ECI evaluated Austin when he was 17 months old. He definitely had a speech delay, but they saw no red flags for autism, and the assured me they were very well trained to pick up on those red flags.
They asked me about his sleep "Is he a good sleeper" I replied that he seemed to thrash all over when he slept, like he couldn't get comfortable. "Does Austin snore a lot?" That caught my attention because he snored since he was very tiny. BIG loud snores.
I had asked his pediatrician about it, and she had laughed and said "It's fine, some babies just snore"
ECI, however, said it could indicate large adenoids and tonsils, causing sleep problems and possibly ear problems (the adenoids could be so large that there were interfering with the Eustachian tube, causing hearing problems). They wanted him to get to an ear nose and throat doctor right away.
Bingo, the ENT and audiologist said what I wanted to hear. Austin's hearing was greatly affected from fluid in his ears, caused by extremely large adenoids.
We scheduled a adenoidectomy and tube placement surgery ("tube placement" is soo not the correct term but oh well) for two weeks from the time of the intial appointment.
I was soo hopeful he would quickly catch up, so happy we had an answer, regretful we hadn't realized this sooner, but thankful he was only 17 months old at this point, and should easily catch up to his peers. It made sense. All of it. If he wasn't hearing well, he couldn't speak well, and he'd have a hard time understanding what was said to him. It also made sense why he was tired so often: his snoring and his ears made it impossible for him to have restful sleep, which also could be interfering with his learning.
I thought it all my worrying was over.
I thought wrong.
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