Latest testing scores

We just got back from Kevin's Dr. appts yesterday. He had a 1 hour language eval, his bilateral mapping session, and an appt. with the surgeon for a routine follow-up. Whew! We were all exhausted last night, especially after the 2.5 hour drive home!!! Well, drum roll please, the results are in for his language tests!

The test was taken from a normal hearing child language test (as opposed to a DHOH test that is usually used). That means that this is the same test that is given to hearing peers, not just DHOH peers. He scored between 3.5 and 3.11 years for receptive language!!! He scored between 2 and 2.5 years for expressive language. Kevin is currently 23 months!!! Wooo hoooo! Can you even believe it! It is utterly amazing that he caught up so quickly and is doing so well after just 1 year of hearing. I always knew he was a smart cookie!!! :) He was even amazing me during the testing. What a fun way to start the day! Hopefully he will close the gap between expressive and receptive language sooner rather than later, because I think that is causing him some frustration as he knows what is going on, but can't express it fully yet.

His mapping was the most difficult yet, as expected. He is very much a 2 year old and didn't like being without his hearing during the neural testing. He didn't want to cooperate during the behavior testing (listening game), but was finally able to give us some results. The map didn't change much, as expected. He pretty much gave us nothing during the sound booth test, but mind you that was after 3 hours of solid tests (including the language test). I think he hears pretty well though, because he mimicked the sound of air coming out of a rubber ducky after he squeezed it. Even the audi was impressed with that!

So, our little angel is doing great and seems to be on track for mainstream into preschool. We do need to start some more emphasis on articulation now that his vocab and understanding is doing well. The work never ends!!! :)

A new sound

Kevin started making a new sound today. It seems like the past week or so, he has really started to have clearer speech and tries to copy everything we say, but his sounds are the same. A lot of 'dee, dah, da, doh' etc. Today, he started saying the hard 'g' sound (like gut). He was saying it almost all day! It is fun to hear him say a new sound!!! His 'c' sounds were also clearer today.

I also took him to the zoo and he was saying all the animal names after I said them. He even said 'coyote'. That sounded like 'di-oh-tay', but he did it! It is funny how a new sound just brightens your day and really gives you a lift. I know Kevin is doing well and will be talking before we know it, but things like this are helpful confirmations!