just had to post

I'm in the middle of writing a long overdue (as usual) update on Aiden, but just had to come share a special moment shared by him and me this morning.

Early this morning, as everyone else slept, Aiden and I sat on the couch snuggling, me trying to search for Christmas ideas on the internet, him trying to get me to play Candy Crush on facebook. I don't even know what started the conversation, but we started talking about being deaf, hearing aids, and cochlear implants. He understands he's deaf, he knows that not everyone needs CIs to hear, and honestly, he never says much about it. He loves his technology and at times, even prefers to be without.

So as we talked, we watched videos. Videos on his hearing journey - from the time he had hearing aids (he thought it was hilarious that he was in the audiology booth as a baby!) to his activations, to his one year hearing video. It was after watching this one year hearing video that he snuggled up closer and said,

"I want to make a video. I'll say how I hear with cochlear implants and why I love them. and about (being) deaf."

{TEARS}.

This March will be his FIVE year hearing birthday.

Celebration indeed.

and what a perfect project to work on together.

In the meantime, a little flashback to his first year hearing video - From Silence to Sound.

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).

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.

a song. a story. a memory.

Just had to share this SIMPLY.AMAZING video. The perseverance, determination, and hope this sweet boy and his family have shine through and through.

The whole thing is weighing heavy on my heart .... how every hearing journey can be SO different, yet SO very much the same,

the WE WON'T GIVE UP states of mind ... the determination, the TEARS,

theYEARS of therapy ... the hope, the WANT ...

the ELATION as they reach each and every little (yet so big ) milestone that you work so hard to reach. how HARD all our sweet ones work.

Then there's the song.

The song is Fix You by Coldplay. This song reminds me so much from the past four years. I used to listen to this song, along with others from Cold Play,  over and over, as I would go on long walks, pregnant with Aiden, after spending afternoons with my father (who had severe dementia and was in a nursing home at the time). I'd walk and cry. I continued to listen to this song after I found out Aiden was deaf and all throughout this journey. I haven't heard it in quite awhile, so this song + this video = many tears. It reminded me of how much we've been through, how much we've overcome, and how far we still have to go. It also reminded me, we're not alone.

and what the parents of this video say in the end, is so true .... siblings, jobs, sports, school .... and a lot of therapy in between it all ... LIFE GOES ON.

 Be prepared. Grab a tissue. (and turn off the music on the right before playing).

Hearing Loss in the Classroom - Video

Wanted to share this video someone shared on CICircle. It was the first thing I looked at this morning and it really caught my attention.

The message behind this video is loud and clear. Our hard of hearing/deaf  children work VERY hard at listening - especially in the classroom where there is always background noise (chairs moving, papers, tapping of pencils/feet/fingers, hallway noise, outside noise, computers humming, talking, whispering, etc - believe me, a classroom is rarely completely quiet) and not always the.best acoustically appropriate environment - and they can easily miss information, not only from the teacher, but even more importantly, from the students around them. I have read over and over again that 90% of knowledge acquired by a young child is through incidental learning and I experienced this firsthand in my own classrooms.  As Aiden's mom, I must ensure that our school district and all his teachers etc. not only understand the importance of the appropriate use of any assistive listening device, but also (and just as important), identify clues that Aiden is hearing (or not hearing) ALL spoken information, especially that of the other students.

With Aiden in mainstream preschool now, I am forwarding this over to our district's Director of Special Education, Aiden's teacher, and all his therapists.  Although we are not using an FM at the time (there is a soundfield amplification system in his classroom as our audiologist recommends that a child with CIs not use a personal FM until they have the language to report back problems with how the FM sounds - static, not working right etc), we will be in the near future, as I want to make sure Aiden has every tool available to him in order to make listening in the classroom as easy as possible. PLUS, our district is so new to hearing loss and this will be beneficial in many ways and for  the other students with hearing loss.

Here are some other sites/articles I am going to share on hearing loss in the classroom as well.

If you have any links to videos/articles you presented to your school district while advocating for your child, please share in the comments section.

• http://www.listen-up.org/edu/teach.htm#inc - 
• http://www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2011-02_02.asp
• http://hope.cochlearamericas.com/online-courses 

the orange m&m

We've been working very hard at some certain sounds Aiden has difficulty with - such as /w/, /f/, /n/, /p/ and /sh/. He's using them, a lot of times pretty clearly, but still has some challenges as they can sound weak or jumbled depending on placement (beginning, middle, end) and/or with certain sounds combined with them (especially if /oo/ or /ow/ follow the consonant) - oh, and he's three.

The one that is SO difficult for him is that dreaded /f/. FUdge. It's so funny too, since his one tooth was pulled, he walks around with the other tooth over his bottom lip all.the.time, which you think would be great for producing that hard yucky /f/ sound, but nope, he blows out of his nose instead of his mouth and it comes out as a nasally, lot of air through nose /p/. He had it for awhile, and sometimes still does, so either we're trying too hard, or it's time for another mapping. (which we have in a few days since he's started dropping endings and sounding a little more slurry than usual).

We always start with the sound alone (for ex. /w/), do some syllable play with it (wa, wo, we, wi, woo, wow, wa-wo, we-wa, wi-woo etc. which btw is GREAT for his minor apraxia/motor planning challenges too), use the sound in isolated words (wagon, white, witch), two words together (white witch, where's Waldo), and then in short sentences (which has been GREAT for helping him expand his sentence, voice control, and clarity of speech in sentences). Each step depends on the success of the previous step in order to move on so he doesn't get frustrated and always feels successful. 

So of course, I've been video taping to watch his progress. 

(OH, 

if you're like me, when you're trying to come up with words on your own that begin with a certain letter, you can never think of more than TWO. ok, maybe three. But then to think of words where the sound is in the middle or end - whatever - I spend more time thinking than Aiden does practicing. Plus, who doesn't like easy, new, and FREE ideas, especially when it comes to something boring like practicing articulation. So of course I'm sharing ...

THIS site, with all kinds of WORKSHEETS, that I stumbled across the other day. she even posts tips on how to work with a certain sound. 

love it. and so does Aiden.

better yet, just saw this post. IT'S ON THE ipad! speech therapy on the go. 

oh, and m&ms are always helpful too.
(gotta say, he's silly throughout - especially in the end with that dang orange m&m near the end. love this kid.)

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 - Self Advocacy

This is something we've been working on for quite some time and will continue to work on for years to come. For us, it's happened in stages, each stage equally exciting and ones you never forget - so exciting that it's baby book (or blog) material:

1. Does not tear off CI when put on - actually wears it most of day showing he LOVES to hear.
2. When coil falls off, puts coil back on without assistance - showing he LOVES to hear.
3. When whole CI falls off onto floor, actually PICKS it up and brings it to you to put back on - showing he LOVES to hear.
4. ASKS for CI first thing in the morning or right after bath - showing he LOVES to hear.
5. When processor portion falls off ear (coil still connected), comes and says, "My CI! Help please." - showing he hates the feeling of it just dangling ; )
6. Tells you (with words) that the CI has turned off and is not working (although still on ear and coil attached to head) - showing he LOVES to hear.

and not that it ends there. Not even close. In fact, that's just the beginning of true self advocacy - truly letting people know, "Hey, I didn't hear you" and it has to start now. I don't want Aiden to be shy about speaking up for himself. I don't want him to feel apologetic for missing a piece of information because he didn't hear them. If he's having technicalities with his CIs, I want him to speak up and seek out the help he may need to get that technicality fixed. If he's having trouble hearing due to where he's sitting in class, or standing in a room, or whatever the reason may be, I want him to feel comfortable, not embarrassed, to SPEAK up for himself.

Unfortunately, Aiden has come home a few times already this school year with one of his implants OFF. Yes, OFF. We have Aiden's lights turned on for this reason - if they're blinking fast - he's good to go, slow - something's wrong, off - the CIs off. This is all documented in his notebook, with each error code, what the error means, and how to troubleshoot it. I've also met with his teacher before school started and gave a quick demo on them. It's hard to say if it turned off on the bus, was never turned on appropriately after nap (oh the thought!), fell off, and while the teacher or aide was putting it back on it turned off (not totally uncommon when putting it on - that's why it's important to do a quick ling check or check the lights), etc. I've talked with his teacher each time about it, but if it happens again, I will call the principal and ask to come in and explain Aiden's CIs to everyone who he is with throughout the day.

in the meantime ...

I'm teaching Aiden, that HE needs to tell the teacher or the aide or whomever he may be around - "HEY, my CI isn't working."

note: stop the music to the right. sorry it's so small too!

so proud!

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?"

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:

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?

Halloween Madness

Where did October go?? My life seems so nonstop right now, which honestly, it has been since the day I delivered my second child ten years ago, then add in a third, and I'm constantly in search for a stop sign. I'd even take a yield at this point. As much as I wanted to post about each little fun thing we did the past month, ya, didn't happen.

Our October was full of fun all around. I remember last year at this time trying to get Aiden to repeat the Lings "oo" and "ee" and what a better way than with all the wonderful sounds of Halloween! He gave me pumpkin-"uhin", and bat-"a", and even a long o sound for ghost ... but no "oo" and no "ee". Well, this Halloween he pronounces them both beautifully and from all our work last year, I could tell he found that vocabulary file in that cute little head of his and just took off.

This year we heard pumpkin (still without that /p/), witch (its and ee-ee-ee), ghost (now with a good /s/ and final /t/ and the lovely "ooooo" to go with it!), bat, trick-or-treat (ih-o-eet), owl (he says the best owl), moon, broom (which he really has trouble saying words that have the /u/ sound, but says it perfectly in isolation) and so much more.

What are the fun things we did to immerse Aiden in the world of Halloween and fall vocabulary?

I made pumpkins from construction paper, cut out different shaped face parts, then let Aiden glue them on as we talked all about it - he even announced he was giving it ears all on his own. (Vocab - eyes, nose, mouth, ears, pumpkin, triangle, circle, glue, sticky, orange, yellow, black). Even though he knows all this vocabulary, we worked on two and three word phrases such as circle eyes, black mouth, glue it down, glue is sticky etc.

getting his pumpkin off the fridge to show daddy

I made a picture chart which labeled different Halloween terms, then copied it again to cut out each card to play matching games, to which candy corn was the treat ... Aiden DOES NOT like candy corn ... so we switched to m&m's and played Halloween bingo with them.

Showing a picture with a word is also an excellent pre-literacy/phonological awareness skill to teach that letters, make words, and have meaning. After Aiden matched each separate card to the correct picture, we would "read" each word from left to right, top to bottom.

We went on a fieldtrip to learn all about COSTUMES and found the perfect one for my little monkey (which was LAST YEAR's costume).

Halloween 2009

This year he chose Mickey Mouse - his new all time favorite character.

Halloween 2010

He was so excited to try it on when we got home and was in awe looking at himself. I had to fight the little stinker though to put it on for trick-or-treating. He sure knew what to do to get that candy though and would run up to each door, knock (even if they were sitting outside, but had to knock because that's how we practiced all month), open his bag, and say, "Ih-oh-eet" and a quick "Tan tu" as he ran off to the next house.

We visited a pumpkin patch and ate fresh Kettle Corn and pet the (very few) animals they had, and went on a hayride.

I printed out a Halloween activity from the Listening Room, which was a book about how a witch found a piece of paper and made it into a house for her and her cat. We followed all the steps she took to make the house and in the end, the house was also a PUMPKIN! Very cute! Love this site.

We made good ol' Betty Crocker CUPCAKES with orange frosting and topped them off with owls and pumpkins. (SO much vocabulary when cooking/baking and honestly, TONS of fun too!)

Turn off the music on the right to hear him counting the yumminess before he gobbled one up.

(without captioning)

(with captioning - works on my Mac, but not my PC?)

I bought tons of stickers to decorate cut out pumpkins or just stick on plain old white paper and played "ghost" and read tons of Halloween books and sang songs and looked through every.single Halloween aisle at every.single.store we walked into.

The boy definitely knows Halloween.

Next up ... leaves, apples, and Thanksgiving.

Phrase of the Week

This has become Aiden's FAVORITE thing to say this past week. He says it about E-V-E-R-Y thing, from the toys he's trying to pull apart or push through a hole, to simply putting his hand in his cup holder on his carseat (to which I have to turn around and pretend I'm pulling it out), to turning a page of a book only to leave a hand behind on the previous page (no sense in even reading, he gets more caught up in crunching my hand or his own between the pages). The boy is pure silliness.




We added on, "It's all better" once whatever "IT" is gets unstuck. Within the day he was saying his own version of "all better" and so now we're onto "I fixed it!" We'll see how long this phrase lasts and how much other language I can pull out of him from it!

Aiden + Naptime = Disaster

Let me paint the picture ...


Aiden's brother and sister are finally back in school; I'm trying to get Aiden back into OUR daily routine - which includes trying to get him back into a nap (more so for me); and while he naps, I of course, try to finish a thousand and one things, including craziness like washing all the bedding and starting dinner in the middle of trying to fill in the blanks on posts I started ages ago yet are still in limbo out in never never land waiting to be finalized and probably never will.


Whew.


and then, when I think I have him on task, when all is quiet above, I creep up the stairs (as many times as I remind other's he cannot hear without his CIs, I still find myself "creeping" up to his room to "peek" in quietly. Why? Who knows.) just to check, because when it comes to Aiden, "quiet" typically means "trouble".


As in this case.


Most of you know how I've checked on Aiden before during naptime to have every.single piece of clothing pulled out of his drawers, every.single.wipe pulled out (to which I stuffed every one right back in), even a pants full of poo torn off and left in a corner. I thought we were over this and he was back to actually napping instead of destroying.


Apparently not.

I think he's done with naps and even more importantly I think I need grandma closer by. The (not-so) funny thing is, is that I was in the process of deep cleaning his room. Maybe he thought he was helping.


Here is the video I took after I put his CIs back on to talk about what he had done. I sound like mommy dearest, but was honestly trying hard to hold back from laughing and letting him think it was all ok.


(make sure to turn off the music to the right)

The first video has captioning, but for some reason doesn't work on all computers (works on my Mac, but not my desktop), so I added a noncaptioned one directly from YouTube.

Be Bi Ba (Be Right Back)

Aiden is finally starting to speak using two words and is even starting to throw in some three word sentences here and there. A lot of them (the three word sentences) are hard to understand because his articulation with putting three words together isn't quite there (he's two, definitely to be expected), but you can tell through whatever activity we're doing and the syllables he uses.

We understand one quite well though as he stares us right in the eye, holds up his left index finger, and very matter of fact states, "Be bi ba" (be right back). He doesn't move until we give him the "okay" or "where are you going" (to which he completely ignores) or some sort of confirmation that we heard him. If we say nothing, he keeps repeating it and pointing that finger until we do.

The funny thing is that he's totally serious and doesn't want us to follow. If I try to follow, he'll push me away and say "go". The little stinker is letting us know nicely that he'll "be right back" as soon as he's done doing whatever it is HE IS NOT ALLOWED to do. i.e. sneak out the front door, head upstairs to his brother or sister's room, play in the bathroom sink, sit on the cat etc.

It's too cute not to capture, so I grabbed my Flip the other day, captured the "be bi ba", and followed him. You'll also hear him use his latest FAVORITE boy word and put to use our prepositions we've been working so hard on!

(don't forget to turn off the music first!)

Summer of Popsicles

If there's one thing that we've all learned this summer,

it is that Aiden L-O-V-E-S popsicles.

Not just any type of popsicle, but the icee pops we all ran around the

neighborhood with as kids. He loves

ALL flavors, ALL colors, ALL THE TIME.

The scary part is he's learned to open the freezer in our garage

which houses them. I'm sure by the end of the summer

he'll also learn how to use scissors ... just for the fact

that he needs them to open his much loved summer treat.

Here are some of my favorite "Aiden with "HA-sihle" pics.

sharing with mom

good to the last drop

mmmm, "pah-le HA-sihle"

Being his silly self with a "ehwo HA-sihle"

Heading toward mom with the orange popsicle,

to be sneaky and squirt it all over.

(and check out the "I've had every color popsicle today" face)

Which he missed, but still thought it was hilarious,

and proceeded to lick every spilled drop off his hand.

and of course, you have to love the "you can tell every color

popsicle I ate today by looking at my tummy and/or diaper" picture

Last but not least, Mr. Sneaky himself had just gotten out of the pool and I only had the chance to get his right CI on before he hightailed it to the garage, so I followed him, Flip in tow.

I'm sure he did get just ONE MORE "HA-sihle".

What's summer without them?

(turn off the music to the right before watching)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

Check out the ROUNDING of these lips!

After many, mANY, MANY months

of working toward this sound ...

.... WE FINALLY HAVE THE

LONG O AND OO!

(make sure to turn the music off on the left first)

Now, this video doesn't capture the /oo/ as well as he truly says it,

as he's not much of an on-the-spot performer and

says it quite well when the camera is not

close by. You may notice too, his first /oo/

sounds like /m/ which we always watch closely,

as these two sounds can be easily confused

and could show a mapping issue if Aiden were

to consistently confuse them.

Some words we've added to his vocabulary list,

or have made clearer with his new sounds are:

uh-OH

(instead of uh-um)

WHOA

(as in whenever he trips or falls, and with QUITE the emphasis I might add)

shjoo

(for juice)

mo-mo!

(no-no as he yells at the cats)

Elmo

(instead of just "elm")

mo

(instead of ma for more)

Now if we could get that dang /ee/ out of him.

"Ryan"

None of my children have the easiest names to say for any toddler, much less a deaf one with cochlear implants learning to hear and speak. For a little while, Aiden would say his own name when he'd see his picture on this blog. It sounded like "Ayen", but it was very short lived. In fact, I'm surprised we don't hear the same "Ayen" for his brother and sister since all my kids have two syllable names ending in the "en" sound. He has NEVER attempted either of his sibling's names, except closed mouth humming of the two syllables that each name has.

This past weekend, we were outside and Aiden was playing in the car as his daddy, brother, and I sat and talked. He was being his typical silly self so I ran to get my Flip.

Glad I did. (Excuse my loud excitement, but how about that /r/! AND it was the FIRST time I've ever heard him attempt to say "dad" instead of dada, and "cat" (do you hear a final /t/?) instead of just "meow").

Make sure to turn the music off on the left first!

I just had to pull this post back, as I wrote it very quickly this morning. What I forgot to mention is what a GREAT BIG BROTHER Ryan is to Aiden. As soon as Aiden sees Ryan, a huge smile instantly lights up his face, and he runs up to him screaming this brotherly, "Let's get on the floor right now and wrestle" type of scream. He loves everything about his big brother (including getting into everything in his room), and Ryan just said to me last night, "I love playing with Aiden, he's a great little brother." I love it.

Happy First Hearing Birthday Sweet Boy

(turn the music off on the left before hitting play)