An Overview of Wyatt's Issues
Hello all, today I wanted to take some time to update everyone on what’s going on with Wyatt. But before we get into everything, I would like to preface this by saying Wyatt is healthy and happy and these issues are in no way life altering in any serious way. And with that being said, let’s just jump right in.
The short and sweet answer with what’s going on with Wyatt is that we really don’t know. The long, complicated version is just that, it’s long and complicated but it seems like we are finally looking at the light at the end of the tunnel. So, let’s go back to the very beginning.
Back in October, Wyatt had his two-year checkup with his doctor, and we had brought up the fact that he still wasn’t really talking. This was something we had brought up before, but his pediatrician wasn’t concerned in the past, so we’d leave appointments not giving it much thought. Lots of kids are late talkers and we just assumed that Wyatt would one day start talking and never stop. But at his two-year checkup his pediatrician was a little concerned and explained that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense that he was so ahead in all other fields of development but not progressing with his speech. She assured us that it could very well be that his is just a late talker, but she encouraged us to get him checked out just to make sure it wasn’t his hearing or something like that. So, we left that day with multiple referrals and told ourselves that he’d probably start talking soon and in December, we were in touch with a coordinator who helped us make an appointment with a speech therapist. At the speech therapy evaluation, we were told that he qualified for therapy and that his speech delays needed to be addressed. And to put his delays into perspective, Wyatt has never said more that two words in his life. Two words, that’s it. The more we talked to the therapist the more we realized that things were not adding up. She recommended that we start teaching him sign language to help him communicate until he started saying more words. The speech therapist recommended that he have therapy once a week to see if that helped. She also told us that she wanted him to have some more evaluations done just to see if anything else was going on along with his speech delays.
A few weeks after the speech evaluation, Wyatt had another evaluation for other possible developmental delays. This told us quite a few things. We discovered that along with his speech delays, he had some social interaction problems, sensory aversions, low tone in his core and possible hearing problems. This was a lot to take in all at once and the women doing the evaluation explained that all these issues were somehow connected but they weren’t sure how. They went on to tell us that the social interaction problems were probably due to the speech delays but that the speech delays still didn’t make sense. None of it made a whole lot of sense. Wyatt’s issues were like a puzzle and we couldn’t figure out how the pieces fit together. So, we were given a referral to an occupational therapist and told to continue with speech therapy and get him in for an audiology evaluation to rule out hearing problems.
And now let’s dive into the occupational therapy side of all this. Wyatt had his OT evaluation a couple weeks ago and the results were again, things we already knew. On top of his speech delays, he has sensory aversions. For example, Wyatt will not let us do anything with his hair. We can’t wash it or cut it, or he has a major meltdown. Bath time is also a problem, he doesn’t like when we try to wash him, and he even went through a phase where he wouldn’t get into the bathtub or sit down unless James or I got in with him. Some days are good, but some days are difficult. We were able to wash his hair for the first time in months a couple weeks ago but then just yesterday he had no intention of taking a bath at all and he was protesting the entire thing. Along with his hair and bath time, Wyatt is also very against messes. He has a major problem when his hands are messy and when we go to the park, he stays clear of anything that would dirty his clothes. When he eats, if he gets something on him, he must let us wipe it off before he continues. He’s been like this for a long time and now with his OT we are going to learn ways to help him to deal with all these aversions and help us make things better for him. So, on top of speech therapy once a week we now get to add occupational therapy as well. Our weeks are beginning to fill up with all the appointments. We did also get an opinion from the OT at the end of the evaluation, an opinion that everyone we’ve met through this experience also shared.
“I feel very certain that Wyatt has hearing problems, I don’t think he can hear well at all.”
We all seem to be on the same page and think that hearing problems are causing all these issues. It makes a lot of sense when you break it down. It would explain his speech delays, if he can’t hear very well then, he doesn’t have the confidence or ability to speak. And with his sensory aversions, if he can’t communicate that he doesn’t like something, they why try new things? It all kind of falls into place and the puzzle is coming together. So, this week we are taking Wyatt to what will hopefully be his last evaluation for a while. He has a hearing test on Monday afternoon, and we are hoping the results tell us what is going on with his hearing. If his hearing is what really is causing all his other issues, then we can treat his ears and everything else will fall into place and get better for him. Until then we are doing our best to make things easier for him.
Wyatt is excelling with sign language, picking up new signs all the time. He seems less frustrated now that he is learning how to communicate with us and others. Even though he still hasn’t said any new words. His speech therapist is impressed with the improvements he’s made in just a few short weeks. She is confident that once his hearing is taken care of that we’ll see him saying more words and he will catch up fast.
It feels weird to say that I hope my son has hearing issues but that would be the best case for us all. We can treat it and help Wyatt excel. We have good days where it seems like he understands and hears everything but then we have days where we think he can’t hear anything and it’s hard to know how to help him. Wyatt has moments where he’s able to communicate with us when he wants something but he’s still learning. It’s crazy to think that he’s had these issues for a while now and we are just scratching the surface in trying to figure things out. It feels good to finally be in a place where I can sit here and explain to all our friends and family what is going on. With so many appointments and an overload of information, it stressed me out trying to process everything in such a short period of time. We are hopefully going to have definitive within the next few weeks and we can start treating Wyatt’s issues and help him. He is our perfect little boy and we want to see him thrive and we believe that he’s finally getting into a helpful routine with therapy and that we will see major improvements. I am excited and nervous for his hearing test, we are ready for answers. I am looking forward to posting updates to those who are following along with us.
So, until the next time I can update everyone, thank you for supporting us. This has been a journey we never expected, and we are ready for the next step. I’m hoping I can update everyone on his hearing test soon.
Julianna