Our Inspired Journey

Ever since activation day, Cole has been hearing sound. For those if us without hearing impairment, we don't think about hearing, we just do. After years and years of hearing sound, we've learned to listen and distinguish the value that different sounds have without realizing it most of the time! What a journey it has been to be teaching our Coley (as he's called around here) to listen! Through the therapy he receives at Carle Auditory School, he's been learning to listen, and he's also learning that sound has meaning that we should pay attention to!

- KNOCK, KNOCK! We play this with Cole in his room while someone else (usually Ryder) knocks on the door wanting to come in...when we hear the knock, we stop and say, "I hear that!" pointing to our ears and the door to signify where the sound is coming from. After having a ton of fun practicing this game, Cole now stops on his own and goes to open the door without being prompted!

- "1, 2, 3, GO!" This one is Ryder's favorite games since it involves running! In this game, both boys start in one spot like on the starting line in a race. Then I say, "1, 2, 3.....(wait a second or two)...GO!" When I say GO they both take off running in a circle around our house! When they get back to me I say "Stop!" and they know they need to stop to start again. The goal is that without hand motions, Cole would wait to run until he hears the word "GO" and stop when he hears me say "STOP!" He does both now on his own!!!

- Turning to his NAME While someone is playing with Cole, another member of our family stands further away from him and calls out his name. Whoever is playing with him stops, says, "I hear that!" and points to who was saying his name. It's an amazing feeling to be writing about this activity since it was Cole NOT turning to his name by his 1st birthday that initiated his first hearing test where we learned he was deaf. I can proudly say that he now turns to his name!!! What an awesome thing it is to be able to call to him as he's walking down the hall and see him turn around and run to us! Words really cannot describe the feeling...

It's weird to think back to Cole's well-baby visits with our pediatrician in CA and remember him complimenting Cole on the sounds he would make at an early age! Without knowing he was deaf yet, we thought he would start speaking early based on how early he started making sounds as a baby :) Our time with Cole's speech therapist is spent on both learning to listen and speaking...again...a skill we take so for granted until you are intentionally helping someone else learn to do it! So much of his speech therapy at this point includes explaining everything we are doing to him step by step, and emphasizing the beginning consonant sound of some words to show him how to say them and how our lips are shaped to make each sound.

- "MORE!" Cole loves to eat, so at the table when it is meal time, I sit next to him and ask him to say "MORE" before giving him his next bite. At first, I would ask, "More? Do you want mmmore?" and reward any sound at all, showing him that his voice has power and when he uses it to communicate, he gets what he wants! Cole has just moved from saying "ahhh" when he wants something, to saying "mmm"...the first sound in the word "more!" He's on his way :)

- "OPEN" We will sit and play with toys that are stored in plastic tupperware bins with lids. Whenever he wants me to open the box so he can play with the toy, he would normally come to me and whine. Now, we say, "Open. Do you want the box open? Ooooopen." We'll keep repeating the o sound to show him how our lips are shaped in an o and when we says a sound with his mouth open, we open the box. He just started working on this sound and has done it a couple times for his therapist in speech so we're so proud of him learning to distinguish the "m" sound from the "o" sound! :)

- "BATH" Cole LOVES baths and takes one immediately following dinner every night. As soon as he's finished eating he begins doing the sign for bath for us, and we say, "Bath? You want to take a bath? b, b, b, bath?" over and over and over. From all this repetition, he's now adding the sound "b" to his sighing of bath! We're so proud :)

On Thursday we're going to film some of Cole's speech therapy when his therapist comes to our house as she does every Thursday morning...as soon as we can, we'll post it so you can see for yourself how he's doing! Thank you for being on this journey with us through your prayers for him as he grows! We're so thankful for the support God has given Cole through your love and support for him! Praise God for 2 months of progress and please keep praying for more as we are faithful in the little things that help him grow and learn each day. :)