Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Hospital Visit Today

Today ended up being a rather long day. So here is the short version of what we found out:

1 - Cameron's hearing test was redone and it was similar. They feel that hearing aids will give Cameron good amplification in her right ear for her to hopefully resume normal speech language development with the help of a therapist. They don't know whether they will ever be able to amplify enough for her left ear to hear speech sounds but she may be able to hear environmental sounds like loud sirens, horns, cars, etc.
2 - They want to recheck Cameron's ears again in 3 months to make sure that she does not have degenerative loss in her ear and if it is getting worse...Cameron may be a candidate for cochlear implants. Right now that is currently off the table.
3 - We picked out cute pink hearing aids and a sparkly ear mold so that she will look girly and fashionable. We figure - its not like people won't be able t tell that she has hearing aids so we might as well make them look cute!
4 - Cameron's reflux has been getting pretty bad again. So much so, that her physical therapist insisted she see the doctor yesterday at the last minute. At that appointment we found out that Cameron has resumed good weight gain and is now 8 lbs. exactly. We also found out that we need to increase her medication but that if that does not stop then we will begin adding cereal to her. We are also hopeful that the monitor may be going away within the next month or so.

I think that is the short of it. We were also told by a speech person at the hospital that it might not be easy to get Cameron started with speech therapy. My prayer is that she is wrong. We will be meeting with different folks to hopefully begin to set that up. Cameron's hearing aids should be in in about a month - so hopefully she will be hearing all of us soon.

2 comments:

  1. Hi- I found your blog through google. Just wanted to say she should definitely qualify for speech therapy- the goal of the newborn hearing screening program was to have babies enrolled in early intervention prior to six months of age. Our little guy qualified and started with a speech therapist/Teacher of the deaf at the age of four months (he only has a moderate loss). Kids have to have a delay OR a diagnosed condition (hearing loss qualifies). It makes a HUGE difference to the kids!

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  2. Hiya...SOOO happy to hear that the weight is increasing. whew! She should be able to get into a Speech Pathologist no problem but in the meantime, continue to maintain eye contact and speak with her as often as possible while showing her different items to identify with, such as, "milk" and show her the milk as you speak and eventually sign these items with her. Always keep in mind that if she gets a hearing aid OR a CI, BOTH eventually will need to be turned off or batteries will need to be changed which in turn leaves your child DEAF. SO do try to practice TOTAL COMMUNICATION. SEVERAL of the people you will meet with NEW BEGINNINGS or any other program out there will have varying answers but in my family and line of work, TOTAL COMMUNICATION is the best way to go. All of us in our family started signing at birth and then began to see the child using the signs expressively as early as 5 months, "milk" of course was the one signed to us. Our niece will be here this weekend, she is a fantastic example of TOTAL COMMUNICATION. I would love for you to meet her, plus my mother-in-law who is completely Deaf-Blind. Well chat more soon, Mar

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