is that coming from a well trained physician?  What 3 year old goes through life without uttering a single word because their older siblings did all their talking for them?  Not even the most favorite word of any toddler?  The word "NO!"?  Come on.  Instead of saying no, Nate screams at the top of his lungs and shakes his head, because he can't say no.  I think I'm going to dedicate a post to lame questions we get asked or lame statements that are made.  How does one talk for someone?  I just don't get it.

As a result of this developmental pediatrician's evaluation, he will be formally seen by an occupational therapist (OT) and maybe sometime down the road undergo an MRI.  This is the only way they to determine if there truly are neurological issues.  But with full anesthesia I'm not willing to put Nate through that right now.  So OT and another SLP evaluation will be what we pursue for now.  It will be interesting to see what comes next.  Or what lame things I can add to my "asinine things" post.

I know what's most important is not the diagnosis so much as the treatment.  But sometimes I feel like without the formal diagnosis, Nate might not get the treatment that he needs. So this is all we have to go on for the time being... 

He presents with a significant delay in expressive language skills for his age.  He demonstrated with a significant speech/articulation disorder with characteristics of both Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and a Phonological Disorder.  Due to his young age and limited vocalizations it is difficult to pinpoint the disorder at this time.