Grommets
"A grommet is a small tube, which is inserted into the eardrum to allow air to pass into the middle ear. It prevents fluid building up again and causing a hearing loss."
(These aren't his but I pic that I downloaded courtesy of Dr Paulose)
And within days we noticed that his hearing had improved
And the real gift unfurled in the weeks that followed as we noticed that his speech was improving. No more funny sounds. No more peculiar pronounciations. No more struggling to form words.
For most of our winter (June - August) last year Matt struggled with one cold after another, one infection followed the next. Weeks of snottiness turned into months. And with that came ear infections. And once his health improved he just couldn't seem to shake those gluey ears - despite 3 months of steriod sprays. Surgery, no matter how simple, is not something I feel comfortable inflicting on my kids. But it had to be done. I didn't dare hope that would have such a profound effect on Matt's hearing or speech.
I remember wondering why Matt had reached a plateau with his speech. I ached for him as he struggled to create the sounds, even whilst he carefully studied my lips and mouth in order to try imitate me. Words and sounds that he could once say where now difficult for him. Other sounds became so mispronounced that it was hard for us to understand him. I wondered if this was just the way his syndrome influenced his speech development. I sadly considered that this might be as good as it would get for Matt's verbal communication. One never knows with these syndromes. Little did I know that he was just hearing the world as if under water.
It has been a joyful 2 months listening to his beautiful, little voice explore sounds and words; slowly growing in confidence. What joy fills my heart as I hear him trying to sing along to his favourite songs! He can't seem to help himself, he repeats most of the things we say as though he is desperately trying to practice them and take ownership of the sounds. He is still insecure in his speaking, saving his words mainly for us at home and adults he knows will take time to listen. Unless prompted and supported he is not brave enought to speak to other children. I think he senses that children are too busy, moving on to the next before he gets it all out. One small step at a time. And we are certainly celebrating this step.
I don't put videos on this blog much, but I think this definitely calls for one. So watch this space.
