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March 10, 2006

Ears and Fears

Yesterday’s swim lesson went well again.

The Cat complained on the way to the lesson that he didn’t want to be cold, but I reminded him of the fun he had Tuesday. Sure enough, once we were at the lesson, he eagerly bounded in. (Don’t run on the wet concrete by the pool!) He followed the instructor and grinned. When she dunked him under the water, he cried and reprimanded her. But then moments later, he was floating and smiling.

At the end of the lesson, he was grumpy and told me he was never coming back again because he was cold. But I think he’ll come around for next Tuesday.

I am glad.

However, today we had quite an ordeal.

The Cat’s class had hearing tests a couple months ago, but the Cat didn’t cooperate. His teacher asked if I might be present for when the assessor returned.

I grudgingly agreed to accompany the Cat. I had my doubts, since in my experience he does better if I am not around. But, I wanted his hearing tested, and it hadn’t worked last time.

I spoke to the Cat yesterday and this morning about the test. I told him it was a game where he had to identify when a beep occurred. I told him it would only be a few minutes and would be administered by a woman who loves kids. I tried to prepare him for the test as Husband and I have done successfully for dentist and hair-cutting appointments. I thought that by talking through his fears, perhaps he might be able to get through it.

Instead, he shrieked, cried, and threw himself on the floor.

He refused to go to preschool initially. He didn’t want to leave the van. Then he ran to his classroom and said he was staying there. Over and over again, he yelled that he wouldn’t have his ears checked.

When the lady arrived, I got the Cat from his class. He tried to stall me, saying he had to finish a picture of a robot first. I carefully guided him out of the room while he resisted. I tried not to tug on his arm, but he kept going limp.

The other kids went first at the Cat’s request. They of course did beautifully. They followed instructions and even encouraged the Cat to try the game, too.

But the Cat yelled and crawled on the floor.

The Preschool Director brought the other kids back to their classrooms since the Cat was putting on such a show and delaying the whole process.

The Cat was afraid the beep would be too loud.
The Cat didn’t want to wear earphones.
The Cat didn’t want to raise his hand at the beep.

The assessor was a kind, patient woman who told the Cat he could drop blocks into a dish each time he heard the beep.

He did it for a couple beeps, and then ripped the headphones off to cry. A few minutes later, he cooperated again for a few seconds. Then he took the headphones off. This pattern continued.

Finally, the test was over. The Cat was angry and upset, since the ordeal had taken so long and had required that he wear the headsets for a long time. Of course he didn’t recognize that the time involved would have been greatly reduced had he cooperated in the first place.

I brought him back to his class as he protested that he never, ever, ever wanted to do that again. He was angry at me for letting him get hurt. He said the beep was too loud. He felt betrayed.

The assessor told me the Cat’s right ear was fine, but that he had missed 5 out of 7 beeps on the left ear. She said she wasn’t sure if there was perhaps fluid in his ear, or whether the result was because of his difficulty in cooperating.

This means that she will send a referral letter to us to give to our physician to encourage further testing.

Of course, the Cat will not be pleased to hear that further testing is required. Husband and I will talk it through to him and hopefully the pediatrician will have less tightly fitting earphones (they have a booth for adults.) This is not the sort of thing I want to just shrug off. The Cat needs to be tested more thoroughly to get an accurate read of whether there is a problem.
Last week, we learned that our regular pediatrician has gone on emergency maternity leave, so our appointments for the end of March for both boys have now been moved to mid-April with another physician.

Lucky us, we get to discuss the tonsil issue and now this hearing issue with a doctor we haven’t met before! It was tough enough worrying about Spliggle going to a new physician when I had concerns about vaccinations. Now, the Cat has two issues that aren’t particularly fun to discuss “cold” with someone not familiar with his personality and needs.

Hopefully the cooperative Cat will come to the doctor’s appointment rather than the scaredy-cat we had today.

Posted by karianna at March 10, 2006 04:11 PM

Comments

Posted by: Julie at March 15, 2006 06:42 PM