Little bitty ears

Ralph has failed several hearing tests over the past year. I was recently advised to take him to an ENT - Ear Nose & Throat doctor. I don't know why I was resistant to this. After all, many children with Down Syndrome battle ear infections, need tubes in their ears, need their tonsills and adenoids removed, and so on.

Ralph has never had an ear infection, though. And, I think he hears fine. But, what if there is some subtle loss that might affect his speech development? One of the things I want for Ralph is clear and understandable speech. I think that poor speech may hold our dear children with DS back more than anything.

So we went. To the ENT. Today. What a waste of time. I found out the Ralph has very unusually small ear canals. I found out that they are very hairy, too! So the doc looked in his ears and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He wants him to have a speech evaluation or a sedated hearing test.

After wrestling with Ralph so the doc could look in his ears, I stood, still wresting, while he sat and talked. I found it very difficult to pay attention while fighting with Ralph. At this point the doc sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown, wah-wah wah wah-wah-wah. Shouldn't this guy at least have looked at his nose and throat, too? I mean he is an ENT, not just an E.

Of course, I just thought of this now. Six hours later. Sometimes I feel so inadequate.