Buster’s ENT Specialist Appointment

You may have guessed by now that I am a bit of a sporting tragic J. So, you can imagine that I was a little irritated at having to miss the school swimming carnival (where both my daughters were swimming)….Just so I could do my least favorite parenting job…no, not scrubbing mold off the shower, even worse than that!....taking my son to another pointless medical appointment!

I have written earlier, here, how Buster's speech therapist is convinced that Buster has a structural abnormality in his nose or palette which is the cause of his speech difficulties. Given our family history of apraxia, the fact he sounds much like my daughter who was also diagnosed with apraxia and the absence of any evidence for a structural abnormality, I very much doubted there was a structural problem. However, I was happy to see the specialist to rule a structural abnormality out. We have been waiting for our appointment since November last year!

In a way…it would be sort of good news if there was a structural problem. Then perhaps it could be ‘fixed’ with a operation or procedure!! Man, it would sure be easier for me  than the hours and hours of painstaking and frustrating (for Buster and me) speech therapy.

The Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist listened to Buster speak, then examined his nose, throat and ears. He said that he couldn’t find anything physically wrong with his mouth or palette. He said that his palette was capable of a full range of movements to produce the correct sounds (weather or not he makes the correct moment corresponding to a certain sound or not is not a structural problem).

The specialist also noted Busters gigantic tonsils…but said lots of kids have big tonsils and they can talk well!! He said unless there was problems with constant infection, that he had no reason to remove them! I was a little relieved about this because I had a feeling that his ‘super’ tonsils would need to be removed.

So, for the ENT specialist I am thankful! I am really thankful that Buster does not need to undergo a scary (for him and me) and painful operation! I am thankful l that I now have professional opinion to state that buster does not have a structural abnormality and that his best hope for fluent speech is…..Speech Therapy!! (notice I have said that with a sense of irony!)

 I’m not that thankful though, for the cost of this assessment and it feels a little like a waste of time…..

 Anyway, I am thankful that structural problems have been ruled out and I am now hoping that the speech therapist will commit 100% to speech therapy that will help Buster‘s speech be more readily understood. 

For this Thankful Thursday I'm linking up with Kate at Kate Says Stuff  (who has just the BEST post today :)

Go over and see what others are thankful for!