Hearing update

As a grant writer I often get to write about social workers/mentors/teachers who provide services to those in need but didn't really feel the impact until I experienced it firsthand. On Thursday we had a home visit from Multnomah County's Early Intervention and the Columbia Regional Hearing Program. The Early Intervention people provide services for kids from 0-3 (this is all free of charge--well it's tax supported so technically we pay for it). They quickly ruled out any kind of development delay after Collin showed off his skills:

Transfer a rattle from one hand to the other--check.
Roll over from back to tummy and the other way--check
Smiles--check
Coos, babbles, laughs--check

It was apparent that the main services we needed were through the hearing program to ensure that Collin continues to develop speech and language. Carol from the hearing program will accompany us to all Collin's audiology appointments, help us set goals, link us to other help we might need, etc.

Later that day we went to get a hearing mold made for Collin where he got some foamy stuff shot into his ear. He handled everything well and gave lots of smiles to the delight of the three women working there. They snapped pictures and insisted on putting his photo on their bulletin board. We were happy to comply. (Who doesn't want to hear that their baby is damn cute?)

They had lots of funky colors to pick out for the ear mold--I went with the sparkles. When Collin is older he'll get to pick them out himself. The hearing aid unit that attaches to the mold was much smaller than I expected, it looked like a blue tooth and I immediately felt more at ease. I bet kids will barely notice it. Now making sure he stays on his ear and he doesn't stick it in his mouth should be interesting...

We get a loaner aid for four months before we have to pocket up one ourselves ($500 - $1500, most likely somewhere in the middle) which insurance doesn't pay for. Because why would hearing be deemed important for developing ears? (On a side note, apparently there's legislation pending in Oregon to mandate all insurance companies to pay for hearing aids for children!)

Collin has another hearing screen in late September per the recommendation of the Ear,Nose,Throat specialist we're seeing. He said sometimes the hearing will actually improve--nerve endings or something. And Collin will continue to get periodic hearing tests in case anything changes. We'll hope for the best but even if Collin's hearing stays the same we're fortunate that we have services and caring people that provide support!