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Thursday, September 13

Imitating Sounds

Two and a half months ago our little boy could not hear anything! O.K., Maybe he could hear a jet engine sitting right next to his ear, but for all intense and purposes, he couldn't hear. But two months after bilateral cochlear implant surgery we are singing a different tune. Our boy can hear, and not only that, he is learning to talk! Cochlear implants are truly amazing.

Drew can growl...and I ain't lion!



Here Drew is imitating sounds while eating:



I am so excited about the progress Drew has shown in only two months. He is imitating new sounds daily and is constantly "talking". We have now heard /m/, /ah/, /e/, /g/, and /k/ sounds. He is imitating non-speech sounds like tongue clicking, kissing and raspberries. If you ask him, "Drew what does a cow say?," he will repeat back the /m/ sound for "moo." He is showing receptive language at nine months and expressive language at six months of age. Not bad for a little boy with a hearing age of two and a half months.

There are times daily when both Drew's Dad and I stop what we are doing to watch our little boy hear. (That sounds funny, but we really do watch him hear!) Yesterday we were sitting on the couch watching the evening news and Drew had crawled to the front door, out of our sight. I called out, "Drew, come here please." Then I waited. It took just a few seconds and around the corner came my little boy. It is just amazing.

We are looking forward to what the next two and a half months will bring. Hopefully we'll hear "Mama" and "Dada". What a moment that will be.

10 comments:

Billy said...

That's great news! I just had my 3 month mapping two days ago, read my post and results. Drew will be talking on the phone before you know it:)
He is soooooo cute!
Billy

Iz and K. said...

Hi!
Kauan is having his bilateral implant surgery in 3 weeks, and I really wanted to ask you a few questions if it's ok with you. Is there a way we could email each other??? Please, if you can email me, izbataglin@gmail.com I would appreciate it so much... I have so many questions and concerns about the surgery and the "after" is really starting to scare me a little...it would be so nice to talk to you!
Thank you!
Isabelle and Carlos.

Mom to Toes said...

This is so beautiful! Great video. :D

Jennifer said...

He is WAAAAAAYY too cute!!! I love the videos!! It sounds like he is making incredible progress...I know you are so happy for him...I am :)

Karen Putz said...

How exciting to see that development! :)

Anonymous said...

I love reading about the new things he's learning and doing! I might have missed it, but why is he wearing a hat all the time? Kids with CIs learn not to pull them off because they realize that they LIKE being able to hear. Is there some other reason you have that little hood on him?

Anonymous said...

Way to go Drew! That little growl of his is precious! I think the speed at which he is progressing in both the receptive and expressive areas is truly extraordinary. No wonder you like watching him hear!

Drew's Mom said...

Anonymous,

Drew rolls around on the floor, runs into things with his head while crawling, sits in a high-chair and car seat. Basically everything he does knocks off his coils. We tried keeping his coils on without the hat but it just became too frustrating for us. And since Drew is not old enough to replace them himself yet, it works well.

Also Drew has a really weak magnet that is turned all the way out. We can not strengthen the magnet any more, as Drew has had a bit of a problem with redness/soreness at times. So as it is, the magnet is barely holding the coil to his head. The hat keeps it in place for him.

We are hopeful that by the time Drew is 18 months or so that he will be able to go hat free!

You can tell that he knows he can hear at times and not at others, but he is still under 12 months of age. I think it is a bit early for him to realize that the processors are allowing him to hear.

Drew's Mom

yvonne said...

hi my grandson just had his ci activiated this week and we are having a problem keeping it on any suggestions would be appreciated.thanks.i found this looking for a place to ask questions and see how others are doing.

Cloggy said...

YES !!