Cleft clinic visit

Will's cleft visit was the last week of May and I'm just now posting about it. He got to see the speech pathologist Dr. Riski who he will now work with. It helps he knows where the two toy draws are and that he will get a prize from the treasure box when he finishes! He worked hard to make the speech sounds he was asked to do. Unfortunately since we have added the allergy medication he has very little "nasal secretions" and mucus to limit his hyper nasality. So we are to keep working with him on his sounds having him whisper or close his nose with his fingers pushing the nostrils closed (not his favorite thing to do). He is still making many sounds by slamming his vocal folds together (glottal stops) to be understood. Dr. Riski wants the school speech teacher to work on his speech with him closing his nose or whispering so he doesn't get the bad habits reinforced.



When we meet with Dr. B. he said we need to do a sphincter pharyngoplasty to improve his speech. Surgery is scheduled for October 4th to take advantage of my fall break. We knew he would probably need 4-8 surgeries so we were not surprised, but hate to see him have more surgery. We are only suppose to stay up to 23 hours in extended recovery.