Mother's Instinct...

[Jen_in_NH]

I'm glad you stood up for him, and things are going well. He's a cutie, by the way

 

[surfergirl602]

your baby is adorable!! thank goodness he's on the road to recovery.

my ped used to always say that he ALWAYS listened to the mother's instincts, because they were too often right to ignore them.

There aren't too many doctors like this any more, and that is terrifying to think about.

 

[Snow_White]

He now has a motor-neurological disorder called apraxia which affected his speech and fine motor skill development (they think due to the meningitis). After 3 years of intensive speech and occupational therapy, you'd never know. But even getting peds to admit that he had speech issues in the beginning was a struggle for me. I had to keep INSISTING that they test him to get him services - and he was always severly deficient in expressive language (speech) scores. He was over 2 before he said his first word and almost 3 before we heard word 3 "mama". The peds kept shrugging off the fact that he wasn't talking. They seemed to think that he just didn't want to talk and I wasn't making him. I kept explaining the frustration that he was going thru and that he COULDN'T talk, not wouldn't. Finally got to the speech & occupational therapists and thanks to them he's talking, reading, playing sports - a normal little boy. You know your kids and you know what's "normal" for them and what's not. Trust your instincts!

This part of your reply really hit home with me....my son was just diagnosed with apraxia and we just recently found a speech therapist in our area who specializes in treating it. He is only 3 and I just pray that he is able to overcome it like your son did. It is so scary being a mom How long did it take for your son to "catch up"? I worry so much

 

[Mermaid02]

I am so glad your son is doing well and I agree with Mother's instinct 100%. I recently posted my story about insisting they give my son a CT Scan after being dismissed by docs for days, by then his appendix had ruptured and if I hadn't been insistent, he most likely would have died.

 

[mamajo]

I totally agree and hope your little one is doing okay. When my daughter was born, I noticed a lump in the right front of her skull. Nothing very big about the size of a pea. I asked about it but everyone pooh poohed me. nervous new mom, etc. It kept bothering me. Went to the pediatrician, old biddy about to retire-- at two weeks and asked about it again. pooh pooh. I got angry and said, "Could you at least LOOK at it!!???" She rolled her eyes at me and felt around, then suddenly we were in exray and having an MRI. Turned out it was a cyst that was pressing on her brain, there was a hole in her skull that the cyst was growing in and if I'd "let it go", who knows what disorders she would have suffered!! Trip to Mayo, then, they had to remove the cyst, neurosurgery, etc.
I hated that old biddie forever!!
You just know when something isn't right.

 

[disneychic2]

I am also very glad to hear the good outcome of your persistence. May I just say, don't ever stop telling your story. New mom's (all moms really) need to hear this. We can be so unsure and intimidated when it comes to doctors and other health care professionals. But you saved your child's life. This applies to everyone really, adults as well. Stand your ground. If it's nothing, you'll look a bit silly for a time. If it's something, you'll be glad you did it. Way to go, OP!

 

[mickeygirl14]

This part of your reply really hit home with me....my son was just diagnosed with apraxia and we just recently found a speech therapist in our area who specializes in treating it. He is only 3 and I just pray that he is able to overcome it like your son did. It is so scary being a mom How long did it take for your son to "catch up"? I worry so much

It is scary being a mom - we went thru a battery of tests when I finally got them to see that his speech wasn't just "delayed". I'm glad you got a diagnosois of apraxia - that can be hard to get. And the treatment & therapy is different. The early they start therapy, the better the results. DS is still in speech and occupational therapy in the school system (he's in kindergarten now) and there's still a small gap with his speech compared to other kids his age. But it's mainly just certain sounds. And like our SLT said, with an apraxia patient, it's about getting them started with sounds the right way to make it an automatic response sound, rather than trying to correct the sounds (which is harder). So, she's pushing him to master sounds that other kids his age may not have mastered either, but she wants to ensure he starts those sounds correctly. Does that make sense? One thing I would advise is to watch your child for fine or gross motor skill problems. My son is one of the most coordinated little kids I've ever seen, we haven't found a sport yet that he hasn't excelled at, he even walked early, but about a year and a half ago, we started noticing that his fine motor skills were lacking - he couldn't turn the locks on the door handles, couldn't button or zip, couldn't correctly hold a pencil (later scissors too). That's when the occupational therapy started and boy has that made a difference too. And like I said, I would've never thought my son would have motor problems. If you haven't already found it - there's an organization with a webiste with lots of info called apraxia-kids.org. If I can be of any help or support, please don't hesitate to PM me. I'm glad to be a resource or support - I've had so many great people help me and my DS.

 

[mickeygirl14]

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