Child Development

[Carlisi]

My son was born 4 weeks early. When he was 5 weeks old he was sick with RSV Pneumonia and was hospitalized.  For the next 4 months he was on seriodal medication that was given in a nebulizer.  He was so conjested and weak he didn't do much but sleep and eat. Being premature he caught everything he came is contact with.  We had 2 back to back virus of roto virus that lasted over one month. By the time he was 18 months he still was hardly speaking and what he did say sounded like a deaf person talking. He wasn't responsive to commands or even his name. He was pulling at his ears and the pediatrician said he ears looked fine. He never had ear infections. He was interactive if you were on his eye sight level because he played with my daughter who was 2 at the time. I took him to an ENT after child intervention services told me he was basically autistic.  I knew I wasn't crazy when the Doctor told me that he had negative 300 pressure in each ear and basically couldn't hear and probably has a constant ringing in his ears.  We are assuming this occured during his sickness with pneumonia. Tubes were inserted when my son was 20 months old.  We have had therapy almost 1 year now and my son's vocabulary is great.  He can say his ABC's,count to 20, is good at problem solving, and understands cognitively everything you say. He had a very hard time socially with people, however, that problem has disappeared and he interacts wonderfully with others.  The therapists say that my son is progressing at a fast rate.  Here is my problem.  My son doesn't actively comment on things verbally.  You have to ask him a question for him to respond to you.  He rarely calls my name "MoM". He would rather scream to call me.  But if I ask him what is my name, he answers "MoM".  He dosen't use yes or no to describe his wants and needs.  He is just starting to use no but only with a head movement. I brought him back to the ENT for his one year check up and his hearing is between a 10-15.  He says this is normal for his age.  I don't know if he is developmentally delayed or if something else is going on.  He is very smart, happy child with a great sense on humor.  I'm afraid he has some kind of processing problem.  I know he can hear, but what happens to the information after that. He is progressing everyday with his speach, but he likes to lable things "Dog" Cat" he will put 2 words together sometimes "Hi mom" "Open door" and things like that. I want to know what kind of evaluations I can set him up with to get some answers to his lack of voluntary speech.  I am willing to take him to the Cleveland clinic to have tests run and experts in child developement evaluate him.  Where do I start and what kind of dollar amount am I looking at?

[Mom'O3]

Do you have a Head Start program in your area?  Check to see if you have one in your county or state depending on where you live.  They will  test your child for free at the age of three.  You can get more information about Head Start by putting it into a search engine on your computer.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

I cannot give you an estimate about cost. Insurance can certainly cover a great portion of the cost, given your son's medical history. It would make sense to arrange a Speech/Language evaluation. This will determine where your son stands in relation to development of language, and it can also determine if there is anything problematic about his oral motor functioning. On a broader level, a developmental psychologist or developmental pediatrician can make an assessement about your son's overall development in the areas of gross and fine motor developemnt, cognitive development, social/emotional development.