We woke up early again today (the boys included) and went to an exciting appointment to get Cole's hearing aids and talk for the first time with the speech pathologists in the ECHO program Cole is now deeply a part of. Our appointment lasted from 8:00-11:30 and was a wonderful step in us understanding the next part of the journey we are on to Cole hearing, listening and speaking...which by God's miraculous hand is actually possible! I'm going to attempt to condense our LONG appointment this morning into a few short paragraphs that somehow paint you a picture of where we are now...
Hearing AidsWe went through hearing aid 101 this morning with the same audiologist that has given Cole his last two hearing tests...she's wonderful and we are thankful for her being a part of the team that is helping Cole! We now understand everything about hearing aid care and function :) They even came with "Oliver" the elephant puppet who also needs hearing aids and a book explaining how he got his! Great for Ryder :) While we were being educated, Cole was playing on the floor with two speech pathologists as they assessed the sounds he is currently making and his current stage of development. We were blessed as we walked up to the appointment and the head speech pathologist who we would see later, volunteered to take Ryder to the play room at the end of the hall so that we could finish our hearing aid education and Cole could be evaluated accurately...such a blessing! They truly have a family oriented outlook on this whole process.
After we knew everything we needed to about his hearing aids, with the help of the audiologist, we put them on him for the first time. She thinks he reacted as she put them on his ears and turned the aids on. It wasn't dramatic if anything, but at this point, any sound is helpful for him to begin to get used to hearing, even if it is very faint. We were so proud of the way he left them in and continued playing! He touched his ears a few times as if to ask, "What are these things?" but didn't fight it when we pushed them back in and encouraged him to leave them alone...miracle!
Our Goals for Cole's Speech...
Ryder came bounding through the door with a speech pathologist (Mary Willis) as the next part of our appointment unfolded. Cole and Ryder continued to play (Cole with his hearing aids in), while we talked with Mary for while. She gave us a book, websites and videos to watch to help us make our most important decision so far that would truly affect his communication the rest of his life! How did we want him to learn to communicate? Up to this point, we assumed sign language would be a part of our lives, but from the list of 5 communication options she gave us, we found out we have much more to consider. We were asked to spend a week researching and deciding between the following 5 communication options...
- American Sign Language: manually signing
- Total Communication: combination of speaking and manual (signing)
- Cued Speech: another form of sign language that uses hand motions to represents sounds
- Auditory-Verbal: learning to talk through learning to listen
- Auditory-Oral: learn to talk through speech
In the next 2 months, we will be going to speech therapy, trying to see what sounds he picks up, if any, from his hearing aids. Along the way, he will also have his hearing tested periodically to determine whether or not the hearing aids are helping him pick up any speech. No one is really expecting them to because of the severity of his hearing loss, so after we prove this through the necessary tests, we will be moving forward to give him cochlear implants. After he has these, he will learn to process the new sound he hears through intense therapy and training.
Blessings...
One of the things we were excited to hear is that their goal for him is that he be ready to be mainstreamed into a regular kindergarten class by the time he's 5 with minimal support from an instructional aid. Kids that go through their therapy and school have these kinds of results after having what they need (hearing aids or cochlear implants) to hear speech. One of the concerns I had as a former teacher, was hearing that children with severe hearing impairments often can't read beyond a 3rd grade reading level because they aren't able to pick up the many of the sounds necessary to sound out words, instead they have to memorize whole words which is a very challenging way to learn to read ALL of your words. With cochlear implants and speech therapy, Mary says she expects him to stay in line with reading at his grade level, and helping him reach the goal of being able to go to college someday! This reality for so many of us becomes difficult for the deaf as they often do not read at a high enough level to attend college.
Here are some pictures of our little man with his new hearing aids that we hopefully will trade-in for cochlear implants ASAP! I'm most interested in the timeline right now and so having them ask me today if I would want them in before of after our little girl arrives made me SO excited that Cole could be getting the best Christmas present of all this year...the gift of HEARING! We left the appointment with Ryder begging to carry Oliver the elephant and Cole's little hearing aid bag (with a picture of Oliver on it) back to the car for his little brother...he's so supportive and curious already...the perfect companion for Cole to be on this hearing journey with. Enjoy the pictures of Cole trying to hear for the first time as Daddy and Ryder encourage him along with drums, pianos and whistles...not sure he hears yet, but we are confident that through God's miraculous hand, that day will soon come!
Wow, Danice. It sounds exciting and very overwhelming! Hang in there. You are doing such an amazing job with your kiddos!
No way! They would be able to do the implants that quickly!! That is so great! We will continue to pray for the process and Cole's growth and development. We love you guys!
Praise the Lord for all the exciting care that God is giving you! That ECHO program sounds amazing. I am so excited for all the love, knowledge and care you are receiving... God is good and is listening to our prayers!
XOX
Danice, every blog post I read, I just marvel at your trust in God and His faithfulness. You are amazing! My son Malachi, just a little younger than Ryder, has apraxia (his brain has trouble telling his mouth how to say words so he has trouble talking). It's a struggle, but it's nothing compared to Cole's hearing loss. Hearing how you guys are going through all of this is really encouraging to me. I also enjoy seeing your boys together since they're so similar in age to my boys (Levi was born a week after Cole - I remember because I was so ready for Levi to come out and you had Cole and I was so jealous!). Plus, it's fun hearing how you're exploring your new surroundings since we just moved to Utah in Feb and had a similar experience (well, no appendectomies...yet). Whoo, sorry for the overshare. Anyway, thanks for sharing all of this. You encourage me to be a better mom!