Friday, June 4, 2010

Back from Joberg!

After a cancelled flight, Levi and I arrived back home in Zambia at about 8:30pm. Levi had 4 appointments, one of which included his admission into the hospital for a sedated hearing test. Anesthesia is never fun for the parents to deal with afterwards but thankfully,
the children don't remember it.
Levi began the week with a therapy appointment with a SLP (speech language therapist) who focused on assessing Levi's oral motor skills but also got a grasp on where he is with his speech delay. The next day was his hospital visit then on Wednesday, he saw the audiologist who did his procedure on Tuesday. Again, that afternoon, Levi saw the SLP who did his original evaluation in April. Through all of these appointments, it looks like Levi has a phonological processing disorder and not a hearing loss nor an oral motor deficiency. Out of the three, the one he has will be the easiest to work with.
Before we left Mongu on Saturday morning, I called someone who had been recommended by the American School in Lusaka. I called her and was amazed to find that she is a Speech Therapist and has a private practice in Lusaka. She has been working as a SLP for 14 years and is willing to work with Levi. Therefore, after a lot of consultation with many different people in the States and leadership in South Africa - it has been decided that we can work with the SLP in Lusaka every 2 months for a 5 day period as we continue to do home based therapy from Lukulu. Progress reports will be sent to Johannesburg after our 5 day therapy sessions in Lusaka. Please continue to pray for Levi's progress. If he is not able to progress through this plan of action, we will have to move to where he is able to get the help necessary.

1 comment:

Angie Lynn said...

Good news regarding Levi's diagnosis! Praying that the therapy, etc... will help him!!!!