Oversight

Missed one. And it's a doozy. Middle child had speech therapy in her Pre-K years, and she was finished with such things by the time she set foot in a kindergarten classroom. Even though her speech therapy was provided through our school district, her records do not necessarily reflect the past therapy. (It's astounding the sorts of things that don't make it into the mythological comprehensive "permanent record".) On beginning the wonders of orthodontic treatment, we were told that the same structural issues that caused Kate's speech difficulties were adding to the orthodontic uh-ohs with her teeth and jaw. Since the appliance and braces are coming off in the first week of February, it is time to correct the structural trouble spots with some minor surgery on Monday. While she waits for the stitches to dissolve and her mouth to heal, there will be no horn playing, and her mouth will likely hurt. This is the first reason we have had to mention the irregularity since Katie entered middle school.

When she tried out band instruments, the french horn was clearly the one for her so we signed on for Katie to join the beginner band and started private lessons as well. (Without ever mentioning that she had speech or structural issues. It never even blipped on my radar that this topic might fall under the heading "New They Could Use".) Last night the horn lesson instructor phoned. We talked about the Solo and Ensemble contest coming up in the next couple of weeks and how Katie might be encouraged to practice more in preparation. It clicked that he would need to know that she cannot practice through at least half of next week, and that she may need to miss her lesson, too. As I explained what she was having done and why, he suddenly had one of those light bulb moments. My little light bulb was still dark. Until he reached over to flip my switch by mentioning that Katie's articulation difficulties--- and him riding her over the incorrect articulation, were caused by the same teensy little flaps of skin causing her speech difficulties with, ahem, articulation. *groan*

While I am not beating myself up, I am disgruntled that our daughter has been dealing with feelings of inadequacy and frustration that could have been mitigated had it been communicated that the same issue that affected her speech and the set of her jaw and teeth would also likely affect the way she plays a horn. Hopefully, the surgery will see an end to these issues once and for all.