The One With Leo's Hearing Test

Today we made the journey to the hospital where Leo was born. We walked through the doors that we carried him out of the day after he arrived in the world. Only now he was propelling himself, holding my hand and walking inside on his own accord.

We were here for Leo's hearing test appointment. 

Following Leo's 2 and a half year check up in January we had wondered if Leo may not be hearing certain words correctly or not, and asked for an appointment. Our health visitor who has proved as much use as a chocolate fire guard informed us that we would only get this appointment if and when Leo was referred for speech therapy. I assumed that she changed her mind when the appointment slip came through the other month... But it turns out it was my GP who listened to me and made the appointment on my behalf. 

I had worried that Leo may not co-operate for the hearing test and I wasn't 100% on what to expect. He was happy enough when I ran with him down the hospital corridors on our hunt to find the right department to make the appointment time of 12:00pm in the nick of time...

I had come armed with sweet bribery in the hope that this may spur my stubborn little toddler to play ball, even though deep down inside I knew that there was no buying Leo's co-operation.. But anything was worth a try to get us through the appointment. We sat in the waiting room for a few moments waiting for a names to be called, Leo played with the toys and made eyes at the family sitting closest to him. Soon enough Leo's name was called and he took my hand so that we could walk into the doctors office. 

The office was set up with a small table and chairs on either side, on the table were some toys. The lady began to talk to Leo and encouraged him to play with the toys. Firstly she wanted Leo to pop on a pair of headphones, but as my thoughts had anticipated.. Leo was having absolutely none of it! Not even when I donned them in the hope this may spur him on... Not even when we pulled out the bribery sweets! So with the headphone idea put behind us, the lady gave Leo free play. As he was playing and listening to the lady, another doctor played sounds into different parts of the room. The idea was that Leo would look in the direction that the sound came from.

To hold Leo's interest when he looked in the right direction with each sound, there was a box either side of us and when he looked the right way, the box would light up and a cow or a pig would wiggle around. Once Leo saw this for the first time he wasn't very interested in the toys on the table... The lady had to convince him to stop waiting for the next sound and to carry on with their game. 

Before we left the appointment Leo decided to ransack the toy box and build a tower out of the cotton reels. He looked so pleased with himself as he stood there next to his creation. 

Leo did really well and looked in the right direction on all accounts, just like I knew he would. He passed the hearing test with flying colours and the doctor advised that she would be discharging him from further hearing tests. This lady told me everything that I knew already and to just give Leo time. He will come along with his words, just like he has been doing. She told me that if I have any firther concerns to just get in touch with our GP.

I think now the next steps I will be taking is to call my GP, I would like to maybe discuss the option of speech therapy just as an extra aid. I figure that it can't do any harm to go along to these sessions, heck we both might learn something!

So today I have confirmed what I already knew, but now I know that Leo does not have glue ear or any hearing problems. I just have to keep doing what I am doing, and watching this beautiful boy continuing to grow, learn and develop into a the most amazing little boy. 

The One Where We Go For An Eye Test

Back in January I told you all about Leo’s Two and half year check. It was an experience that I really didn't enjoy and came away feeling incredibly rubbish about. Our health visitor turned the entire appointment into a complete song and dance, she insisted on seeing Leo two months later so that she could follow up and check on his progress.

During the appointment she decided that Leo had a squint and was going to be booking a separate appointment for him, that would come through a few weeks later. She wanted to get Leo seen as soon as possible so that treatment could commence if needed, she didn't want him waiting around if he did have one. We got to the end of March and I still had not received the promised appointment through and there had been complete radio silence from our health visitor.

I tried to call her myself on numerous occasions and finally left her a voice mail asking her to give me a call back. I wanted to discuss Leo and get the follow up that she had advised, and also get Leo’s appointment for his eye sorted just to air on the side of caution.

I never did get a call back from our health visitor, and this has gone on to annoy me further. However the date I left the voice mail obviously spurred her into finally booking Leo’s eye exam, even though she still didn't call me back. A week later I received a letter from the surgery with a date to take Leo in, and ironically the letter was dated 27^th March 2014, the day I called and left the message.

I can’t help feeling really let down by our health visitor, what if Leo had actually had a squint? What if she had prolonged the necessary treatment? What if Leo had been a child who had other problems? What if he was being abused? Would she still have been so slack?

On Wednesday 23^rd March I took Leo along to have his eyes examined. We walked into the room and Leo instantly spied a Thomas train. We took our seats and the lady we were visiting got Leo to co-operate with her tests. She shone a little light in his eyes and got him to follow it with his eyes. She used toys to get his attention and was really fantastic with him.

The doctor asked me what I thought, and I personally knew that Leo did not have a squint, but not being a professional I wanted to make sure that my gut feeling was right. My thoughts were confirmed seconds later and she agreed that Leo’s eyes were perfectly fine.

The appointment lasted no longer than 10 minutes, we were in and out. Leo had been fantastic and I was really pleased with the doctor that we had seen.

The health visitor still hasn't followed up with us, she hasn't contacted us to arrange for Leo to come in as promised. The appointment that she wanted to schedule with us was for Leo to come back in and repeat his check-up. Then if she still wasn't happy, she was going to refer Leo for speech therapy. Since January Leo has come on in leaps and bounds, and I want her to see this. I do think he would benefit from speech therapy, and I want her to pull her finger out and do what she promised.

The health visitor has booked us in for a hearing test on Wednesday 7^th May, this is something I personally asked for during the check up in January. I wanted to rule out Glue Ear and make sure he was hearing everything as he should. The health visitor told me that this would happen if he was referred, and that it wouldn't be happening now. But all of a sudden we have an appointment through… I am pleased just to get it checked and ticked off, as Leo can quite obviously hear everything but it’s just nice to confirm.

As for our health visitor, I have lost a lot of faith in her. She hasn't followed through with her promises, she hasn't communicated with us and she hasn't been efficient. From now on I will be doing everything through nursery. They will be doing their own check with him in the next few months. I feel they are in a better position to tell me what he will benefit from as they know him and see him in a setting he is familiar and comfortable in.

We will be getting Leo’s hearing checked and my gut instinct is telling me that he will fly through it. My personal opinion is that Leo has just been slower in talking than other kids his age, and as expected, he is getting there in his own time.