I have said this before, and it’s the absolute truth, Ella’s mood can shift in a matter of seconds. There is no warning, and a lot of times you have to ride out the storm with her. When she’s ready, she will find someone or something to calm her down.

Today is a perfect example. Ella had an appointment this morning at the ENT to get her hearing checked. For awhile I have been feeling as though she hasn’t been responding to certain things that she should be. For one, her name. Steve swears she has selective hearing and is ignoring me on purpose. To put an end to that debate, I decided to make an appointment to have it checked. She must have sensed she was leaving the house because all she did was scream for the thirty minutes leading up to our departure.

The screaming continued into the car and alllllll the way to the doctors office. As we approached the building doors, she wasn’t giving in. All the while, I was picturing in my head how glorious the hearing test was going to be. As we got in the elevator I decided to give her a snack. She had just finished breakfast before we left, but I would have given her a pony at the moment if it meant she would quiet down.

Fruit snacks for the win. By the time we reached the temperature check lady, Ella was quiet and relaxing with her hands behind her head. She usually comes through at the end, but she likes to make me sweat it out. This time she cut it super close. I was fully prepared to cancel the appointment, or be the mom with the screaming kid in the waiting room, hoping and praying she would calm down before her test.

I wish I could tell you I thought the test was a success, but I would be lying if I did. According to the audiologist, Ella passed. According to me, her findings were inaccurate. For those who aren’t familiar with how the test works, let me paint you a mental picture of the part of testing I deemed to be invalid. Picture yourself sitting in a sealed booth, with varying volumes of tone coming out of speakers. Ella was supposed to look in the direction of, or react when she heard one of these tones. After she reacted, she would be rewarded by seeing a creepy looking Donald Duck playing the drums.

The first issue I had was that the right side of the booth was the only one making noise. (Apparently the left side wasn’t working). As Ella sat there on my lap, I was instructed to stare straight ahead, as to not give any clues as to what direction the noise was coming from. The tones started low and gradually got louder. Ella, only once, immediately looked to her right. Each time after that she either didn’t look, or was moving her head willy nilly and managed to look at the speaker in the process. The movement was so quick, I can’t say for sure it was purposeful. Before I knew it the test was over and the audiologist told me she did great.

My next visit was with the doctor. He again told me Ella passed the hearing test, after which I expressed my concerns with the validity it all. I explained how Ella is not your typical child, and about how I did speak to the audiologist about that before the test. Even with that knowledge, she proceeded to test her and collect data like she would with any other child. I realized she was doing what she was trained to do, and told the doctor that I mistakenly brought her to the wrong place.

With that being said, he apologized, checked Ella out, and wrote me a referral for another test, at a different location, that was more involved and where responses were monitored better. I called for an appointment and they are approving requests on a case by case basis. Needless to say, I know no more now than I did before her appointment. Hopefully we can get approved for this other test, and get some solid results.

The morning wore me out, and once again I went to another appointment that provided me with zero answers or conclusive results. It’s come to the point where Steve and I are always shocked when they can actually tell us something. We consider that a job well done. While I was there I did decide to make Ella an appointment with the allergist next week. Let’s see how this goes!

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