NOW you tell me...

Quinn is being tested to see if he qualifies for a public pre-school program for kids with developmental delays and disabilities. First he has to get his hearing tested so today we traipsed down to see an audiologist at our local school district. The minute I saw the probe she wanted to stick in Quinn's ear I knew this was going to be a bad scene. And it was. He started crying the second she touched it to his ear and grew increasingly upset until he hit a state of full-on hysteria. I tried distracting him, holding him during the test, taking a break, and nothing helped.

When the sweetest-keeled kid I've ever met looked over from his happy play break and let out a blood-curdling scream when he spotted the probe in the waiting audiologist's hand, she sighed and said she was just going to have to refer him to a local hospital. I asked why - did they intend to sedate him? "No," she said. "They have a fun sound booth over there where kids can hear sounds bounce off the walls rather than have to hear them inside their ear." Whaaaaaat? Why did no one even mention that was an option? We could have saved the poor child a truly traumatic experience.

I'm new to the public school thing, but this sure taught me a lesson. I need to ask questions before submitting Quinn to these mandatory tests. What are our options? Is there a gentler version of this test available? I know almost nothing about his early months but I do know something in his makeup or something in his past makes him easy to scare in instances like this. It's up to me to sniff those out in advance and try to prevent them. Lesson learned.