Struggling

It has been kind of a tough week. I debated long and hard about blogging about it. Ellie received a diagnosis on Tuesday that I am not sure is really mine to talk about. If it clears up quickly, no big deal; but if it lingers into adolescence, then it is her choice what she wants out there.

I initially imagined a vague blog post just to ask for your thoughts and prayers. (See, now it is starting to sound like something much bigger than it really is...) But, I decided that this is something Ellie is dealing with right now, so I might as well document it on her blog. If the problem lingers I may reassess.

On to the diagnosis. When we got back from our trip to Idaho last week we began noticing that Ellie had started repeating phrases at the beginning of a sentence. Sort of like revving up, if you will. On the 4th, at her well-child check-up I talked to the doctor about it. I was assured that it was completely developmentally normal - especially given that Ellie talks in 7-9 word sentences. By last weekend her speech had deteriorated to the point that she was repeating single words and initial syllables at the beginning of a sentence. This was becoming more than 50% of her speech. She would turn red in the face and tense her entire body when she would try to talk. She also developed a hard blink to try and get past the hard word. I took her back to the doctor on the 10th and she was diagnosed as having a stutter.

Since then I have spent countless hours researching what our next steps should be. I spoke with a nationally-known specialist in the field of stuttering. Amazingly, her clinic is 5 miles from our house! I am meeting with another speech therapist this afternoon and Ellie has an appointment next week to begin the screening process to find out if she qualifies for (free!) therapy through the school district.

All-in-all, the odds of a full recovery are on Ellie's side. Because of her age, and the fact that she is a girl (boys have a harder time with language development), she has an 85% chance of spontaneous recovery within the next 6-12 months. That seems like an eternity to us.

The wonderful specialist I spoke with this week (Mary) has given us "assignments" to do at home and ways to modify Ellie's environment to give her the best chance of recovering on her own. We will be in contact with her weekly until we see a change (positive or negative) in Ellie's speech. If she takes a downward turn, or hasn't shown improvement within the next 6 months, we will start private therapy with Mary. We also have the school district screening that will match Ellie with a speech therapist who will come to our house for therapy, if she qualifies.

While we have been taken totally by surprise at the sudden onset of her stutter, we remain thankful that this is the only thing that Ellie has ever had "wrong" with her. She definately notices her stutter and gets frustrated at times. Overall though, she is her same, happy self - which we are also very thankful about!

Those of you that are relatives reading this: Please let me know if there is *anyone* in the family you can think of that had (or has) a stutter. This is an important component to Ellie's "recovery." Stuttering often skips generations, so even if it is a great aunt or uncle, or a great-grandparent, let me know! If we find a genetic link, it will change the intensity of Ellie's speech therapy.