Concerned about Development. Help, please?

[Spark]

I'm beginning to get really concerned about Joie. I kept reading in the baby development book that she's supposed to be babbling now. She's not. She cried and ever now and then she'll screech a little bit. But, that's rare. I haven't heard any babababa or dadadada or anything at all like that.

So, we've been trying to get her attention with loud noises. Sometimes she looks, sometimes she doesn't. We call her name without her looking at us, sometimes she looks, but most times she doesn't.

I think I'm going to call her Ped tomorrow & see if she can be seen. I mean, I know it's common when they excel in one area (crawling & pulling herself up, not standing unassisted for seconds at a time) that they do worse in other areas.

Thoughts?

[darkpear]

Have you had her hearing checked?

[Spark]

That's exactly what I'm concerned about hearing would make it all make sense. She was casually checked at the Ped's office. It was really simple & quick. Nothing elaborate. They just clapped and she turned.

Is Moira babbling?

[iris0110]

I would ask for a more advanced test, maybe from an ENT. Though I think I would ultimately ask for an ABR. The tests are painless, and it would be good to know one way or the other.

[Spark]

thx Hey, Shannon, what do those abbreviations stand for?

[iris0110]

ENT is the Ear Nose and Throat specialist. You would usually be refered to one if there was concern about your child's hearing. They do a slightly more indepth test where they put you and baby in a sound proof room with a speaker on each side. A sound plays from one speaker, and if you child looks that way then they are rewarded by a toy lighting up or moving somehow. They will test for reactions to a range of pitches and levels to try and see if maybe there is a certain pitch your child is having a hard time with.

I don't remember what ABR stands for, but it is the test they administer on a baby in the hospital. For a nb they put little ear muff looking things over their ears and a couple of electrodes on their forehead and neck. When I took Kearnan when he was two there were little earbuds they put in his ear for the test. It measures more exactly wether or not the child can hear by measuring brain reactions to sounds. It also supposedly measures the pressure in the eardrums. It is the most reliable test for hearing. It was also supposed to be able to tell us if Kearnan was missing parts of words or not hearing things in the correct order, but I don't know how it does that or if it can on a younger baby.

[Geofizz]

ABR: Auditory-evoked Brainstem Response

For a baby that's older than a few days, it requires sedation, so talk this over with the ped carefully. (Seiler or Barclay?~ I love their sense of balance on these issues.)


Sounds like your mommy intuition alarm is going off. I'm glad to see you aren't ignoring it.

Elliot is talking a lot. He's now 7 months. He makes several babbling sounds: babababa, elielielieli, mamamama, nunu (family term for nursing!), plus squeels and giggles. I just looked through my notes on Karen: at 6.5 mo her only sounds was "da".

Does Joie respond to music? Coffee grinder/vacuum/flushing toilet?

[DreamsInDigital]

Winter isn't babbling much either but I definitely can tell he can hear. he jumps a mile if sometimes says something too loud right next to him.

[darkpear]

Moira jabbers her little head off. FWIW Amalie was mostly screeching and giggling at this age and now speaks better than a lot of five-year-olds though.

[aisraeltax]

Ethan had a hearing test when i took him in for his PKU.

sometimes the clapping test is not a good one b/c they can detect vibrations, etc., so just b/c they look in that direction doesnt mean they actualy heard it.

E's hearing test involved putting sensors on his brain and hookign those up to the monitor (electrode type things...sorry i dont know more). the computer sends out signals and records how the brain reacts, so you know he is hearing the sound or not by brain activity. they are very nonintrusive IMHO and well worth it. its so much nicer than the hearing test they gave to ds2, which involved us being in a room with walls taht had different sounds inpeded in them and he had to react to the direction of the sounds.

i have also heard that when babies really excel at one or two things (in your case, an amazing physical ability compared to kiddos of the same age), that they have less energy for other milestones.

it may or may not be anything. or it may be hearing. or could simply be speech. ds2 had some speech issues and was in ST (speech therapy) for about 3 years. have you tried sign language? i know its the big hype now but for kiddos like my ds2 i was necessary b/c he couldnt communicate for a few years. he had a lot of problems, though b/c of other issues.

more than likely, your amazing dd is just totally focused on taking off around the house and considers talking to you guys 2nd on her to do list!!

good luck!
rach

[hottmama]

I would get her tested, just because you are concerned.
Luka says "dadada" and squeals a lot. He also responds to his name, and looks around if you say "There's dada/mama/Julian/kitty".
Good luck!

[iris0110]

Wendy, My ds didn't need sedated for his ABR at a little over two. I wouldn't allow them to sedate him for any of his testing that day, including the MRI. Luckily he had a sleep deprivation EEG earlier in the day and was so exhausted that he fell asleep and slept through the whole thing. I would think you could do the same with any child if you are up for the sleep deprivation thing. It's hard but safer than sedation. Ds2 didn't have his hearing test until he was 2 weeks when he went back for his PKU (the test machine was broken when he was born and they tried three times without success). He didn't require sedation and was awake for the entire thing. Didn't seem to bother him much.

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by iris0110

Wendy, My ds didn't need sedated for his ABR at a little over two.

Good to know. We were late getting ins straight for E and they wanted to sedate him because he was >6 weeks. We decided with his ped to skip it.

[spiralmg]

No babbling going on here and I hadn't even thought to worry...lots of sounds but certainly not a babble in the bunch.

DS was a late talker but he really excels at speech now to judge from the positive comments that we get. If I were you I probably wouldn't worry unless it was clear that my baby can't hear. They are all just so different, ykwim?

[birthjunkie27]

Samara was a chatterbox, saying stuff like babababa, mamama, dadada, blahblahblah...but recently she's quit that. Now she just squels in a very high pitch. But, she's also learning new skills such as sitting and crawling.

FWIW my brother was a late talker, not saying his first words till he was three (according to my mom) and he turned out to be a little genious. Taught himself to read, was reading encyclopedias for fun before kindergarten...conducting his own science experiments, taking apart and reassembling small electronics. All before kindergarten.

So...I just say go with your mommy gut. It's the best thing you can do.

[Spark]

Well, we failed with the Ped and so we're off for an ABR. It's true she won't need to be sedated. They asked me to schedule it during her nap time. It'll be an hour and half long. Whew!

[LittleLlama]

Good job mama on paying good attention to your babe!!!

I hope everything goes well and is easily remidied

[Minnow_]

Spark, let us know about the results of the hearing test.

Cailan isn't babbling either. He's developing a large repertoire of whines to communicate with . His hearing seems fine- we play music all the time and he has obvious favorite songs that he responds to as soon as they start.

[iris0110]

Spark, Let us know how it goes. Way to listen to your mommy intuition.

[Turtlemum]

So glad you are getting good follow up and might I say, Hurray for mama's instincts! Please keep us updated...

Here in Ontario there is a free infant hearing screening program so that infants with hearing loss will get the help they need quickly. Infants born in the hospital under physician care will be tested before they leave the hospital and midwifery clients are tested at the midwifery clinic (usually aroung 2 weeks). At that time the testing is really quick (maybe 5 minutes) and easy (putting probes in the ears). It is know as DPOAE or Distortion product otoacoustic emission, the AABR is the next step in screening if the results from the DPOAE are inconclusive or a refer result.

I thought I'd post this link because there is a brochure you can click on that outlines developmental milestones for each month and also there is a video link about the screening procedures (although I haven't looked at it so I'm not sure how hokey it is ).

http://ihp.mtsinai.on.ca/english/newbornScreening.htm

Kelli