Tuesday, July 29, 2008

60db Baby!

Oops ... I don't know what happened, but I totally deleted the first post with this name by accident! AHHHH! It was the one time I had peace & quiet in the house with everyone asleep and time to catch up on Aiden's journey. Now we'll see if I can get it out again before my crew is up & going!

So much has happened over the last couple of weeks ... the biggest one being MY BABY IS HEARING US! HE IS SHOWING SOME GOOD RESPONSES OVER AND OVER! Just typing that brings tears to my eyes. I mean just three months ago I was being told that he was profoundly deaf (no response at 110db) and that hearing aids probably would not do anything for him. BUT THEY ARE!

We did behavior testing last week and with spoken language he tested at 60db with his aids!! (this is in the moderate-severe loss range and does not include the sounds of speech, so he is still on the path to cochlear implants). Aiden's daddy, our wonderful audiologist, and I all saw the binky business response and one time he even turned toward the speaker!!! Hello tears ...

I asked our audiologist HOW he could go from testing at a 75db just a month ago and now be testing at 60db. It didn't make sense to me. She said that, 1. he's becoming a better test taker, and 2. his aids are working for him so he's becoming more aware of sound and therefore showing more responses to them. I still was a little iffy ... I'm a very black/white person, show me HOW you can prove he's hearing at this level by just watching him; but as his mommy, I saw it too, my baby responded and I knew it! Aiden has been showing us many responses this past week and here's a few examples.

On Sunday, Aiden's dad called me as I was on my way to a baby shower. Him and Aiden were practicing different learn to listen sounds, when Aiden once again, repeated the ahhh sound to him! He was so excited he called me to let me listen ... sure enough, Mike would "ahhhhh" and Aiden would "ahhhh"! My heart melted! What a video moment - next time!

Yesterday morning I got off to the side of him and started saying the ling sounds (oo, ee, ah, ss, sh, mm) and Aiden would get real still and sorta dart his eyes around like "where is that coming from", then continue on. Then I'd do another sound, he'd get still again, and after another "ah" he actually turned, looked at me, and gave me a huge smile! I wonder if he just sensed me, smelled my scent, or maybe my baby just heard his mommy's voice and turned to see her! More tears ...

Go here for a good explanation of the Ling sounds and where these sounds fall on the speech banana. You can see on this chart that the "ah" sound falls closest to 60db and this is why he probably responds most to this. What surprises me though is that he has responded a lot today to my louder "shh" sounds (static sounding). Every time I said that sound today he would just stop and get this "WTF" look on his face!

We play pat-a-cake a lot and Aiden LOVES this game! In our recent therapy session with Miss Helen, she taught us to create "powerful moments". These are moments where a baby will begin to realize that something fun is going to come next. So during pat-a-cake the past few days, I've done a lot of pausing between lines. During this silence, Aiden gets so excited and belts out some pretty exciting screams "hurry up mom ... throw it in the pan!" I wonder if he can hear the inflections (is that the right word?) in my voice and knows there is more of it to come!

Oh yeah, and we had new ear molds made the other day (again). This time we got blue/white swirls (which I didn't know we could do) for our upcoming vacation to the beach! He barely even flinched this time. He's becoming a little pro at sitting nicely while the put all that cold goop in his ear ...

Aiden is going to be okay. Not only okay ... but GREAT! He is such a happy child who makes me smile all day long! We are so blessed to have him! This journey is absolutely amazing! Aiden is absolutely amazing and I would not change one thing about him!

10 comments:

leah said...

That is totally awesome!! I am so glad that our kids are born in a time where technology can be such a help. If he's doing this well with aids, I can only imagine what he'll do with a CI!!

Kel said...

My gosh!! I follow you through Deaf Village, and I just had to comment on how wonderful that is! I'm so happy for you!

Anonymous said...

Let me say not only is Aiden awesome...but his family is too! Tammy and Mike as a new parent myself I am amazed at your strength and courage and one day Aiden will thank you for your dedication to him. He is such a joy and I felt so privilaged that I got to feed that sweet little peanut! When he smiled at me I just completely melted! He is so happy and that in itself should make you smile! Congrats on the
60d....GOD IS GREAT!!!!

Sharon said...

Tammy, I am so glad I ran into you and Aiden today. He just gets more precious each time I see him, in spite of that little munchkin not taking naps for his Mommy. You are so full of joy and a role model to others already. Bless your heart.

Sharon said...

Tammy, I am so glad I ran into you and Aiden today. He just gets more precious each time I see him, in spite of that little munchkin not taking naps for his Mommy. You are so full of joy and a role model to others already. Bless your heart.

misskri said...

YEAH Aiden~ that is awesome that he is getting good sound from his hearing aids!!!
Reading your post brought tears to my eyes...takes me back a few years but the memories are still very clear!
Have fun on vacation!!!

Moe said...

Tammy-

Aiden is so cute!!!!!!Thanks for the updates! Not sleeping seems to run in the family. Kyle never took naps! Talk to you soon

sarahkate60120 said...

Yeah! That is great news. I was also told that with my daughter's profound loss in the left ear that a hearing aid probably wouldn't do much good. The audiologists were quite surprised with Anna's latest hearing results. With this hearing aid she hears so well that she no longer qualifies for an implant. She tests at a mild loss and recognizes speech at 20 db.

Unknown said...

I am so happy for you and your family! It has to be wonderful to get confirmation that all of your hard work and dedication is paying off. Way to go Aiden and way to go mom and dad!!

Christian and Lily's Mommy said...

Tammy,
I'm crying here reading your post, as I remember the day that Christian showed responses with his hearing aids for the first time. It still gives me chills. In fact, I have a whole entry in his baby book about it. This is a day to celebrate!

Thank God for the amazing technology, and for parents who are committed advocates and teachers for their babies! Congrats...