Nathan Update

Last Thursday Nathan and I met with the ENT cleft palate/VPI specialist and learned that everything looks pretty good!  Which means we don't need to worry about surgery or anything else like that!!  Yay!

The ENT recommends that Nathan have as much speech therapy as possible and that the therapy be directed by a speech pathologist that specializes in clefts/VPI.  He didn't seem to think that Nathan's getting enough speech therapy now and recommended that we "remind" the school district of federal law and find a speech pathologist in this specialty to direct the elementary and U of U speech clinicians' therapy.  I'll be honest--I didn't have a good feeling after meeting with this guy.  I recognize that the school district's "best" is pathetic and doesn't begin to address Nathan's needs.  BUT I do believe that they are giving us the best of what they have to offer.  All I would accomplish by fighting for more would be to alienate the people I currently have great relationships with and waste my time and energy and possibly money in getting the district to abide by federal law--time, money and energy I could direct towards Nathan.  Federal law doesn't seem to account for paltry education budgets.  And I know that as a family we really do not have any more resources in time or money to do more than we are doing.  We're all making huge sacrifices and commitments as it is. 

Friday night at speech I was visiting with Mark Cantor, who is the professor who supervises Nathan's therapy.  After hearing the ENT's recommendations he told me that he could see where the doctor is coming from but that he didn't think I needed to do that.  Mark said that they took the report from the CDC speech pathologist and thoroughly examined it to better focus Nathan's therapy.  He said that VPI is not his specialty but that it is the specialty of his colleague who helps administers their program and he had already met with her about Nathan and she (Janet) had already met with Nathan's clinician.  He indicated that they would be conducting some additional testing in the future to focus their efforts and that Janet would be meeting with Nathan and his clinician at times to make sure Nathan got the best care.  I'll be honest--I felt really good after visiting with Mark.

In conclusion, we've decided to stay our current course.  Mark Cantor also feels that more speech would just be too much and possibly too difficult for Nathan at his current age.  I agree.  The poor kid rarely gets to play like a kid as it is. It is really nice to know exactly what Nathan's issues are and that we can get his therapy more focused on those needs.  It's also nice to know that he doesn't need any major surgery and that with well focused therapy he will most likely get exactly what he needs.  I feel like the Spirit is directing us to remember that we need to be sure VPI is addressed in his therapy and to keep doing what we're doing.