Two Great Articles on Hearing Aids

Even though it's a distant memory of having to put hearing aids on Aiden, I have been in contact with a lot of families recently who are just starting their journey and currently in a world of "FEEDBACK". Leah, a dear friend of mine whose sweet little Nolan has hearing loss and wears bilateral hearing aids, is an amazing advocate and knowledge bank on hearing loss (and many other avenues). She is also the author of SAY WHAT?.

Unfortunately, (and sadly) a lot of insurance companies do not cover hearing aids. This first article discusses different programs families can look into to help pay for them plus a lot of other great information. So even if your child already has hearing aids, still check it out.

http://leahlefler.hubpages.com/hub/Programs-to-Help-Families-Pay-for-a-Childs-Hearing-Aid

Her next article is a great video tutorial where Leah does an amazing job discussing different ways you can test your child's hearing aids to make sure they are working properly through the Ling 6 sound test. THIS is another great page talking about the Ling 6.

http://leahlefler.hubpages.com/video/How-to-Put-in-a-Childs-Hearing-Aid

Wow. Did that video bring me back. Otoease, feedback, checking the ling 6 with a hearing aid stethoscope. And for those of you who are on a hearing aid trial and know your child will most likely be getting cochlear implants, it is still so important to go through all this. One, you never know what your child is hearing, and two, even if your child doesn't hear the lings, it prepares you and your child for the daily listening checks and starts introducing them to the Ling 6. This is the same listening check we use every single day to make sure Aiden is hearing what he is supposed to through his cochlear implants. If he has trouble repeating one or more Lings back, it's a good indicator he may need a new map/program.

Listening Room Activity of the Week

Check out THIS quick, easy to create preschool activity that The Listening Room has posted this week. (note - you'll have to sign in in order to be taken to the appropriate page I've linked to. If you haven't signed up on this site, do so TODAY! They have weekly activities, PLUS a ton of other wonderful resources to help you and your child learn to listen and speak! You can sign up here) All you need is the printout, a Pringles can, some glue, and objects that represent the pictures on the printout!

When I saw this activity, I thought it'd be a perfect way to 1) get Aiden's siblings involved in an easy to play, after school activity and 2) introduce a new activity (gotta change 'em up quite frequently or Aiden gets bored and doesn't want to "play"), yet continue to work towards the same goal of getting him to label objects with their noun name instead of just with the sound they make.

Although Aiden currently associates, and vocalizes, most of these sounds with the appropriate object, we're still struggling getting a good /oo/ and /ee/ out of him. I can say we FINALLY have the rounding of the lips and now we're just searching for the sound that goes with it! Ahhhh, one day it will come.

Aiden's Big Sister Rocks!

Aiden's older brother and sister have always played a huge role in helping Aiden hear and speak. They are not only great language models through their everyday interactions with Aiden, but two of his biggest advocates. Anytime they have a new friend over, the first thing they do is introduce Aiden and explain his cochlear implants before the person even has a chance to ask. They are very matter of fact, to the point, and PROUD.

Now of course, they still have that typical "sibling love" and get tired of me asking, "Can you please play with your brother while I do (xyz) and make sure you ..." and before I can get it all out, they finish my sentence with a big sigh of UGHness, "I know mom, talk to him."

Ahhh, for the love of siblings.

Now the one thing I have decided to start doing more of is including his brother and sister in some sit down therapy at home. As Aiden's getting older he responds to and imitates them much more than he does me, so we make it a fun game. Kailyn is especially great at this because she loves the praise of being such a "GREAT TEACHER" and "AWESOME BIG SISTER", whereas Ryan is like "whatever mom", but every once in awhile I can convince him to put his cell phone down and make his mommy happy.

Ok ... little side note:

As any parent to a CI/hoh kiddo will tell you, one of the biggest achievements is getting your child to:

1) repeat the Lings (ah, ee, oo, s, sh, m) back to you during the ling sound check, and

2) perform a conditioned response when they hear a ling (or tone played in the soundbooth) - or what is also referred to as "listen and drop". For example, when practicing the lings with Aiden, I will hold a block (or Lego or chip or ring or bouncy ball etc) up to my ear, say the ling, watch for his response, say, "I heard that", repeat the ling, then drop the block or whatever into a bucket. The goal is to get Aiden to do the same, so that when he is being tested in the soundbooth during an audiology appointment and hears a sound, he can show he heard the sound by placing a ring on a stack, a peg into a peg board, any object into a bucket ... anything of the like to tell the audiologist, "HEY, I HEARD THAT SOUND!" It just makes for easier soundbooth time AND provides the audiologist much better information for exactly what the child is or isn't hearing so they can adjust their map accordingly.

So, today I opted to solicit Kailyn to help me out with the Lings for the first time in quite awhile. Now, get this. When I do the lings with Aiden, he'll entertain me and play the "listen and drop" game, but RARELY repeat the Lings. Check this out (and listen closely to the /s/ and /sh/ ... he's been playing with both these sounds lately, but has never repeated them for me; and make sure you turn the music off on the left first).

Note: I was testing the right implant alone. I had to remove the left completely, because if I just detach the coil, he puts it right back on! Love it!

After the boring ling checks (which I have to do while he's in his chair or I get NOTHING in return), we always have some fun, so Kailyn turned up the tunes and they jammed to some music. I have NEVER seen Aiden dance like this. What I love most is that he's imitating Kailyn plus busting out his own moves. Plus, he notices when the music stops and asks for more! Absolutely love it!

(This is not captioned since it is just Hannah Montana's "Ice Cream Freeze" playing in the background, Kailyn singing here and there, and them dancing)

Guess I need to get his sister involved a lot more often! Thanks for being such a great big sis Kailyn! Just like you're dancing, you rock!

Next Steps After Concerns ... and a little "h"

After posting my concerns about Aiden's standstill I received a lot of great feedback, so first let me shout out a huge THANK YOU! All my CI mommy friends rock and it is so nice to know there is support/words of encouragement/advice out there from those who have been there done that! Second, these comments confirmed my inner mommy concerns, so I scheduled a meeting with the audiologist at Aiden's school for a second opinion.

The audiologist here did reassure me his audiogram was not bad, but that if he was in the 15db to 20db range, across all frequencies, that dropping to 25-30db, was something to definitely recheck. She also mentioned that she doesn't like to see anything less than 15 db as sounds can become distorted any lower than this. She's going to take a look at his maps (programs) and test him in the soundbooth. I love this place.

The school's OT also joined our meeting as they have concerns about Aiden's muscle tone and the fact that he's the only one in his class who is still not walking. They're not overly concerned, but want to evaluate him more and work with him to help him along.

Aiden's sister was a late walker, but her pediatrician was never concerned. She also never crawled, she walked on her knees to get around ... also, no concerns. What I've learned is that skipping the crawling stage can hinder fine motor skill development and muscle tone for years to come. To this day Kailyn's handwriting is not that great, her muscle tone is weak (she's in gymnastics to help this), and even the muscles in her eyes are weak (we just increased her glasses Rx for the second time in 6 months). I wish I had known then what I know now. I'm sure she would've qualified for OT services and there's a good possibility she still may. Just another battle I'm working my mommy magic on.

Anyway, I say all this because if this is a service Aiden's school provides and Aiden will benefit from it (even though this is something else we have to add to our plate of craziness), we're definitely going to take advantage of it. Again, love this place.

I have to say my concerns for Aiden aren't that he's not doing well. I believe my little man is doing a wonderful job with his CIs and coming along beautifully. But I feel we're stuck and I am truly concerned about his map. I need to validate if my concerns are right or wrong. If they're right, we'll get it fixed and move on. If they're wrong, then I will see what I can do differently and continue to work hard on next steps.

My main concerns are:

• Aiden's not using the /oo/, /ee/, /s/ or /sh/ in any babbling or words. Nothing. Nada. Nilch. (I'm not as concerned about the /sh/ and /s/ as I know these come later). We work on them all the time - owls, cars, ghosts, etc. Yes he responds to them by pointing at his ear when I Ling check him, but who knows if he's really hearing the /oo/ and /ee/ like it's supposed to sound. I'm going to talk with his SLP about this more and get her opinion on it. Maybe it has something to do with his oral motor skills?


• Why aren't his maps ever tweaked? Right now we've been going in every three months. There hasn't been one change to any of his maps since the beginning of May.


• Why has he dropped so many of his words? I'm hoping it is because he's been trying out walking more. Many of you confirmed my standstill concerns and said that your children definitely have them, but again, with his most recent audiogram, I can't help but wonder.

To end, I have to share a recent video of my little monkey. All these concerns, and then he does this. Here he is showing off his mouth parts and demonstrating his progressing "h" sound (which he picked up by me saying "hot" every morning as I let him feel my coffee cup).

Auditory-Verbal Goals as of August 2009

About a month ago we started creating themed units to go along with Aiden's therapy. Along with the theme, his therapists and I choose:

a handful of books to go along with the themed unit

key vocabulary words

two or three songs or nursery rhymes to work on, whether or not they go along with the theme

two or three key functional word phrases (i.e. "All done!" or "Blow (mommy) a kiss!")

This has really helped me stay focused and not feel so overwhelmed with trying to fit it ALL in, and best of all, we are seeing some great responses from Aiden!

I plan on posting our themed unit plans every couple of weeks (and will post our past two in separate posts), as I just LOVE how this community of deaf/hoh moms and dads share in a common goal -to help our children learn to listen and speak. There are some who do not have easily accessible resources and I hope that this is helpful. PLUS, in the same sense, I would LOVE feedback on our plans, including ideas for additional activities, songs, and/or books. These themes will be consistently revisited and the more ideas to work with, the better.

Before I start posting our themed units, I wanted to document, for Aiden's Journey, his current Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) goals, which we also work on week after week. These goals do not change until Aiden has them mastered on a continuous basis.

AIDEN'S CURRENT GOALS

AUDITORY HIERARCHY LEVEL

1. Demonstrate a conditioned response to Lings (mastered August 2009 by pointing to his ear whenever a Ling is voiced)

2. Consistently turn to his name (mastered end of July 2009)

3. Respond to requests to imitate words using a hand cue

For example, I hold my hand up to my mouth and voice the /ah/ sound, then place my hand by his mouth and say "Your turn!" Aiden will imitate /m/, /ah/ at this point.

4. Participate in rhymes/finger plays
Since we started focusing on particular songs each week, Aiden will use the correct hand motions for two to three songs based through listening alone. We will continue to work on new songs/nursery rhymes each week.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE (Cognition)

1. Recognizes common sounds (e.g. "brrr" for car)

2. Understands up to 20 words

3. Follows one-step commands in routines (i.e. "wash the baby", "Give (mommy) the (spoon)."

I am currently documenting the WASP sounds he recognizes and how many words he understands through listening alone. Aiden is progressing with one step commands, especially since we've started our themed units. For example, Aiden will blow kisses (from our bubble unit), wash the baby, and point to face parts (from our bathtime/body parts unit) when asked to do so without any visual cues.

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE

1. Develop an auditory feedback loop by imitating combinations after an auditory-only model (i.e. WASP program which is similar to the learning to listen sounds)

Aiden imitates the airplane (ah), car (brrr), and ice cream (mmm), when he sees the object or picture.

2. Approximate any 1 - 10 high frequncy words in context (e.g. more, up, hi, all done, go)
Aiden's current expressive spoken vocabulary that he uses in context includes:

ahhhh (airplane) - 6/09

maa (more) - beg. 7/09

maaam or ma-ma (mom) - beg. 7/09

da-da or dahd (dad) - end of 7/09

uh-uh (up) - beg. 8/09 (not consistently)

ah da (all done) - beg. 8/09

on (for on, in, and down) - mid. 8/09

buh-buh (bye-bye) - mid. 8/09 (not consistently)

um-um (yum-yum) - mid 8/09

malm (milk) - end 8/09

3. Use jargon (words mixed with sentence intonation)

4. Speech Babble CVCV (consonant-vowel-consonent-vowel)
For example, we use a peg board and pegs to help accomplish this and demonstrate turn taking. I start with a peg up to my mouth and voice, ba-ba-ba, then pass the peg to (dad) who voices the same, ba-ba-ba, who then passes the peg to Aiden who will hopefully imitate the action and sound and then place the peg in the board. We continue on with different vowels (bo-bo-bo or bu-bu-bu etc.) trying to get Aiden to imitate each one. The other day Aiden started this on his own, voicing da-da-da into a cup then passing the cup onto me. He still doesn't imitate much, but we're working on it.

Aiden's Learning to Listen Workboard and Calendar

About a month ago, I saw this calendar from Ben's mom and this family workboard idea from Brigg's mom, and immediately knew I needed something similar. I wanted something that my family and I could look at as reminders of what we needed to do to help Aiden achieve his current goals. I wanted to create a sense of responsibility (I am a HUGE list maker type of person) not only for myself, but for the entire family. We had strayed from reading Aiden his 10 books a day plus I felt a big burden on my shoulders (especially since I stay home with him and am his main "therapist"), to get it all done by myself.

This is the family workboard I created and have hanging in the kitchen. I'm lacking in the creative department ... nothing too pretty, but quick, easy, and cheap.

Sorry it's sort of hard to see (not sure what's going on with my camera lately) but here's what it entails:

• Poster board and four foam backgrounds with self adhesive backs, foam shapes used as note holders, velcro strips, paperclips, markers, and cardstock.
  
• The top left is a reminder to practice the Lings. I glued on twelve velcro strips to the foam ... six on top and six on bottom and then a velcro strip onto six pieces of cut out cardstock with a Ling written on each. If they're moved to the bottom, we know that Aiden responded to all six that day. If not, we know which Ling to recheck throughout the day. Once I get my printer working I'll print out a picture representing the Ling and then laminate to help it last longer.
  
• The top right is a copy of the WASP sounds (learning to listen sounds) with the appropriate object representing the sound. I have about four pages of sounds we're working on, so I just rotate between the pages each few days.


• The bottom left contains our theme for the week. I glued five foam stars onto the foam background, then I use cardstock (or index cards) to write the theme we're working on, some key vocabulary words to use, activity ideas, a song we may be working on, and the key phrase(s) we're working on. I use a paperclip to clip them onto the stars so I can change them out easily each week. Again, once I get my printer fixed I'd like to put laminated pictures up with the key phrase or vocabulary words it pertains to. This way, I can reuse the cards for other themes or when we revisit a particular theme.

• The bottom right provides everyone with a reminder to READ, READ, READ to Aiden! In the beginning, we all shared in this. Aiden's daddy and I read 3 books each to him and his brother and sister read 2. But we've all slipped and need to get back to 10 a day. I have a basket that contains books related to whatever theme we're working on, which everyone is to read at least one of these books and then can choose any of the others.

Each time we start a new theme, I sit down with the family and review the activities and vocabulary we're working on. This way we all feel a part of Aiden's progress. His brother and sister play such a HUGE role in Aiden's journey and they don't even realize it. Aiden absolutely LOVES them and is very receptive to any play time he gets with them.

The other thing I did to help keep myself planned and organized is start a weekly calendar for all to see. I loved this calendar Nolan's mom created, but knew I had no art skills and wasn't about to try and cut out all kinds of shapes (seriously ... you should see the sheep on this week's calendar - very scary indeed). I also loved Ben's mom's calendar, but I needed something smaller showing just a week at a time. So when I found a dry erase weekly calendar board at Target, I knew it was for us. In fact I love it so much, I went back and bought another one to keep track of Aiden's siblings activities. I plan out our week on Sunday night and talk with Aiden each morning about our main activity for the day. I also took pictures of his therapists to hang in photo magnets, which I place on the day we see them.

Aiden loves our family workboard so much that I'm going to take Leah's calendar idea and make it into a felt activity board. This is another fun interactive way to practice his learning to listen sounds (using printed pictures glued onto felt), sing songs, or tell a story! Oh, and I just saw this calendar idea from Tayten's mom, which is another great idea as Aiden gets a little older. What's great, is that with all these different ideas, I know I can easily change up what I'm doing as Aiden gets older.

Do you have a calendar/activity board you use? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

I Heard That!

One of the very first things I learned from the wonderful Miss Helen (the very first AV therapist I met with after finding out about Aiden's deafness) was to point to my ear whenever I heard something, in order to condition Aiden to do the same. She taught me that when Aiden was with me and we heard any sound what-so-ever, I was to point to my ear and say in a very excited manner, "I HEARD THAT! I HEARD THE PHONE RING (or whatever it was I heard)!"

So I did. Everywhere. Everytime. And by the time Aiden was 8 months old, he too would sometimes point to his ear as if telling me or his audiologist, "I heard that!" (and I catch myself doing this ALL THE TIME with the hearing kids in my neighborhood!)

Another time we use the whole pointing to the ear is when we're practicing the Ling Six Sound Check, which is a way to determine a cochlear implant's effectiveness. These six sounds (ah, oo, ee, sh, s, mm) indicate a child's ability to detect all aspects of speech. If Aiden is not consistently responding to one or more of these sounds, he may not be hearing across the range of frequencies, and therefore missing out on important sounds. This indicates to us that something is wrong with his mapping (programming) and an audiologist appointment is needed. Therefore, it is critical we practice the Lings everyday. In fact, I practice it with both of Aiden's implants on in the morning, and then again after his bath, at which time I rotate every other night between the left and right CI, to check each ear on it's own.

Since Aiden still cannot tell us verbally whether or not he hears these sounds, we have been conditioning him in other ways to show us he hears them. One, as mentioned above, is to point to his ear. After I voice a ling sound and Aiden shows some behavioral response, I point to my ear and say very ecstatically, "I HEARD THAT! (then repeat the Ling)". We have also been conditioning him to perform a certain action when he hears one of the Lings (such as drop a block into a bucket or put a stacking ring on its base). The ultimate goal is to get Aiden to imitate each sound when he hears it, but right now he will only imitate /m/, /ah/, and sometimes /oo/, but not very seldom.

Well ... all this explanation to preface the fact that AIDEN IS FINALLY POINTING TO HIS EAR WHEN HE HEARS THE LINGS!!!! He has always pointed to his ear when hearing an airplane or mowers outside or daddy coming home or the cats meows etc., but never to any of the lings! We have always relied on behavioral responses or the little bit of imitation he gives us.

In this video I do not point to my ear until he points to his, to reinforce his actions. I also cover my mouth the whole time (even when I'm not voicing any sound) so I know he's actually hearing me and not seeing me talk. You will also see his favorite sound to make is still "mmmm"!

(Make sure to turn off the music to the left before playing.)



Another thing I've been doing with Aiden the last couple of weeks is to ask him if he wants milk or juice as I point to each in the fridge. The last couple of days we've been getting some variation of "milk" (sounds like "malm" to me) and when he wants juice, well, he says his favorite "mmmmmm" sound and points to it.

Learning to Listen

Aiden has really done well with his learning to listen. I brought in a video of me working with Aiden at home to therapy with Miss Helen and she picked up on some things that I didn't even realize Aiden was doing. Here are some updates on his hearing journey.

• One of the first steps to learning to listen is sound awareness (detection) and responding to the presence or absence of sound. Aiden definitely detects sound, we see this at home. We can tell a huge difference when he has his hearing aids in vs. when they are out. He is VERY quiet when they are out, doesn't babble or play with his voice too much at all. When they are in, he is always making noises. He doesn't get very loud like I've read about other babies who are deaf/hoh, but is definitely a lot more vocal.


• Part of the detection stage also includes localizing sound. Aiden is just now starting to "look" for where a noise is coming from ... SOMETIMES. Miss Helen noticed in therapy last week that when I talk, Aiden's face lights up and he turns right to me and smiles. I think he's starting to "know" his mommy's voice vs. other voices! This melts my heart.


• He is playing with his voice making short noises (eh, eh, eh, eh, eh) and long noises (ahhhhhhh). Helen noticed this in the video too. I knew he was playing with different sounds, but didn't realize the long vs. short. So my constant aaahhhhh's and mooooooo's, and mmmmmm's versus the ee-ee-ee's and bop-bop-bop's and bu-bu-bu-bu's, are paying off! My nonstop narrating in long vs. short sounds (up-up-up the stairs vs. doooowwwwn the stairs) is working! It is all working.


• Aiden has been making many different letter sounds - g (as in goat), d, b, ah, long a - I know these come and go and he may lose them, but to just hear him make them means so much! It tells me he's playing with his tongue/voice, it tells me he's getting something, it tells me my baby wants to vocalize, it tells me WE ARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.

I guess as a mom to two older hearing kids, I've become accustomed to these things just happening. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about hearing loss. Yet, I have to take a step back and remember Aiden's deaf and all these "milestones" I didn't think twice about with my two older hearing children, are HUGE milestones for Aiden. GINORMOUS milestones!

We also started basic signs. In the beginning, we were not going to. In the last couple of months, we decided to start incorporating them into our everyday lives. Signs such as mom, dad, milk, I love you, good night, good morning, bath, cat ... simple things that are a part of our days. We have a sign for Ryan, Kailyn, and Aiden too. When we do sign, we create a "listening sandwich" (which I learned about in the recent Play it by Ear! seminar I attended). We always provide auditory input before signing the word and then auditory input again after we sign. So the first and last thing Aiden gets is auditory input. We, 100%, want our son to be auditory-verbal. Yet, we know there will be times he may be without his CIs and may need sign to communicate; plus we see it as a good bridge to verbal communication. We have an awesome parent-infant advisor that is helping us with all of this. She is an advocate of sign, but NEVER pushed it on us; she waited for us to tell her if and when we were ready. This is a whole other topic which I'll save for another post. BUT, I have to proudly say, Aiden is signing MILK! Once I figure out my new video camera, I'll post it.

WOW ... all this progress/happenings in six months. Plus, we're still set to head to Maryland in a few weeks, still on track with getting cochlear implants, still just living day by day and step by step. That's about all I can handle.

We Love Therapy Sessions!

We haven't had our AVT session for a couple weeks since we've been on vacation, but we were up bright and early to head down to Cook Children's for our bi-weekly therapy. It's nice, because Aiden's daddy is now working 10 hour days so he has off on Fridays to go to therapy with Aiden & me. I like him hearing it from them, then I don't feel like I'm "telling him" what to do all the time! : )

Aiden usually falls asleep soon after we get in there, but he raring and ready to go today, giving out huge smiles and really participating! We always start our sessions with Becky asking about all the new things Aiden is doing. Here's what he's doing that makes his mommy smile (and sometimes even cry)!

*He found the da-da-da-da sound again! He was saying it for awhile then seemed to lose it. I know all babies do this, but as a mother of a deaf baby, I get terrified that he's going to stop cooing and babbling. So hearing the da-da sound from him again is music to my ears!! What I have been doing with him is taking his hand to feel my throat and my breath as I say "da-da-da-da-da" and after about a week of doing that Aiden started picking it back up and when he says anything, we all go crazy showing him how excited we are!

*He's been grabbing his toys and of course brings them right to his mouth. The last few days he's been making a long O and the OO sounds as he holds the toy to his mouth. I think he likes the vibrations.

*Aiden loves vocal play (where we talk to him then pause for him to respond, then we talk again, etc). He gets so excited and is really experimenting with a lot of sounds! He's also starting to be very vocal when he's by himself too. Before if no one was around, he would just sit there very quietly, but now, I think he's starting to detect his own voice and gets really loud talking to himself! I love it!

*He's really been exploring a lot. He has found his toes, hands and other parts of his body; he loves to touch our mouth when we're talking to him; and of course the hearing aids are still being pulled out, but not as bad as before.

I JUST LOVE IT!!!! My binky boy is really starting to notice sounds and it just takes my breath away!!!!

After we talk about Aiden's highlights, we go into our lesson. Here's what we learned and will work on this week.

*Communicative intent (powerful moments) - We learned about this with our other great AVT Miss Helen. This is where we introduce a new game or song with Aiden (i.e. peek-a-boo), and then after playing it repetitively, start to pause in between lines to give Aiden the chance to respond. Ride a Lil' Horsey is a great one to do this with. As we bounce Aiden on our knee we sing:

"Ride a little horsey into town, Ride a little horsey

Then faaaall (pause here for reaction) DOWN"

and then tip Aiden down towards the floor. He loves playing this!

*Learn-to-listen sounds (tell then show) - Whenever Becky introduces a new sound she always includes a song to sing with it and a book to read about it. This week we're working on:

• spider (eeee-eeee-eee), "Itsy-Bitsy Spider", Little Miss Spider by David Kirk or The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
• bus (bu-bu-bu), "Wheels on the Bus", The Wheels on the Bus, by Paul Zelinsky (this is a great interactive book!)

Being a teacher, I have a lot of these books, but if I don't, I love Amazon.

*Reading to Aiden - We continue to read Aiden around 10 books a day (we're all in this together!). I know this seems like a lot, but I'm talking about the little infant, touchy-feely, interactive books. As we read him the book, I pick out one extra thing to focus on, for example, describing the sun on each page or counting the animals on each page. Aiden loves the touch and feel books and is now reaching up himself to check it out. Another of his favorites are the books by Karen Katz, they have that lift-a-flap feature. If anyone has any other favorites or suggestions, I'd love to hear about them to add to our collection!

Now I'm off to find a toy spider (ewwww - I absolutely hate spiders, even the toy ones!) and a bus to add to our learning to listen box. Whenever I go to any store, I always look for cheap items to add to his learning to listen box and can usually find them here or there. Any suggestions on where to get all these toys would be greatly appreciated too!

Back Home and Getting Ready ...

... for all of Aiden's upcoming appointments! It was a nice two weeks off, but we're home and back into the swing of things. Aiden has really done a lot the past couple of weeks! I cannot believe how fast he is growing and changing! I have to say too, his hearing aids have become such a daily routine ... almost like changing his diaper, they go in when he gets up and come out when he lays down. The buzzing can drive me crazy, but I've become good friends with Otoferm!

This is what we've been working on the past few weeks:

The Listening Box - this is a box that we put all kinds of objects in for Aiden's learning to listen sounds, like different animals, an airplane, a car, etc. Of course, before I got pregnant with Aiden I sent many huge bags of baby toys to Goodwill, including the Little People garage and two barns with all the animals! The sounds we're working on right now (using a very "mama drama" voice as our AVT Miss Becky calls it):

• airplane - aaaaaahhhhhh (long sound with different pitches)
• sheep - baa-baa-baa (short sound - same pitch)
• cow - mooooooo (long sound at same pitch)
• cat - meeeeeoooow (long sound with different pitches)
• duck - quack-quack (short sound with same pitch)
• car - brrrrrrm with a BEEP BEEP at the end
• train - chug-a-chug CHOOO CHOOO

This is how our at home therapy typically works:

"Aiden, listen." (as I point to my ear)

"Airplane." (say object but don't show it ... we call this "Tell then show"

"aaaaaahhhhhh, aaaahhhhh, aaaaahhhhh" (make sound of object)

"Airplane." (show Aiden the object)

"aaaaahhhhh, aaaaahhhh, aaaahhhh" (create sound with object moving around)

Then I give the object to Aiden to check out, which, of course, goes right in his mouth . Babies learn through their senses and since Aiden can't hear, he is learning even more through his sight, taste, and hands. After he's done exploring the object, I say, "Bye-bye airplane", then put it away then ...

"Here comes more." (Then I start all over with "listen Aiden" and a new object. I'm not sure why, but I was told to use the word "more" a lot. This is a question I have for this week's session.)

Peek-a-Boo and Pat-a-Cake - We play these all the time and Aiden just loves them! Especially pat-a-cake. He gets the biggest grin on his face and laughs out loud when we "throw it in the pan!"

Vocal Play - This is where Aiden and I have our mommy-baby talks. They are so much fun! It's amazing to watch how he belts something out then will stop and wait for me. He watches my face so intensely then gets so excited to babble back! We hope that he hears himself make these sounds (even a little) and then he sees my reaction to them by me repeating the sound as well as me showing excitement. If he were to realize that nothing happens when he makes the sounds, then he'll stop making them. We all do a lot of vocal play with him!

Aiden's first booth test showed he may hear low frequency sounds in the 75-80 db range. This range does not include any speech sounds, but we're hoping his brain is detecting a short sound vs. a long sound. We're hoping that when a sound is made, he's realizing there is something there and is getting a good jump start to listening. This is also preparing us all for the therapy once Aiden receives his implants, which we're still praying he is a candidate for.

Aiden's recent milestones include:

• gaaaaaa's and kaaaaa's sounds
• da-da-da-da sound when he starts winding up and getting mad (of course Aiden's daddy takes this as his first word! : )
• short a and long a sounds
• rolling from belly to side
• grasping objects with both hands and bringing right to his mouth
• reaching for objects with both hands (we just saw this for the first time this weekend!)
• starting to hold his bottle
• Belly laughing! I love this!
• Frightened cry ... he's starting to cry when someone he doesn't know talks to him or when he seems to get frightened by a sudden movement.

The appointments we have this week are:

ENT - I can't wait for this one. We're mainly going in to see about Aiden's brachial cleft sinus. BUT, being the anxious mom I am, I am also going to ask lots of questions about the cochlear implant candidacy process. I'm hoping to get the MRI done the same time they do his surgery to close up this hole, why sedate him more than needed!

ECI - I haven't really posted about my ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) crew, I will soon. They are all wonderful! We have a Teacher of the Deaf (TOD) and an Occupational Therapist (OT) who will visit this week.

Four Month Well-Baby Visit - I can't believe my baby is four months already!

Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT) - We see Miss Becky this week and Miss Helen next (we rotate between the two each week).

(Our wonderful team of professionals and the role they play in our life is a post all on it's own ... I'll post this soon).

Then next week we go back to the audiologist for another booth test and to adjust his hearing aids. Very, very busy, but all well worth it! I have to say, working with Aiden has become quite fun! It is amazing to watch my baby grow ... in all ways! Every time he flashes that big grin at me just melts my heart! I know he's going to be okay; I have faith it is all going to work out; I have hope my baby will hear and speak one day and right now we're working hard to get there.