2 new exciting words recently! First of all, I now have a new name. I am no longer 'mama' and am now officially 'Mommy'. I LOVE it!!! Of course, I was thrilled when Kevin started calling me 'mama'. I couldn't have been happier! But, I never really thought of me as a mama type. I always wanted to be 'Mommy'. But, I let Kevin decide and he seemed content to call me 'mama'. Well, as of a couple of days ago, I am offically 'Mommy'. I love the way he says it!!! He can finally say my 'official' name! :)
Another breakthrough was today at therapy. We have started doing more oral-motor therapy because he has the tendency to not move his mouth much when he talks. His 'b' and 'p' sounds at the beginning of words (big, pull, etc) sound like 'd' because he doesn't close his lips when he says them. Therefore, he has a lot of 'di, da, dah' words that all mean something different. He can say the sound in isolation and in the middle of a word (purple, apple), but gets lazy about the beginning of the word. Well, today we worked on 'p' and he finally said 'push'! Push!!! Wow! I was so thrilled!!! We are supposed to pick a letter of the week and work on that, so this week is all about 'p'. I think I will serve pears, peas, pizza, and other fun 'p' letters for dinner this week!
We're on a roll!!!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
A child's perspective
I had an interesting conversation with my older (hearing) son tonight. He is almost 4 and very mature for his age both developmentally and linguistically. (I mention that because I think it adds emphasis to his comments). We were talking about something he heard that was loud and I said that he has sensitive ears. (He really does and I swear he makes up for Kevin's lack of hearing by how good his ears are.) He hears me say that he has sensitive ears often. He told me that is why he didn't need to wear implants. I told him that Kevin needed to wear them because his ears 'were born broken'. He then told me that he used to wear them and now he doesn't need to. I'm not sure if he really thought he used to wear them or was just testing or what, but I proceeded to tell him that he never wore them because his ears were born just fine. He then asked me when Kevin could take them off and his ears would be fine. I realized that by telling him his ears were broken, he thought this was like a cast and would 'fix' them. I explained to him that he would always need his implants to hear. We haven't talked at length with our son about deafness, partially because I thought it was too much of an abstract idea for a little kid to comprehend and partially because he had such a hard time dealing with everything when we were all going to the process of diagnosis, surgery, activation, etc. I think it is time to be more open with him and talk more freely about it. It was just a very interesting to me that he thought these were temporary. Wouldn't that be wonderful!?!?!??!
On another note, Kevin is really comprehending well these days. We took our son up skiing last weekend and Kevin hates the snow, so he stayed behind. When I got back, I asked him about the snow and where we find it and he told me 'at Lake Tahoe' in a very clear response. He stunned all of us!
On another note, Kevin is really comprehending well these days. We took our son up skiing last weekend and Kevin hates the snow, so he stayed behind. When I got back, I asked him about the snow and where we find it and he told me 'at Lake Tahoe' in a very clear response. He stunned all of us!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
2 years old!
My little baby is 2 years old today. It is hard to believe that he is already 2. He seems like such a little boy now. 2 years ago today, my husband and I were ignorant of the deaf world. We had no idea how much our life would change when Kevin was born. Everyone said things would be different with 2 children, but no one had any idea how much different. This birthday marks a big milestone for us. This is a very happy occasion. Not that his first birthday wasn't happy, but Kevin was activated 2 months prior that and we were still getting used to the equipment. We were still experimenting with saying his name to him. This birthday, Kevin essentially will say anything you ask of him and we carry on conversations with him as we do with any hearing 2 year old. Basically, he is a normal 2 year old boy. He had a train party, lots of friends, loved his cake, and got very messy from the paint at his party. He is a normal 2 year old boy! He will even tell you he is 'two years old' while holding up 2 fingers. We couldn't be prouder of him.
So much has happened since my last post. We went to Hawaii for a week and everyone had a great time. It wasn't really an issue with Kevin's CIs. That is probably due to the fact that he really didn't want to get in the water, but still, it wasn't an issue. Everything just seems to be getting easier these days.... He also seemed to have a language explosion in Hawaii. His clarity is getting better and his vocabulary is increasing daily! He learned how to say 'yes' instead of 'yeah' over there. He will tell you that he saw '2 whales' very clearly and a whole host of other words that are Hawaii specific (sting ray, shark, big boat, etc). It is just getting so much easier to talk to him.
We are finding that while things are getting easier, we still put in a lot of extra work with him for speech, equipment maintenance, and other things that go along with CIs. This will never end for us. But, to our friends and distant family, they don't see the extra work we do, they just see Kevin doing really well and seeming to be hearing and talking like a hearing child. They don't treat us any different anymore. It is strange because in a way, I liked to have people feel bad that we had to go through all this extra work and ask us about it and now that it isn't as noticable, I miss it. There are times that I still get frustrated with everything related to CIs and people have seemed to forgotten that this is an ongoing condition and we still do need to be 'checked in' on to see how everything is going. It is just strange to have gotten to this point. I guess that is why it is so important to have friends with kids with CIs because they are the only ones who can really relate with everything we are going through. I don't know if this last paragraph was worded as I was thinking it, but hopefully the gist will come across.
Anyway, our little angel is 2 and is doing incredible. What a great year this will be.
So much has happened since my last post. We went to Hawaii for a week and everyone had a great time. It wasn't really an issue with Kevin's CIs. That is probably due to the fact that he really didn't want to get in the water, but still, it wasn't an issue. Everything just seems to be getting easier these days.... He also seemed to have a language explosion in Hawaii. His clarity is getting better and his vocabulary is increasing daily! He learned how to say 'yes' instead of 'yeah' over there. He will tell you that he saw '2 whales' very clearly and a whole host of other words that are Hawaii specific (sting ray, shark, big boat, etc). It is just getting so much easier to talk to him.
We are finding that while things are getting easier, we still put in a lot of extra work with him for speech, equipment maintenance, and other things that go along with CIs. This will never end for us. But, to our friends and distant family, they don't see the extra work we do, they just see Kevin doing really well and seeming to be hearing and talking like a hearing child. They don't treat us any different anymore. It is strange because in a way, I liked to have people feel bad that we had to go through all this extra work and ask us about it and now that it isn't as noticable, I miss it. There are times that I still get frustrated with everything related to CIs and people have seemed to forgotten that this is an ongoing condition and we still do need to be 'checked in' on to see how everything is going. It is just strange to have gotten to this point. I guess that is why it is so important to have friends with kids with CIs because they are the only ones who can really relate with everything we are going through. I don't know if this last paragraph was worded as I was thinking it, but hopefully the gist will come across.
Anyway, our little angel is 2 and is doing incredible. What a great year this will be.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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!!! :)
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!!! :)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday to Kevin. Happy Birthday to Kevin. Happy Birthday to Keeevvvvviiiinnnn, Happy birthday to Kevin!
Yea.... he made it! We all made it! We survived the first year with bilateral cochlear implants in an infant. There were many days when I thought I would go nuts, but we did make it and to see Kevin communicate so well, it is all worth it.
I remember reading posts from people who were at least a year further down the road than us when were getting ready for the implantation and I thought they were so informed and knew all the answers. Now I know, they aren't any more informed than us, just a little more experienced, but it is still pretty much trial and error with most situations.
This is our past year post-activation in a summary: 1 unexpected surgery, 4 defective processors, 1 cracked controller, 3-4 (I forget) cables, my son who can say 'I love you'. All the headache is completely worth it for him to hear! Everyday I am in awe of this amazing technology that can allow my deaf baby to hear me. Thank you!
Here is the video update of Kevin's 1st year progress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oToiei6e8
Enjoy!
Yea.... he made it! We all made it! We survived the first year with bilateral cochlear implants in an infant. There were many days when I thought I would go nuts, but we did make it and to see Kevin communicate so well, it is all worth it.
I remember reading posts from people who were at least a year further down the road than us when were getting ready for the implantation and I thought they were so informed and knew all the answers. Now I know, they aren't any more informed than us, just a little more experienced, but it is still pretty much trial and error with most situations.
This is our past year post-activation in a summary: 1 unexpected surgery, 4 defective processors, 1 cracked controller, 3-4 (I forget) cables, my son who can say 'I love you'. All the headache is completely worth it for him to hear! Everyday I am in awe of this amazing technology that can allow my deaf baby to hear me. Thank you!
Here is the video update of Kevin's 1st year progress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oToiei6e8
Enjoy!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Almost a year...
I can't believe that it has almost been a year since Kevin's activation! One week from today will be one year exactly! This Valentine's Day, Kevin can actually say 'I love you' (comes out like I uh you and I have to prompt him with each word, but he DOES it!) I find myself reflecting a lot these days about how all of our lives have changed since Kevin was activated. Obviously, Kevin went from a completely silent world to a hearing world and I can only imagine all of the changes he experienced last year. But, I also know that my world changed. When Kevin was first diagnosed, after the initial devastation I had complete fear. I had given birth to a child that I had NO means to communicate effectively with. If I wanted to hold meaningful conversations, I had to learn a new language. This is like someone giving you a baby and saying that the baby will ONLY speak Chinese and you better learn Chinese if you want to communicate with him. Of course, I was willing to learn a new language, but knowing that I HAD to was completely terrifying to me! Allowing Kevin to be implanted has given us the ability to effectively communicate at a much deeper level much earlier than if he didn't get an implant. He and his brother have a completely normal relationship and they communicate very well for an almost 2 and almost 4 year old. The day Kevin was activated last year was the first day I wasn't terrified of everything. I knew Kevin would be able to hear in this world and he would be able to hear me whisper all the sweet nothings in his ear. The last year year and just gotten sweeter and sweeter as Kevin has acquired his basic language skills and I know year #2 will be even better! I can't believe it has been almost a year!
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