Rodney and I got summoned for our first meeting at school this week. Amos isn’t in trouble or anything like that, but he got some not great results on an assessment and I’m terribly worried. He’s going gangbusters on most stuff but it was revealed that he apparently never talks in class. I mean like, never. He sidles up to the teacher at story time and plays with the other kids and all that, but without making a peep. I had no idea that was the case.
Talking with the therapist confirmed the fears I’ve had since he got his first ear infection at 7 months, that his speech might lag because he basically couldn’t hear for so long. He got tubes at 9 months, but the ear infections continued almost nonstop until we moved him to a new daycare where he doesn’t get sick all the time. The therapist explained what I’d heard before, that basically his ears worked as if he was under water and it’s normal for him to be a bit late on is speech because he’s just recently been hearing things normally. I knew that. But the thought of him going through his days silently makes me so sad. I want him to be brave and loud and demand all the attention he deserves.
If I never put him in daycare, or maybe if I put him in a different one, this wouldn’t be an issue. So of course there is lots of guilt here, the defining emotion of motherhood. The therapist doesn’t seem worried but will retest in May, looking for progress.
Austin Bailey used to like traveling, snazzy restaurants, oversized mugs of beer and sleeping late. Now she likes nesting, Wacky Packs, coffee drinks and sleeping through the night.
Amos will be caught up in no time, I swear to you. My husband had 12 or 13 sets of tubes when he was a baby, and his aunt says when he started talking the sound was fishbowl-like since he’d heard that for so long … and then Ava, well, you know. We’ve kept ENTs in business in this house. And they’re both talking normal now. It will happen!
I second everything that Heidi wrote but also wanted to say that I’ve seen tremendous improvement and change in Amos in the past couple months. He talks so much more and more clearly around the house with you guys, so I’m sure the classroom will come along soon. And from personal experience, never put too much stock in one assessment. When I was in the first grade, a specialist told my mother that based on testing they expected me to always have trouble reading and writing. My mother, thankfully, decided she was full of crap. I was just behind. Amos will catch up too.
Tootie basically had one never-ending ear infection her entire first year. I mean, we were at the doctor’s office constantly. One day, they finally said, “OK, one more infection and it’s time for tubes.” And then she never had another one. She spoke later than the E-man did, but caught up with her peers very quickly.
Also — could it be that he’s just a little shy in large groups and that is the reason he doesn’t speak?