Discharged from ENT!

Just wanted to share some good news: LM has been discharged from the ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) clinic! Her hearing was checked for the third time yesterday and the test showed normal hearing in her left ear and slightly below the norm in her right one (which should not be too much of a concern), and no otitis media! Two years ago she was tested several times over the period of four months and all of the tests showed mild to moderate hearing loss due to persistent otitis media, which was not at all helpful with her speech and language delay. After a particularly nasty ear infection accompanied by an ear drum rapture, she had an operation and had grommets inserted in both ears to help her hearing. The grommets have now fallen out and we needed to undertake more tests to see if another set would be necessary.

The current test results mean we have escaped the second operation as she seems to have won over the wicked moster of “glue ear”. Although it is only one hurdle cleared, I do hope, with all my heart, she will get there!

So Do I!

We had an appointment with a paediatrician this week to assess LM’s development. Although the doctor was overall pleased with LM’s progress, her speech, language and communication are still severely delayed.

She is roughly where she should be or slightly delayed on most of the other criteria. I was not surprised to hear that LM is quite advanced in her visual skills and, according to the doctor, this is her way to compensate for the weakness in her auditory skills, which is what often happens with children with early chronic ear infections.

Overall it was a more positive meeting, as this time round a “multidisciplinary assessment” to exclude autism did not dominate the discussion as it happened a year ago. The paediatrician thinks at this stage it is not necessary and would like to see LM again in 9 months. She commented on how interactive LM was and her good eye contact, as well as her "very good concentration". She seems to have noticed a lot of potential in LM and, in her own words, she wants “to see even more results in nine months’ time”.

Well, so do I!

First Post

I guess a few lines about myself and LM would be in place...

I am currently out of work and the biggest part of my life right now is raising my daughter who has just turned four. LM is not a typically developing child and there is no agreed professional opinion regarding her. There is a wide range of labels of varying degree of optimism, which could probably stick to my daughter, ranging from “speech impaired”, to “ASD”, to “late bloomer”, to “visual-spatial learner”, etc. All of these labels would probably give some truth about her, with a bit of tweaking, but at the same time would neither fully, nor entirely correctly describe her.

Lables, even the most optimistic, are large-stroke, confining and static. My daughter is unique, limitless and changing - just like any other child. And just like any other child’s, her path will be different from anybody else’s. My job is to help her start it confidently and firmly, and work on her strengths and her challenges while taking into account her learning style .

I have shifted my focus away from looking for a label, particularly since at least at this stage and within the area covered by our post code, the practical benefit of it is close to nil. I have been doing quite a bit of research and, with the help of some prefessional advice, started my own “DIY home-based intervention”, and I learn as I go. LM is a bright child and a quick learner provided she is given the opportunity to learn her way. She has been doing great and she has kept surprising me with the things she can do.

I decided to start this blog to keep some sort of a record of the different things we are doing. I hope this will keep me better organised and will give me a sense of direction. LM is a very visual learner, which is why I create a lot of DIY props as I cannot always find what I need at an affordable price. I have been taking a lot of inspiration from the blogs of other homeschooling mums and have also come up with a few ideas of my own, which I will be sharing here too.

I will be happy to meet other like-minded people online – you are welcome to my blog!

LM’s Mum