Last Monday, DD4 had a developmental review by the Community paediatrician, on the advice of the health visitor who reviewed D4 in late November.
D4 does have quite severe delayed speech, but we weren`t unduly worried about that, as DH himself had delayed speech and never spoke a word till he was 3. She also had a hearing test last year, which showed no apparent problems.
We felt she was making quite good progress, but were anxious to get her speech therapy started ASAP, as we were concerned she would have problems when she starts school in September, otherwise.
Upshot is D4 has to have another audiology appointment to check her hearing, and the Community paediatrician is pressing the speech therapy service to get her an even more urgent appointment. She has been on the waiting list for a speech therapy appointment for a year already........sigh.
She also has to have a full review by one of the hospital paediatricians to exclude physical/neurological causes for the delay in speech and toilet training etc, "just to be on the safe side".
An offshoot of the inability to communicate clearly and effectively is her frustration and anger, which can result in fairly frequent monumental tantrums, screaming and episodes of throwing things and becoming extremely distressed. These behavioural issues also "need to be investigated".
Why do I feel like a snowball perched precariously at the top of Mount Everest, about to reach supersonic speeds and gain mass as I hurtle uncontrollably downhill ?
They can`t just give you one appointment for one test, they have to give you numerous ones. Each one means a trip to the local hospital, which is ony 7 miles away, but as I don`t drive, and DH works away three days a week, it means D4 and I catching two different buses for a journey lasting approx 1 hour EACH WAY.
If I don`t want to do that, it is a £25 taxi fare for the round trip.
On the other hand, knowing the glacial speed of the National Health Service, she is far more likely to be 21 before she gets all her appointments :-0
Plenty of time for me to save up.
Or maybe DH will have retired by then :-)
3 comments:
I am a speech therapist...or at least I was before I switched careers to full time MOM.
Please feel free to email me if you need to...
(Laura from the porch)
As someone who knows NHS waiting lists, may God sneak you through the system with haste.
Hello!
I wish the best for your son! I'm Orthodox and a speech therapist in the U.S. I know you must be worried. Hang in there!
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