006. When you just know somethings not right...

So, for as long as Isabelle has been able to talk she has always spoken with a very nasally sound to her voice! She has never had a problem with talking (unless talking too much is a problem?) so I never thought anything too serious of it, and whenever anybody asked me "why does she talk like that" I would just reply, because that's the way she talks! 

I never even considered it to be a problem, or something I should take her to a doctor about because I thought she would just out grow it as she got older! 

When Isabelle turned 4 her preschool teacher mentioned maybe getting it checked, so off I went and booked an appointment and we went to see the doctor! He told me it wasn't really possible to see anything wrong because she had a cold but to give it a few weeks for the cold to clear and come back! 

Months passed and having the busy schedule we do I didn't take her back, I also still felt a bit silly thinking maybe I'm making a big deal out of something that really cannot be helped! 

Fast forward to end of June and I decided to take Isabelle back to the doctors and get another opinion. 

The doctor had a look and said she couldn't see anything but it was obvious Isabelle's voice wasn't "right" so she suggested we go to the speech and language drop in at our local children's centre!

That's where we went today, after a long wait we saw the speech and language therapist! 

She noticed straight away that something was a little strange about the way Isabelle spoke and after playing a few games and trying a few things to get Isabelle to talk she suggested she may have something called velopharyngeal dysfunction! 

She explained it to basically mean when Isabelle makes the sounds with her voice her soft palate doesn't close against her throat like it should so the air is still able to escape from her nose!  The therapist told us before she could continue to help Isabelle we needed to see an ears nose and throat doctor to rule out it being a structural issue, if it is then that's a route we have to go down with them and if it's not then we can go back to speech and language and discuss further options for Isabelle to help with her speech! 

Hopefully we won't have to wait too long before the referral comes through! 

But to anyone who is feeling silly for the worries they have regarding their children, don't hesitate to get them checked, it could be nothing or it could be something as the sooner you get the ball rolling to find an outcome the better!