Onward....

So yesterday we took Noa for the much anticipated hearing test...

Pretty promptly the audiologist found that Noa had some fluid in her ears - more in the right than the left - that would make it impossible to the ABA Test which would tell us if she had hearing issue due to nuerological problems.
The fluid in the ears is not unusal for kids.

BUT now we have to go to the doctor to see how they want to deal with it - there are apparently a number of options, including some kind of lancing of the area to release the fluid which is something that would require sedation. Noa sees the the doctor today, so maybe we'll learn more.

They did try to do at least one of the tests. They put the kid in a sound proof room and they have toys placed around the room that make noise and they see if the kid turns to look at the toys... um... okay... I'm guessing that most of you are already seeing how this test isn't going to work for Noa. She doesn't turn toward sounds. Why would she??? Though she is learning to turn in the direction of who she is talking (signing) to. And she is learning to hand things in the direction of the person she is handing something to.

We explained our situation to the audiologist who - like EVERYONE in the universe who has met Noa - felt that the audiological test should be immaterial and that it was clear that sign language was her mode of communication and that her being mute could have nothing to do with hearing. Yes, yes, an ever-growing choir preaching to itself!

In any case, the audiologist will write up a preliminary report and hopefully it will be at least some use in moving forward since it will say that they couldn't do the test because she didn't respond to the sounds by looking.

Noa took it all like a champ. She hated having things in her ears and she screamed her head off but she didn't fight me and didn't pull the things out - and hey, if I thought I could get away with screaming, I'd do it a lot more often to. Then after putting up with all that I had to pull her out of school today to take her to the dentist (more screaming, but otherwise well-behaved and the doctor was very happy with our tooth-brushing work)... and when she gets home we take her to the doctor to look at her ears. What fun!!!

The photos above of are of Noa signing one of her new words "play."
Oh - and next week, Ben and I officially start working with a sign language tutor!