Sometimes The Brain Can't Hear

If you've been around here long enough, you know we aren't sure what "normal" is. When we jump one hurdle, a new one keeps popping up. It's like the bad dream where you run and run and never get anywhere. Everytime I have that dream, I have a bum foot that drags when I run which slows me down even more. Not that my bum foot dream has anything to do with this post. 

Anyways....as I was saying; we don't know normal, we don't do normal, we probably wouldn't know it if it hit us upside the head. 

I got really excited when Cameron graduated feeding therapy last week. Of course I was excited for the obvious reasons- eating more foods, not choking, gaining weight, etc... but I was also excited for myself. Excited that I finally was going to have one less therapy to shuttle a child too. We were one step closer to doing what the normal folks do.


It seemed to good to be true. 

Thursday afternoon I finally got the call I'd been waiting almost a month for. A speech therapist (SLP) was calling to talk to me about my concerns for Sarah Hazel. Why she cannot recall stories read to her, why she has so much trouble understanding and following directions, why she seems to be deaf sometimes, why she stammers when she is trying to get her thoughts out, and why her listening comprehension IQ is close to 50 points below her visual IQ.

The SLP affirmed that my concerns are serious and that she needs to be evaluated right away. We had a long talk about how the issues I listed as well as so many others, including her SPD, fit into being a gifted child. For those of you who think giftedness is all roses and rainbows, let me tell you it's not. It's not at all uncommon for these kids to have serious learning disabilities and behavioral issues. It's called Twice Exceptional (2E). If you don't believe me, here's an entire page all about it.

The evaluation will likely last over several one hour sessions, with the first being this Wednesday. The SLP said children at Sarah Hazel's age (3 yr 10 mo) are usually not tested for Auditory processing issues until at least 6 but she may be the exception to their rule. The initial evaluation will tell us if more in depth testing is needed for something like Auditory Processing Disorder.

I've known for awhile that something was going on with her, even if other people haven't noticed it. Besides the fact that I am her mom and know her better than anyone, I think I've also acquired some sort of special needs mom radar that detects when development is just a little off kilter not only in my own kids, but others too. It stinks to have to accept the fact that she may indeed have a real learning disability but I'm anxious to get her the help she needs so we can move forward.

See....I told you it was too good to be true!