Blindsided

I've had plans to blog more about hearing loss over the past month to explain the path we followed that led us to Barrett's hearing aids.  Or maybe to explain how AWESOME he's been with the transition to aids.  Or perhaps my explanation to the popular question, "Have you noticed a difference since he's had them?" 

But those blogs will all have to wait.  We're at 5.5 weeks with the hearing aids, so hopefully they'll come sooner rather than later. 

This blog...well...it's about this little lady. 

A week and a half ago, on a Monday, I was running late to pick up Layla (what's new?).  This time the school's Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) walked her out to the van.  This wasn't normal but I figured she had something to tell me about school (I technically am the library media specialist there, but I have taken the school year off - another blog I still need to write). 

Well, she didn't tell me anything about school.

She told me Layla failed her hearing test on Friday. 

I was stunned. 

About a million thoughts rushed my mind at once and I can't clearly put them down in words because they were all jumbled together.  I was also working on continuing the conversation with the SLP while these thoughts flooded my mind and focusing on not allowing the tears I knew would inevitably appear to show up (I am a crier). 

She proceeded to tell me that it was her student teacher who conducted the test and that she would re-administer the test later in the week.  That made me feel a little better.  And made a little more sense.  She was a student teacher, so it could have easily been an administrator error, right? 

I drove away and the tears came. 

I don't think tears and the onslaught of thoughts would have occurred if we didn't have hearing loss in the family already.  I am pretty sure I would have brushed it off completely. 

I mean, none of this made sense.  She's never had a speech delay like her brother.  She's never shown any problems with hearing - except her selective hearing.  ;-)  So my mind knew there was nothing to worry about, but that wasn't doing much to help my emotions.

My husband and I talked over the next few days about this.  We thought perhaps she faked it.  Why would a 6-year-old fake a hearing test?  Well, I don't think one would...unless she has a brother who has a hearing loss and maybe she somehow wanted to pretend to have one, too.  For attention, maybe?  We haven't really made a big deal of Barrett's hearing aids, though, so I don't know what attention she would have been seeking.  We tested her with a dog whistle app we have on our phones to see if she could hear the higher frequencies.  She could. 

My mind was starting to take control of my emotions.  Now I was just waiting for the end of the week to come. 

Thursday after school I was late...again...and the SLP came out with Layla.  The news? 

She failed the test. 

There goes the administrator-error theory.  I looked at the test results and they seemed pretty consistent.  Again, I was thinking everything and nothing at once.  The SLP informed me that going to an audiologist for a hearing test was the next step. 

I drove away.  Did I cry?  I honestly can't remember.  But I know we still weren't ruling out kid-faked results.  However, the likelihood of a kid faking a hearing test with consistent results is super unlikely and I knew that.  But, again, none of this made sense. 

The audiologist appointment was made for the following Tuesday after school.  I was quite anxious.  Of course I didn't get to sit in on the test because Barrett didn't feel like sitting quietly in the office.  So I sat outside the door waiting...and waiting...and waiting.

The results?

Layla also has high frequency hearing loss.

*Insert my amazing ability to not cry or even tear up while having a fairly lengthy conversation with the audiologist!  The fact that my kids were HORRIBLY behaved during this time may have attributed to this feat.

It was recommended we meet with an ENT for genetic counseling and I mentioned to the audiologist that I'm now worried about Piper.  She basically confirmed my worries were justified.  So we're meeting with an ENT for both Layla and Piper and at that time Piper's hearing will also be tested.  All of this will happen in a couple of weeks.

We're still confused (not really the right word but it's all I can come up with) because Layla does not have any speech issues like Barrett does. The audiologist said the hearing loss may have just presented itself later than it did with Barrett.  That gets me thinking down the path of it being a progressive loss which I just don't want to think about right now.
 
Layla hasn't had any issues in school, either.  The teacher has seen nothing that has caused her to be concerned.  But the audiologist said we would probably see more issues in 1st grade once spelling tests start, for example.  Although she did say if she's hearing portions of words she may be able to figure out what words are being given during a verbal test simply because she knows the words on her spelling list for the week. 

As of right now we are going to have her retested right before 1st grade to see where she stands.  We will play the rest of this school year by ear...no pun intended. ;-)

Barrett's path was slow & steady.  We had clues (speech delay) and preliminary tests that prepared us for a hearing loss diagnosis.  It was a nearly 6-month ordeal...almost 10 months once you factor in the time it took to finally get the aids. 

But this.  This was a complete and sudden blindside.