Hearing Tests

About a year and a half ago we got Marshall's

hearing checked out at the Health Unit here in Abbotsford.

At that time, we were just starting to look

into M's speech delays, and so one of the first

things that you do is get their hearing checked, obviously.

You want the news that nothing is wrong and that

your child has perfect hearing...

but at the same time,

having them tell you that he is hard of hearing

would give us an answer and perhaps

it is just fluid which can be drained, and then

boom- he'll start talking!

The day of the appointment, i dropped D off at my

sister's and Marshall and i headed in about

15 minutes early. I thought perhaps there

was some paperwork i'd need to fill out and i was hopeful

that since it was first thing in the morning

that they'd take us in early.

They didn't take us in early...

and Marshall was not happy to wait.

I was trying to fill out several pages of paperwork

and M would not sit in the chair.

He was screaming and kept getting off

and running down the hallways.

It was bad.

The immunization area was filled with

babies and parents and

they were all coming over to my little space

to see why this child was screaming

bloody murder.

Their babies were crying from M's racket.

The people who worked there were

venturing out of their offices to see what was

wrong as they watched me chasing

Marshall through the building with

him screaming.

The person doing the testing came out

to the lobby 15 minutes late.

I was not impressed.

Half an hour with an unhappy little boy

and i had no hope of him cooperating in that

hearing testing booth after all this.

I told the technician that i've been waiting

for half an hour and that M was done

being here already.

The tech looked at me and stated,

"We never take patients right at the appointment

time. Typically we get them 15-30 minutes

after their appointment time."

Ummm... what?

How nice for me. Of course, they aren't

going to tell you that they don't get you on time

when they book the appointment. So lame right?

We walked down the hall together,

the hall M and i were all too familiar with

with the past half hour of chasing him down them.

The testing room is tiny... and it was so stuffy

and hot in there.

Marshall and I were already hot from all of the

running and crying (him not me, although i was close-lol),

so the last place either of us wanted to be in

was a stuffy dark box.

M wanted out of there, badly.

After a while he settled down and sat at the table,

he did take to the testing and looked when he heard

noise and when the tv's came on.

Then they tried to put head phones on him.

Ahh yeah, no.

Then they put some device in his ears...

that went over well.

I had to try and restrain him while they did this.

And then we were done...

well, M was done before it began.

They did manage to get a reading on his hearing

but it was not complete.

The tech stated that they got enough of a reading

to know that M's lack of speech is not related

to him not hearing... which is what i expected

as he seemed to hear things at home just

fine. He just didn't always

respond to his name... which we now know is

just because he's in his own world at times.

The tech said that we should bring Marshall in again

in 6 months time to get a complete test.

So that was a year and a half ago.

I have not had any concerns with Marshall's hearing

since then so i have not booked the

dreadful appointment.

But now with M going to school soon,

i figured i should get on top of that and also

get his eyes checked (app. booked in September),

which has never been done.

This past week i took Marshall in

for his second hearing test.

I came in right on time. lol.

M was in a good mood and he held my hand

nicely as we walked into the office.

M wanted up so i picked him up as i spoke to the

girl at the desk.

Marshall had brought a car along and

the lady said, "Oh look! I have a car too!"

She showed Marshall her little VW van she had

and he reached out to grab it and she gave it to him.

Great.

I knew he wasn't going to give it back willingly.

We sat down in the chairs and M actually sat

and played nicely with his 2 cars.

It was quite relaxing for all of 3 mintues :)

Then the tech came to get

us and i tried to trade the secretary's car

out of M's hand for my hand,

real slick like hoping he wouldn't notice...

he noticed.

And then he was screaming

the whole way down to the testing booth.

He didn't want to go in there,

he didn't want to sit down,

he didn't want to play.

So he sat with me crying into my shoulder

and covering my shirt with snot - lovely.

The guy who was trying to get Marshall to

play with him at the table

would not talk to M.

I know we are supposed to be quiet,

but M doesn't know what's going on,

at least try to engage with him to get him

interested in what you're doing!

They did know that M has Autism.

So i just started talking,

and then Marshall became interested

in the spinning of the toy game.

He came off my lap.

He looked when he heard the sounds

and he stopped crying and did that whole portion

of the testing well.

The tech came out of the room

and said that she'd gotten a good reading,

better than the last time.

She said she wasn't even going to try to put

the headphones on as she didn't think

he'd respond well to that.

Smart lady. lol.

The only downfall to not being able to do the

other tests is that we don't know

if M is only hearing out of one ear.

We will go back and try again in a years time.

Marshall can hear.

One less obstacle :)