full comprehension

Today I was amazed at what Kevin comprehended. I was leaving a store and told him that we were going home to see Daddy. He got excited about that. When we got home, the garage door was closed and Daddy wasn't outside like he was when we left. Kevin held up his hands like he does when he doesn't know something. I said, 'Maybe Daddy is inside.'. Kevin got all excited and wanted out immediately and then ran to the door to go inside. Once inside I said 'where is Daddy' and Kevin said 'Daaaaddddyyyy!'. He understood the whole sequence of the conversation from leaving the store until Daddy was found. Amazing....!

It was a cold...

Kevin has a cold today. He caught it from Ethan, his brother, so I am not surprised by this, but I think he was so cranky yesterday not JUST from the mapping, but also from coming down with a cold. I don't know if he would have reacted to adversly to the program if he felt great, but I do think it is right to stop using that old program. He seems to be hearing so much better with his old one. He is back to hearing the quietest of sounds like my husband's cell phone notifying him of an email and house fans.

He can now also say 'bun' for bunny, which is his special stuft animal. Being able to communite with words makes my life sooo much easier. We are still in the guessing game phase, but I think in another 6 months, he will be talking quite a bit!!!

1st bad mapping

We went in last Wednesday (5 days ago) to get re-mapped. Annie (the audi) tried to bring up some of the lower frequencies based on what I was telling her Kevin was doing. She thought he might be getting too much high frequency, so she went against his neural test results a bit. She said it would either be very positive or very negative for him. The last few days have he has been fussy and this evening he refused to wear his processors for the first time EVER! Needless to say, I was very worried about this, but as soon as I put on the old map, he was very happy and wanted to wear them again. What a relief! I was so worried that he wouldn't want to wear them at all!!! It was quite a stressful night for me. I just want things to go smoothly and never want him to be in pain, which I guess he was in. Events like this make me sad that he just can't hear like the rest of us, but I am sooooo grateful for the technology that we have been given to allow him to hear as good as he does.
This is a big reminder that there will be ups and downs with this process. Not that this was a big 'down', but there will be challenges along the way. The whole process is very trial and error, especially until they can tell you if it sounds better or worse. I just have to have faith that they are working at their top potential and that he will continue to do great. So far, so good! In a few weeks, I will turn on ADRO, a special program designed to make speech clearer. Let's see if he likes that program!

Kevin 6 month hearing update

We just finished creating a video of Kevin's hearing progress at the 6 month mark. I can't believe it has been 6 months already!!! Time sure does fly when you are having fun and things are going well. I can't believe the progress that he has made over the last few months. He has a lot of words in his vocabulary and understands soooo much! His newest word is 'ball' very clearly! He got a new map today which will raise the lower frequencies, so that should help with speaking clearer. We will also begin using ADRO in a few weeks.

The mapping today was soooo difficult. Kevin is at an age where it is extremely difficult to have him sit still. We didn't get a clear reading in the sound booth. Thank goodness for neural response testing!!! He was such a wiggle worm the entire day, but all in all a very good boy. It was a lot for him to go through.

Here is the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W1CFeTy5BE

Hope you enjoy the video!

Exciting progress

I am quickly finding out that the development of language with a cochlear implant child is similar to the development of everything else of a child. There are times when it seems like nothing is changing and then all of a sudden, boom, so many new skills are acquired! After being in a few weeks of non-changing, this last week (and specifically weekend) have been so much fun to witness. I'll write about this after I tell you about our weekend:

We flew down to Legoland last weekend and unfortunately, Kevin started to get a runny nose the morning of the flight. After landing and taking a nap in the car, he woke up looking very pale. He seemed to have lost his sense of balance. He couldn't stand or walk! It was very scary and I took him to the doctor and they said he had a slight ear infection, but most likely it was due to fluid in his middle ear. Hopefully this isn't a recurring theme with him....!

We had a great time at legoland and took advantage of the disability program they have there. It is kind of like a fastpass at Disneyland and lets you cut in front of the line. I thought I would feel more guilty about using this, but it is the little perks in life that keep you happy.

Anyway, on to Kevin's progress. He now says 'doggy' and I think he said 'grand-pa' today in the bathtub. I'll have to keep my ear out for that one again. He also clicks his tounge on command. I am really happy about that one because it means he is doing something different with his tongue and that will help with his expressive language. We were at a loud restaurant yesterday and Kevin was acting up, so I put my finger to my mouth and said 'shhhh'. He repeated it back to me! He said 'shhhh'. I can't believe he heard that with all the background noise! He also fake sneezes by putting his head back and then pushing it forward and saying 'sh' at the end like the end of a sneeze! :) I love that one! He also pants like a dog when he sees one and says 'ha' for hot when something is hot.

The most impressive thing happened today! I was having breakfast with Kevin and Ethan and doing the typical morning conversation and the toaster oven dinged. Kevin put his finger to his ear and looked at the toaster oven as if to say, I heard that! He then wanted me to go over and get the waffle out. He also got up and went to his changing table today when I said 'you have a poopy diaper, let's change it'. He is understanding soooo much! I love it!

As you can tell, this is a very happy day for me. I love to see the progress in his hearing!

Bye-Bye

Kevin finally said bye-bye today! He always waves when someone says 'bye-bye', but today in therapy we were really working on getting him to say it and he finally did! It was a very breathy 'bu-bu', but at least he knew what he was saying. We are on our way to the verbal world!!! Yea! One thing a having a deaf child teaches you is to stop and enjoy EVERY bit of the language learing process.

How well can he hear?

Most people ask how well can Kevin hear with the cochlear implant? Today, I think I have a great example of just how well he can hear and it is only 4.5 months post activation! We were swinging on a swing today at the park and another girl was swinging sitting the opposite way from him. There was the typical park noise and I was saying my typical 'swing high' and 'wheeee' sounds. The man pushing the girl (behind Kevin) ask his little girl for a 'high five'. As soon as he said that, Kevin turned around and held up a hand to give him a high five!!!! I was sooooo excited!

Also, last weekend at a 4th of July family event, there was a lot of comotion with all the kids running around and we asked Kevin where his belly button was. Kevin was standing about 10 feet from us and he pointed to it. Then we asked him where was Matthew's belly button (cousin) and he walked over and pointed at Matthew's belly button.

These are just some of many examples I am coming across that show just how great Kevin can hear!!!

On the expressive language update, today Kevin saw a cotton puff that we play with and he started saying in a very breathy tone 'pu, pu, pu'. He was really trying to say puff!!! He also tried to say 'that'. When I hand him something I make him say 'I want that' and then he has to repeat it to get it. This enforces the use of his voice and teaches him that his voice is powerful. Anyway, when he said it, there were distinct words and it almost sounded like he said 'that'. Pretty cool!!!

His receptive language has really skyrocketed, so I am assuming his expressive will not be that far behind!