Not sure which I'm more shocked from ...

his sentence,

"No thank you mom I don't want to eat no chocolate cake, sorry." 

count them - THIRTEEN {yes, 13!} words!

Or,

the fact he honestly didn't want any homemade chocolate cake.

wow.

the post in which he reads

Aiden was born with a profound hearing loss in both ears; he couldn't hear a jet airplane's engines if he was sitting right next to it. My husband and I immediately dove right into what our options were for raising a deaf child. After we were told about cochlear implants, we read study after study and attended conference after conference and we learned, our son's world didn't have to be a silent one nor one with limited literacy abilities.

We learned we could choose a world of listening, speaking, and literacy for our son.

We learned, that with the proper technology (cochlear implants in Aiden's case) and services (i.e. audiology and auditory verbal therapy), Aiden's auditory centers of his brain could still be accessed, stimulated, and developed into a strong foundation for listening and speaking, and therefore, reading.

We learned quantity matters. In order to stimulate and develop these auditory centers, it was imperative that he wear the proper technology everyday, all waking hours, AND that we talk, and sing,  and point out every.little.thing we hear, and narrate every.little.thing we did, then do it all over again; continuous input to feed his auditory brain. So we did and we still do.

We learned to read, read, read - TEN books a day - yes, TEN. And it's proven very effective.

We learned (first hand) quality matters. REALLY matters (see my past posts on phonemic mapping).

"Speech perception is the only thing that really matters. That's how they learn language, that's how they gain literacy."--Jane Madell

We learned all the above not only directly impacts Aiden's listening and spoken language, but also his phonemic and phonological awareness, and overall, his literacy skills.

We learned this journey is not easy, yet very rewarding. Aiden has been hearing with cochlear implants for three and a half  years now, but it hasn't been until the last year that I can honestly say he's had a strong and stable, QUALITY, map. He still has CI mappings every three months. He also has sensory processing challenges which have presented a barrier to his spoken language, an obstacle that we're starting to break down, through the guidance of our amazing OT.

and with all we learned above, a TON of hard work, an amazing team of professionals, dedication, patience, and consistency, ladies and gentleman, I am proud to present, three and a half years hearing, my deaf son, is actually reading. Everywhere we go, he reads signs (and most of his pronunciations are phonetically correct, sometimes  a little off), and is always asking, "What that say mom?" His interest in letters making words, and words making sentences, and sentences making a story, is soaring.

Take a look at simply amazing moment #678 and add it to my "I can't believe my deaf child is______" list. (and by no means is this a book we read every night. I have read this to him a handful of times, and it's been about six or more months since we last read it - promise).

when it all starts to come together.

As I wrote a couple months ago, NEW BEGINNINGS have been in the works and all I can say is WOW. I knew in my heart a lot of these changes were what we needed to move forward. No regrets.

My son is taking off.

For example:

HIS SPEECH and LANGUAGE

• 2 MONTHS AGO: "Help you mommy!" TODAY: "Mom I need help! I can't reach my chocolate milk! Mommy help me please!
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "Kailyn soccer. Aiden park." TODAY: "Kailyn go play soccer and mommy and Aiden go play at park. I like the park mommy. Oh thank you!" 
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "I want bed mommy." (meaning he doesn't want to go to bed). TODAY: "After bath, time for bed? I don't want go bed, I stay up you and daddy." 
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "What's next?" TODAY: "After school, library and get books, then what's next?" 
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "Aiden Lucky Charms please?" TODAY: "I hungry mommy. I have Lucky Charms no milk."
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "Ow Kailyn!" TODAY: "Kailyn don't hurt my head! That hurts! owww!"
• 2 MONTHS AGO: "Aiden three year old." TODAY: "I four years old next year I five and then six. I not three no more."
• He's using phrases like - "Oh, it's so beautiful!" and "Wow! That's amazing!" and "I am so excited mom!" and "I said to hang on." (really? I must say this.)
• He's picking up on language through incidental learning left and right. He's expanding his answers to questions to include words within the question.
• When I didn't understand that he wanted me to turn the radio OFF in the car (I thought he was saying up) he overstressed the oFF saying it perfectly (he really has a hard time with this letter) and when I asked, "Why?" he answered, "BECAUSE it's too loud!"

I kid you not. His language has SKY.ROCKETED. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I knew it was in that cute little head of his just waiting to explode!

HIS OT
I really need to write a post about Aiden's OT. She is uber-amazing. When I think about her, I smile. When Aiden sees her, his face lights up. She has a gift. I'm going to dedicate a post all to her, but wanted to give an update here.

• Six months ago, Aiden could barely walk across 2 balance buckets, this week, he made it across all SIX (or seven?)!!!
• He's running without falling (ok, most of the time).
• He's processing multiple tasks in an a lot more seamless manner than he's done before (still a little ways to go, but the boy has made HUGE strides!)

A lot of his progress in OT transfers over to his speech. Again, need to dedicate a post about this. We're still scheduled for neurology in May, as he still has off balance days (or hours). I asked Miss A if she thought we could "graduate" soon, and she thinks we still have a bit to go. That's okay, because we'd miss her in our weekly schedule!

HIS DAY to DAY SCHEDULE

• He is sleeping in his OWN BED and going to sleep in his OWN BED at 7:30 and falls asleep on HIS OWN! This is huge. TWO MONTHS AGO: I would have to lay with him every night as he tossed and turned and didn't fall asleep until well after 9 by which time I was also out.  Then he'd be up throughout the night, 3-4 times or more. I was getting no down time at night and neither of us were getting any sleep.
• He has always been a happy go lucky kid, but I'm telling you, the kid has an extra pep in his step these days (literally, because he's learned to gallop (another HUGE milestone for him) and he does it everywhere we go).
• He is eating better. I know kids go through stages, but it seemed like his appetite came back the same time all these changes happened. 
• Him and I get the whole afternoon together - to be silly, play hide-n-seek or go-fish or legos (or work on those pesky /f/ words), or dance, or go to the park, or even just sit back and watch a movie together. It's amazing having this time back with him. I LOVE our alone time together. Seriously, PRICELESS.

He's coming out of his shell and showing us what he has. It's all coming together. I attribute a lot of this to being around HEARING peers (good language models), an amazing new teacher, his wonderful OT, and a new weekly AV tele-therapy program with the amazing Dr. Todd Houston and his grad students through the University of Akron (more to come on this too) ... 

OH, and he's FOUR ... and everything seems to change at FOUR. {SMILE}.

New Beginnings

As we approach Aiden's third hearing birthday (and fourth birthday - WOW), I have to say that I never thought we'd be where we are today. I envisioned that all therapy would be behind us, except for check-ins here and there; that he'd be talking in full blown sentences, excited to tell me all about his day at school; that he'd be making up stories with details galore and talking so fast I have to tell him to slow down; that he'd be singing songs from front to finish as he danced around the living room. I envisioned he'd be at least caught up, if not beyond, his hearing peers, both receptively and expressively. To me, this wasn't a doubt. It's where we'd be.

But I was wrong. What I didn't envision is that he'd have social/pragmatic challenges; I didn't see us in weekly OT sessions for sensory processing and praxis challenges that not only effect many motor tasks, but things (that seem) as simple as multiple syllable words and sentence production; that we'd need a speech therapist on top of our AVT in order to close the gap on articulation challenges and to help him expressively speak, what he knows, more intelligibly. I never knew just how much work it is to talk and if all the "systems" aren't planning and working together, talking is one of the most difficult tasks even for a hearing child. I didn't envision awesome speech (and balance) on some days and pure mumble-jumble (speech and balance) on others.  I didn't envision hearing the words, "I'm just not sure what's going on. He's such a good listener, he gets it, he's a hard worker, and he's such a happy child, BUT SOMETHING'S MISSING." I certainly didn't envision that we'd possibly have another three years of therapy ahead of us. THREE MORE YEARS.

because I've been working my ass off. and it's SO frustrating.

What's crazy about all this though, is his hearing and listening skills are AMAZING! His technology is right on. He hears me as I yell for him from upstairs in the back bathroom and he's downstairs watching tv. He can repeat all his lings, each ear on it's own, from 10-12 feet away; he repeats all the phonemes pretty darn perfectly; he hears whispers, and well in noise. Receptively and cognitively - he's well ahead. He gets it.

I started writing this yesterday, as a "whoa-is-me-andmybaby" post. It's bittersweet hearing about other {amazing} kids implanted around the same time as {my also amazing} Aiden, speaking circles around him, graduated from therapy, and well caught up to their typical peers, all knowing we still have quite a road ahead. But, this is OUR JOURNEY; it is what it is, so we continue to move forward, and trust in our hearts he will get there (and he will).  Sometimes I feel I'm all over the board with Aiden. Like nothing's good enough for him. I promise you, it's not that. Yes, I am VERY particular when it comes to any of my kids and their education and success, but I believe every parent should be. But this is different. If it's not working or we're not seeing the support and fight needed to get him to where he needs to be, it's time to move on. We don't have time to "wait and see". Time is of essence at this stage and most importantly, I have to listen to my mommy gut. (and yes, I'm a bit of a control freak).

So we're making some changes.

and here's a glimpse at our new beginnings:

• changing his AV therapist - not because we don't love his therapist (we do), but logistically, on both sides, it wasn't working, and therefore lacked consistency. We will now have a WEEKLY session via the internet with a new AVT. There are so many positive and exciting things about this! More to come.
• changing his school - this sounds crazy, especially with his lack of language, but we're taking him out of his current oral deaf-ed program (which is 5 days a week all day) and placing him into a preschool which is 2 1/2 hours a day for four days a week. He will be the only deaf kid in his class. and it's a good thing. When I get him ready for the bus, he says, "NO mommy, new school!" He loves the new school and we've only visited twice. More to come.
• adding in a weekly (or possibly biweekly) speech therapy through our insurance - he had a wonderful speech therapist at his current school, but he was only allotted 15 minutes a day, 3-4x a week, and usually not one-on-one. I'm also working with his awesome SLP from his IFSP (before 3yo) days, to include her on his IEP to work with him one-on-one once a week, but also as a "push-in" in the classroom with him a couple days a week (in addition to a TOD). So far, the district is very open to requests and ready to work with us to meet Aiden's needs. More to come. 
• continue with our wonderful OT - there's so much I've learned from her about Aiden in the last eight months, and most importantly, Aiden is making HUGE strides. Six months ago, he couldn't stand on one balance bucket, now he can walk across six, WHILE TALKING! I tell her we get a free speech therapy session too when we see her. She's heaven sent and we still have quite the work ahead of us. 
• SOLID at home one-on-one sessions - with the change of school times, I will be able to dedicate myself to him alone. It was near impossible to work with Aiden at night. He didn't get home from school until 4pm, the same time R and K got home, then as I tried to help K with her homework, keep R on track doing his, getting dinner on the table, running to all their after school activities, bath, and bed, there was VERY little (if any) one on one time with Aiden, unless it was reading him his bedtime stories. Changing schools gives back our precious one on one therapy (aka playtime). and I think it's key to moving him forward.

We also have a neurology appt set up in May, just to see if there is something we're missing and hopefully get some answers. Maybe, just maybe, it will help us better understand his EVAS or if there's something else going on and possibly help in our plan going forward. I don't know, only hope.

Three years ago, there's no way I would've thought we'd still be here, with all these therapies, still trying to figure out why some days he speaks in clear 5-6 word sentences, but others we can barely understand a word he says. Why some days he jumps down the steps, but others he needs to hold my hand to get down. I can't waste my days worrying though, I have to keep my faith and know in my heart that he will be okay and that one day it will all come together - verbally, socially, physically. We will keep on keeping on. No regrets.

oh, and by the way, there's one other thing I envisioned almost four years ago - my child walking into a mainstream kindergarten, not feeling different, fitting in right along with all the kids -

and he will. 

in which Aiden becomes an actor

The other night Aiden's daddy was laying with him to get him to sleep, 

(yes, this is an eVeRy night thing. yes, I know, it's ridiculous. don't think we like it

whole separate post in itself

don't judge.)

anyway, after nearly an hour of Aiden tossing and turning and laying this way and that and flipping and flopping and kicking his dad in the face I'm sure more than once - you get the picture (and again, an every night thing), he sits up, looks at his daddy and says (of course no CIs since he's SUPPOSED to be sleeping at this point),

"Daddy, I need bucket!"

and proceeds to make these gawd awful, completely fake, gagging sounds like he's about to puke.

So dad rushes him into the bathroom and Aiden says,

"Shirt dirty, take it off!"

and again, proceeds to make the same, almost funny, gagging sounds like he's about to puke then looks up helplessly at his daddy and says,

"I sick. No school, stay home mommy."

to which he was brought downstairs to be by his mommy (and get his CIs on), grinning ear to ear because he knew the great performance he just gave.

and because I am a complete sucker, 

and because he's my baby AND only three years old, 

I let him stay home the next day.

does this look sick to you?

oh well.

we snuggled on the couch, played some Mario Kart, had lunch with daddy (where all the ladies love all over him and give him tons of chocolate AND he gets to sit and swirl around in daddies big office chair while watching Mickey Mouse on his computer) ... 

but it wasn't all full of fun and games. I actually made him choose a letter to practice for a mini speech session with mom. any letter we were working on, his choice. 

"I want p sound mom."

and he actually always has FUN with it ...

probably because of the yummy m&m treats.

Working on Preliteracy Skills

Since the day we found out Aiden was deaf, amongst many of the things we worried about, we worried about literacy skills. We started working on this right away by reading to him everyday. We were told by our first AVT to read, read, read, read. In fact, we were given the number TEN - yep, ten books a day. Of course we didn't get in a full ten everyday, but we tried, and even if we got to three, we felt good. Although we know this is important for ALL of our kids, we knew it was especially important for Aiden, as any child, who has challenges with speech and language, needs so much more help and encouragement on pre-literacy.

Aiden learned his alphabet pretty early on, around two to two and a half. We've also been very lucky that he has always shown a love for books, which I attribute to the 10-a-day rule. Experience books are another way to not only build language, but work on pre-literacy skills. I wrote all about our experience book HERE. With Aiden's interest in books, and his early learning of the alphabet, sparked his interest to take it to the next level, and with our help, he attached the sound to the letter and started to recognize that letters together, create words. About six to eight months ago, I noticed he was "reading". I would present certain words in writing, and he would find the picture to match - such as house, boy, star, ball, boy, cat, etc. THIS is a great book to practice this. In fact, we love all of Eric Carle books. Aiden can read THIS one by heart, which has also helped in elongating his sentences, learn his colors, put an adjective with a noun, and again, realize words have meaning.

So to take it even a step further, I started sounding out words for him, without a picture, and he would put the letter with the sound and hence, spell simple words. OR, we play the sound game, I say (CAR) and he tells me what letter the word starts with. I believe a lot of what he knows too, he has seen in books or heard in songs and nursery rhymes - again, a great reason to read, read, read and sing, sing, sing! In fact, Aiden learned how to spell his name and mommy from a song I changed up using our own names, from the Tune Ups CD which is a part of the Advanced Bionics Listening Room. Also, if you google pre-literacy, you will come up with a ton of websites with different ideas. This is a great website for some basic ideas and background on pre-literacy.

Our next step, rhyming words and words that are very close minus a letter (lie vs. light).


First, a sampling of his writing, which is a also a big part of literacy. He did this all on his own, without me spelling it for him. Notice the "y" in mommy is under his own name, which he realized he left off after he was done.

Here is video sampling of Aiden's pre-literacy skills. He gets a little silly, but that's always the fun part. I included a little extra for a small speech sample. He's a bit nasally, as he has a stuffy nose, which isn't unusual for him. AND I had no clue how to get that dang "directed by" off the end. oy.
BONUS - with him voicing the sound each letter makes, I get a good sense that he's hearing it correctly. This all goes back to our most recent mapping strategy, which has made a world of difference with his pronunciation of so many words!

Turn down the tunes and listen to my boy go.

Wednesday Workout - Cheap Therapy

I LOVE the dollar aisle at Target. They always have the neatest things - from chip bowls, to cute holiday platters, to THERAPY toys! All typically TWO BUCKS or less.

I picked up these foam shaped blocks for a dollar a couple weeks ago. They have become Aiden's favorite thing to do and we have spent countless hours of therapy play time with them.

Here are some language goals that we're currently working on with Aiden:

• Use of pronouns
• Understand quantitative concepts of some, rest, all
• Answers what and where questions.
• Understands questions with post-noun elaboration (white kitten that is sleeping)
• Understands spatial concepts of next to, in front of, in back of
• Identifies advanced body parts such as forehead, wrist, eyelashes

and some auditory goals:

• Recall four critical elements in a message
• Sequence a series of multi-element directions

In addition to these, there's also OT, speech goals, speech babble, cognitive etc to think about. The more you can do to incorporate all into one lesson, the better ... and these $1 foam blocks, did just that!

Aiden creating his own pattern

• Pronouns - emphasized use of me, I, mine, my, you, and your(s) throughout playtime (Aiden refers to himself as "Aiden" instead of me or mine).
• Sentence expansion - As we played, I would put four or five blocks aside. Since Aiden mainly speaks in two-three word sentences, I always expand it to four or five words, with emphasis on the extra word I include. He seems to imitate better if I have something he can "touch" for each word said. For example, "I have ALL squares." and I would touch one block for each word spoken, then he would do the same describing what he had. I've also used scraps of paper or pennies for this too.
• Syllable work aka speech babble. This really helps with his articulation and expanding sentences. Right now we're working on simple speech babble up to four syllables (again, by touching each block, helps him get the four syllables out instead of stopping at two or three: ba-ba-ba-ba, bo-bo-bo-bo, be-be-be-be, ba-bo-ba-bo etc). This is very helpful with his speech motor planning and oral motor skills.
• Auditory memory - build a tower, as instructed by mom ("...two circles, two orange squares, then a green star on top"), then BLOW it down - (good for oral motor and breath control)
• PATTERNS! I would create a row of blocks and as I made it, I'd say, "orange square, blue circle, orange square, blue circle". Before I knew it, he was making patterns with three-four elements all on his own, and would say, "orange square, blue square, circle, star, orange square, blue square, circle, star ...". Also good to throw in sequencing words first, next, and last.
• Counting and math - answering the question "how many ...", but they weren't just simple how many questions, but more like, "how many green stars and orange squares do you have ALL TOGETHER?"
• Quantifiers (some, rest of, all, etc) - "Give me ALL of the squares." OR "Pick up the rest of the stars."
• Body parts - "Touch the orange square to your forehead", "Put the red heart on your wrist." etc
• Adjective comparisons - tall, taller, tallest, short, shorter, shortest, long, longer, longest etc. by building towers and "trains".
• Prepositions - build a house or tower then instruct, "put the orange square in front/in back of the house/tower" (other words used, behind, next to, on top of, on the bottom, in the middle, underneath
• The NOT word - "Give me all the blocks that are NOT squares." At first, he'd hand me all the squares. By the end of our first play session, he would hold up a shape and say, "NOT a (square/circle etc) and would gleam with pride!

ALL FOR A BUCK.

for the LOVE of brothers

one of my favorites of my boys

Last night as I was cleaning up the dinner dishes,

Ryan and his girlfriend, Anna,

were playing with Aiden in the living room.

Aiden ADORES Anna (or "nana" as he calls her).

He adores his brother too, BUT,

when Anna's around, he's all about the girls.

SO cute.

Out of the blue, I hear Aiden yell at Ryan,

"Ryan stop! No mommy's phone!"

count them - FIVE words - TOGETHER.

each one of them, CLEAR.AS.DAY.

an AMAZING possessive.

and exclamation points galore.

WAY TO GO BUDDY!

He knew Ryan wasn't supposed to have my phone without asking,

let everyone know it,

and marched it right back over to me.

Actually, he's been onto Ryan a lot lately,

(ryan loves to mess with him),

so Aiden's phrase of the month has been,

"Ryan, please stop!"

Ryan's been feeling the wrath of Aiden lately.

Later that night, after Kailyn was through reading

Aiden his bedtime books,

the four of us sat in Aiden's room chit-chatting.

Aiden ran over to his brother,

jumped on his belly, threw his arms around Ryan's neck,

planted a HUGE kiss on his cheek, and said,

"I wuv you Ryan!"

Needless to say, we all went to bed

smiling ear to ear.

especially Ryan.

**LOVE**

Listening, Language, and Speech Development: 2 Years Hearing

I haven't posted a speech sample in quite awhile, or really, even given an update on Aiden's language development in quite awhile. I don't have any "official" scores from standardized testing, BUT I do have my "mommy" thoughts, (and a video clip at the end), which I think, are actually more "official" than any test.

As any therapist or teacher starts a meeting with parents, they usually start with the strong points (and if they don't, I'd find a new one) and Aiden has many, but here are a few (or five).

1) Aiden is a genius. Seriously. Ok, maybe not a genius, and I know he's my kid, but the boy is mr.smarty.pants. He has this photographic memory that is utterly scary. He picks up on new concepts very quickly, which puts my mind more at ease because for a word to become part of a CI child's comprehensive vocabulary, they typically need to be exposed to it 100 plus times.

2) Receptively, he is doing phenomenally. He listens better than his hearing brother and sister (mainly because they choose to only have selective hearing).

3) Expressively, he's doing pretty good. His vocabulary list of what he says comprehensively is huge. I don't track it anymore because he's picking up on new words so quickly. He knows nouns, verbs, a good handful of adjectives, prepositions, articles, plurals, etc. and uses pretty much all of them in the proper context. He does a pretty good job enunciating single words or two words together. He's communicating his needs and wants and is definitely vocal. BUT .... (list of "buts" to come after all the non-worries).

4) He does a great job discriminating different environmental sounds and has great auditory comprehension skills all around.

5) his voice quality is good. There are times I worry about him sounding a bit nasally (which could mean he's getting too much high frequency input), but I keep my mind at ease through his AVT and his school teachers/therapists that tell me he has wonderful voice quality. He also has no problem imitating different sound durations (being able to hold a long sound - i.e. baaaaaaaa vs. a multi-syllabic sound ba-ba-ba. Six months ago, this was very hard for him. He could hold a long sound for a short time and only repeat up to two-syllable short sounds - ba-ba, which had a lot to do with his breath control and his low tone) and different tonal ranges (deep vs. high, whisper vs. scream - which screaming has become his newest favorite thing to do).

Now onto the "buts". Don't get me wrong, I believe Aiden is coming along WONDERFULLY. I really do. and how positive is it that he's speaking at all! BUT, in the same breath, I have my worries. This journey definitely comes with struggles and roadblocks, everyone's is different, but nothing we won't conquer.

Here are my mommy observations:

1) Aiden's just not much of a talker (except in church). While he plays, he talks to himself, as he walks around the house, he talks. So I should say, he's not much of a conversationalist (I know, it seems like a lot to ask). He's almost like his mind is constantly racing to stop and just talk. He's not one to ask questions (yet) and doesn't have a lot of conversational speech going on. He is just starting to answer simple "w" and how type questions. He's definitely mastered the "yes/no" question asking phase and has a perfect sounding "yes" and "no" (this step typically has to come before they'll start answering the "w" questions). Right now he does a lot of imitating, almost as if he's gotten too used to all of us modeling everything for him. The good thing about this though is he imitates me when I expand on his one-two word phrases. For example, he'll say, "wow truck!" and I'll say, "I see the truck. It's a big yellow dump truck!" and he'll repeat back, "see yewow dump truck!" He's getting there.

2.) Most of the time he talks in one to two word phrases, but we're starting to hear him put three and four words together more and more and speak more directly with us. The other night he asked me, "Mommy, bears please?" (he wanted to watch the three little bears on my computer) and he asked WITH the proper intonation so I knew it was a question. this was definitely a first (usually he would say, "bears mommy" or just simply, "bears.") my eyes leaked.

3) When he does combine more than two words, his articulation gets weak and jumbled, as if he's mumbling (he does this too with a word that has more than two syllables). We understand him, but a stranger walking down the street would probably only pick up on the first word or two. Our immediate family (gmas, aunts, uncles etc) is starting to understand him more though and have shared how he's come such a long way in the past six months. He sings songs, and I hear that tune in his voice (thank you God!), but it's hard to understand what it is he's singing. His speech can sometimes sound "lazy", if that makes sense.

4) He has trouble with his bilabials (/p/, /b/, /m/, /w/ (which is caused by low tone in his cheeks and lips) among a few other early sounds he should already have (like /t/ and /d/). (NOTE: I'm not including sounds that even a typical hearing three year old wouldn't quite have yet, like /f/ or /k/ etc. What's funny though is Aiden says a perfect /s/ and /sh/ and most of the other s blends.) There are times he says these perfectly - sometimes in isolation as when we do CV (consonant-vowel) syllable practice, and sometimes just in the beginning, middle, and/or end, depending on the word. For example, he says a PERFECT, clear as day, melt your heart, "mommy", but milk, is still "Nilk". He also says a PERFECT "baby", yet when he calls our dog Bella, it's "Dewa". The /p/, is usually perfect at the end of words (pop is "op", stop is "stop") but is completely absent in the beginning and middle of words (no matter how hard I try, I cannot get the boy to say apple, it's "ah-le".) We know he can repeat these sounds (so it's most likely not a mapping issue), but when paired with different sounds, it's either easy or difficult (like, "boo" and "moo" are very hard for him to say - yet he repeats a perfect "oo" or "ba" or "ma" in isolation). This not only has to do with poor lip closure, but also breath control and having to put multiple steps together (in the brain and orally) to produce these (see #5). Even in all this, he says "chocolate" pretty close to perfect. Go figure.

5) He has motor planning issues. THIS site provides brief examples of the different speech motor planning disorders. Aiden definitely fits into the "Sensory Processing and Motor Planning" and "Movement Execution" areas. I believe once we get our arms around this and his oral motor (he uses his teeth to talk a lot), he'll start taking off, which will then lead to more conversational type speech.

So yes, Aiden is definitely hearing and UNDERSTANDING us. He is also speaking, with some articulation set backs (oral motor) and some trouble putting what he knows together in order to voice his thoughts and create simple conversation (motor planning). He gets it though, and he'll get there.

Yes, I am SO PROUD of him and how far he's come.

Yes, I'm still worried, I'm sure to an extent I always will be, but I will not lower my expectations for him.

and yes, I know that one day Aiden will get there, and this is HIS journey, these are HIS steps. He gets it (he really is mr.smarty.pants) and he's WELL on his way, at HIS own pace.

Here's the latest speech sample I have.

Note: I had a lot of trouble with Overstream, so I included the video uncaptioned and captioned. I hope one or the other work. and don't forget to turn off the music!

This video was taken about a month ago, right after his third birthday (the day we were going to celebrate it though), and about two weeks after his second hearing birthday.

(captioned)

Two Years Hearing

I will never forget the day I held Aiden in my arms, just hours after his "profound hearing loss" diagnosis. I muted the television as I called for Ryan. As I waited, I sat in complete silence admiring my sleeping baby, then looked back up at the tv. I will NEVER forget that moment. My stomach completely churned as I sat there and watched the people on tv, their lips moving, - I could tell they were arguing, things happening all around, yet I heard nothing. It was then that Aiden's reality hit me - his world was SILENT. My heart raced, dropped into my stomach. I felt sick, like I was punched in the stomach. I couldn't fathom my son in a silent world. My mind raced - he may never hear my voice, and just the same, I may never hear his. This couldn't be happening.

I was TERRIFIED.

Today, as I look back over Aiden's hearing journey, I take a long deep breath. It's been a long haul, some parts of the journey smooth, other parts bumpy, we've hit dead ends and forks in the road with no clue which way to go. It's been full of running to nonstop appointments; understanding his equipment, mapping sessions and FM systems; attending seminar after seminar learning all about Aiden's world and HOW to speak to our son in order to create a language rich environment; then add in daily Ling checks and learning to listen sounds and experience books. Overwhelming to say the least.

Most of all though it's keeping HOPE and FAITH, knowing our son will hear and speak, that he will attend mainstream school and be as much a part of this hearing world as the rest of his hearing family. We know the "equipment" alone will not accomplish this - it is up to us, his family, to TEACH him, to guide him, not only to listen and to speak, but to cherish the beautiful sounds our world has to offer.

and that's what we've been doing, as his family, for the past three years - taking each day as a new day, step by step, showing Aiden the way.

So today, when I think back over the past three years (two years hearing), I cry. Not tears of sadness, but tears of complete and pure happiness. This journey is not a sad one - it is a JOYOUS one - as we watch Aiden discover new sounds, speak new words, SING, and DANCE. This journey is not an easy one - it is a lot of hard work - but every ounce of effort, every sleepless night, every bit of research to find new language and listening activities is worth hearing that sweet little voice. This journey is not a sprint - it is a marathon - and we still have a long ways to go. This journey is - SIMPLY AMAZING - as we watch Aiden do things every.single.day that at one time, we thought he'd never do.

In honor of Aiden's two years hearing (which was actually March 9th -just catching up), I've attached some of my personal favorite SIMPLY.AMAZING Aiden moments. Smile with me as you watch just how far our boy has come in his hearing journey. We are so proud of you Aiden Robert!

Aiden's First CI Activation

Four Months Hearing - Aiden's First Word

10 Months Hearing - Face Parts

13 Months Hearing - "Ryan"

18 Months Hearing - "It's Stuck"

22 Months Hearing - "How are you?"

Wednesday Workout - Helping with Housework

I know ... a day late. It's been one of those weeks!

Since I stay home, I have the "luxury" (ya, whatever) of doing housework every.single.day (not that working moms don't have this "luxury", my "luxury" is being able to do it throughout the day and not at 10pm at night like I did when I worked full time). Anyway, Aiden "helping" (I use this term very lightly) with housework has been one of the best language builders, even if it takes me three times as long to get anything done.

Laundry - Not only is laundry a good sorting activity, it has helped teach him articles of clothing, the difference between a wash machine and a dryer, colors ("put all the BLACK clothes in this pile"), possessives (daddy's shirt, Ryan's pants), verbs (washing, drying, pouring, taking out, putting into, folding, putting away), adjectives (wet, dry, dirty, clean, dark, light, big, small). His favorite parts are throwing the clothes in the wash machine and destroying the laundry basket full of clean folded clothes ... ya, this part's not so fun and is one way he learned the words "not nice" and "angry" too.

Aiden "helping" with the laundry.

Dishes - Aiden LOVES to help put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Again, not only has this has been an excellent way to teach him the names of all the dishes but also opposites such as small vs big, clean vs dirty, empty vs full. While I am making dinner, I can ask Aiden for a BIG spoon, and he knows exactly which one to give me. He also loves to help set the table, again teaching all the silverware names and short sentences (daddy gets a big fork, Ryan needs two napkins etc).

Cleaning his toy room - I have to admit, he's not much of a destroyer. He likes things in the right place and tidy. BUT, that doesn't mean he's never destroyed. At times he'll go in there and empty every single toy bin for no apparent reason what-so-ever except "just because". I've actually done it a couple times myself with him just as a learning opportunity. This is a GREAT way to teach SORTING into CATEGORIES - animals (and you can get even more specific with jungle vs zoo vs pets vs farm), vehicles, music, food, balls, building blocks, baby items, furniture, etc. An idea I learned from the John Tracy Clinic Distance Education Courses is to label the toy bins with a card showing pictures from that specific category.

It's been much worse.

Grocery Shopping - This truly is the best therapy ever. In fact, I always say our trips to Costco are well warranted, killing three birds with one stone by getting shopping done, a therapy session in, and the best part, LUNCH! Truly though, grocery shopping, as much as a hassle it is with a toddler, is a wonderful therapy session all in itself. This is how Aiden has learned the difference between fruits and veggies, what each fruit or veggie is (he can finally tell the difference between a tomato and an apple) plus much more ... put in, take out, cash register, money, receipt, push the cart, pay the clerk, STOP throwing it OUT of the cart, that's not nice, SIT DOWN, mom's getting angry, and on and on (okay, so great therapy session for toddler, but after all is said and done, mom deserves a day at the spa).

Then of course there are the little things like helping to empty bathroom trashcans (aka, mom picks up a trail of trash from bathroom to kitchen), dust, sweep (Aiden LOVES to sweep - inside the cat's litter box), feed the cats/dog (then pick up all the spilled food) ... all of which is filled with language opportunities AND the look on THEIR face (not yours) when they know they've "helped" accomplish a task is truly priceless all in itself.

For the Love of Siblings

Aiden greets his sister every day with a hug when she gets home from school.

Even though Aiden is just a couple months shy of three,

He is in his prime of what I call,

the "terrible" TWO YEARS

or as we also say in our house, being "Calvin" like.

and with this, comes behaviors

that aren't typical of my little guy.

He truly is a VERY happy go lucky, huggy, kissy,

always smiling, nice to everyone type of kid.

I CHERISH his demeanor.

BUT, every once in awhile (okay, everyday, many times a day),

the TWO year old, or the BOY, (or BOTH) come out in him.

For example:

Santa Claus brought him a new Step Two workbench for Christmas

(and minus the screws it didn't come with means a workbench that is easily

taken apart, which is more fun for our little engineer than actually playing with it).

Anyway, last night as Aiden's sister was peacefully watching t.v.

he decided to whack her, with one of the benches plastic sides,

from behind (so she had not clue what was coming)

over the head which made her also bite her lip.

Aiden really does ADORE his sister and this isn't typical of him.

My guess is he was practicing our emotions theme

we've been working on, in which his favorite is the whole drama scene

from being sad to pretending to cry to being happy again.

As she ran over to me screaming, (very drama queen like),

Aiden stood there staring, with this smug GRIN on his face,

waiting to see what was going to happen next.

I called for him to come over by us (three times)

which he finally did with his head hanging low,

and that GRIN still on his face.

"Aiden, what do you say to your sister? You hurt her and now she's sad,

and it makes mommy mad."

(at this point I was waiting for him to haul off and smack her again),

but

He went right up to her, gave her a huge hug,

looked her right in the eye, and said,

"I SAWY Taywin."

Hugged her again, smiled (nicely) up at her,

then took her hand to go play.

at this point, I was ecstatic to see

1) that he had sympathy for his sister and

2) that he used a three word sentence to show he's getting the whole emotions theme!

Whew. That shit eating grin on his face really had me scared for a minute.

Little stinker.

Spongebob "CHARMING" Pants

Everyday I work with Aiden teaching him language. What I think is hilarious, is no matter how much I work with him and how many words he learns, I do not teach him how to use these words in a "I'm going to get out of trouble by saying something that will make mom smile" way.

It's just inbred in him, just like I believe it is in all kids his age.

At first, my little devil, I mean angel, would use adorable, yet very sly, tactics to get out of trouble, such as - running up and planting a big kiss on my lips before I could say anything more; looking up at me with that shit eating grin, eyes scrunched closed, all teeth showing as to say, "don't you just love this face?"; or my all time favorite, in the middle of catching him in a situation, he'd completely stop whatever it was he shouldn't have been doing and perform the sign of the cross.

Obviously, he knew I thought all of these actions were cute and would use them to his benefit.

Now, he's starting to use his language for his benefit of staying out of trouble. I think I'm the one who's going to be in trouble with him already trying to talk his way out of time-outs. Yet, in the same breath, how truly amazing is it that he's figuring out, on his own, how his expressive language, can help him get out of sticky situations. How simply amazing is it that our deaf son, is not only talking, but realizing how effective his words can be.

His favorites lately are "I sowy" as he gives me a huge hug, or "tmon mom", as he pulls me away from the situation into a new area as if I'll forget about what he just did, and of course, the ultimate, "I wuv ew" as he runs up and gives me a big hug (and the shit eating grin).

Oh, and this was yesterday's, "Watch what I can say to make me look cute and get out of trouble" phrase.

Only thing is, is they work. He's too cute for them not to and I L-O-V-E every word that comes out of his mouth (or so I say that now lol)!

note: turn off music to right first. Again, for some reason sometimes when I caption videos on Overstream from my iPhone, they do not play on all computers, so I added the video uncaptioned as well.

captioned:

not captioned:

'Tis the Season

This is my favorite time of year.

I LOVE feeling like a kid again and the excitement of

seeing the magic in my children's eyes as the house

gets all dressed up for the season and the Merry moves in.

This year is even more amazing as we watch and HEAR

Aiden learn and speak and truly begin to understand the season.

We're hearing, "TISMIS TEE" and "SANNA AUS" and "REINDEER"

and "TANY TANE" and "EL" (elf), and "SOMAN".

He gets it. I think it's inbred in every kid's heart and mind,

because he's NEVER picked up on SO many words

in so little time.

I LOVE how all my kids get excited about decorating the house and

the Christmas tree while jamming out to Christmas tunes,

even if the experience is short lived and they're just fine with leaving

mom to finish the job by herself.

I LOVE how Aiden walks around with all

the musical ornaments, LISTENING to the

Christmas music, HUMMING along with it.

I LOVE how my husband is all Clark Griswaldish

and has to have the biggest Christmas tree our ceilings will allow AND

the best lighted house on the block.

Not super crazy like, but he's smiling ear to ear knowing

we're the only house with lights outlining our roof.

(side note: according to him, the neighbor across the street

who has someone decorate for him does not count.)

I LOVE how Aiden sits and admires his own

"Tismis Tee" we put up in his playroom,

and decorated together. He's so proud of it and

I kid you not, he'll sit in his chair for long periods of time,

staring and smiling.

I LOVE baking cookies with my kids,

Christmas music blaring in the background, flour

everywhere, and half the dough eaten before

it ever makes it to the pan.

I LOVE how everyone is just that much more generous

and thoughtful to each other.

Such as this surprise I woke up to

the other morning from my sweet teenage son.

I LOVE how Aiden is addicted to "tany tanes".

He can't get enough.

Seriously, who can eat a WHOLE candy cane

like that in less then 10 minutes?

I LOVE how we get to spend Christmas this year with BOTH of our families.

It is our first year ever we've lived this close,

and I LOVE my kids get to celebrate the season with their

cousins, their aunts and uncles, and BOTH of their grandmas!

What do you LOVE about this time of year?

HaPpY HoLiDaYs

Ready or Not?

Aiden's ready. I'm not.

Last year at this time, we drove a good hour plus two times a week for Aiden to attend the program at The River School in Washington D.C. It was well worth the drive, as the program there is PHENOMENAL, but I truly don't think Aiden was completely ready for it all. He was the youngest in the class (by a few months), he still wasn't walking, he wanted nothing to do with circle time, he'd cry almost every time I dropped him off, and would cling to me the rest of the afternoon after I picked him up. Yet, even with all this, he grew a lot, and I learned a lot, in the short three months he was there.

When we moved to Ohio, I decided to not enroll him in any type of preschool program, but to enjoy my every moment with him (most likely being my last child) and prepare him better for his preschool days. Plus, we moved into a county with an amazing early intervention program and were able to take advantage of many extras such as music therapy, Little Gym, multiple focus play groups, and a weekly toddler play group all funded by the program and still get in structured playtime with other kids his age.

I'm glad we made this decision. I LOVE my days with him and he's really come a LONG way. Today, he doesn't shed a tear when I drop him off for play group, he's talking SO much more, and receptively he understands so much more. He's done a complete 360 when it comes to keeping his attention to the task at hand and to structure all around. He's growing up. He's ready.

and not only is he ready socially, but very much cognitively as well.

WARNING - Mommy Brag Moment: he counts to 15, recognizes and names the numerals 0 to 10, knows all his shapes and identifies what shape an object is (i.e. his Lego table is a "sware"), knows all his colors, says the abcs, and can recognize and say around 7-10 letters, is completing simple patterns, etc.

My little explorer is ready to go, no matter how much his mommy is not ready to let him go.

I am so proud of him.

(note: turn off music to the right. and I apologize, but I am having trouble captioning right now, but will try again soon.)

this video was taken over a month ago.

and although I think I'm not ready to send him off, that I'll miss him terribly, that he's still too young, that he's my last child and I need to hold on to every.single.minute with him ... I'm sure it won't be TOO terribly hard to find the fun and joy of some mommy alone time.

hmmmmm.

When can he start?