Yesterday, we headed up to Cincinnati Children's for the aural rehabilitation evaluation. Ryan has been progressing so well in his speech and language and things have been going along very smoothly since he received his BAHA. I really thought everything had been mapped out as to what decisions we needed to make, felt like we knew the timeline we were looking at for surgeries, all of our therapies were in place, etc. Even though we have still yet to make any decisions, we knew and understood the options available and felt as if we were in a holding pattern until decisions were made and he met the age requirements. According to the tests administered yesterday, he is doing well and his language is on target with his "typical" developing peers. However, The therapist did recommend that he receive 6 months to a year of aural rehabilitation. Yesterday, I was also told for the second time (two different audiologists) that he would benefit from a second BAHA - making it one for both sides. I do not know if this something that the main audiologist is going to start pushing for or not. It has just been brought up twice since June. I won't even go into the problems we went through to get BAHA #1 - I will , however, be shocked if insurance will support BAHA #2. Once Ryan returns to school next week, I will begin a new "To Do" list trying to figure out who can provide the aural rehabilitation services (school, private therapist, etc) , calls to the insurance company, yada yada yada. Although he behaves and functions like any other 4 year old, I know that I have a special needs child and that all of this is part of raising a child with a special needs. Like most moms I want to do everything that I can to get his needs met when it comes to getting him the services necessary to help build a strong foundation for learning and life. Because he is doing so well and is such a sharp lil' guy, I must admit that most days I do forget that he is classified as "special needs". I think that this is probably a good thing most of the time as he is treated the same and we have high yet, achievable/reasonable expectations for him just as we do for Morgan and Rylee. Yes, we do make some adaptations when it comes to language and hearing, but all-in-all he rolls right alongside us and has absolutely no problems doing so.
So, back onto the merry-go-round we go... (Insert carousel music here)
So, back onto the merry-go-round we go... (Insert carousel music here)
I can totally identify with this post. The big difference is that we've been told from the get-go that she is not likely to ever be a candidate for BAHA. While that makes me sorta sad that they don't even feel it's a possibilty, I feel comfortable with the plan laid before us. And most days, I do forget she's a sn kid. I even posted about it a while back. When we have a day like the one I posted about, I have to stop and remind myself about "the plan" and the things her EI team tell us about in our monthly visits.
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