Happy Birthday Sis!

Drew's Sister celebrated her 4th birthday this past week. I can't believe that it has been four years since I gave birth to my beautiful little girl. She is such a joy; a beautiful, happy little girl who can light up a room with her smile. She even got to enjoy Drew singing "Happy Birthday" to her. The bond between the two of them is quite unique. And while they fight quite often, they always end their day by hugging and kissing each other, and saying "Goodnight."

We have been quite busy, thus the lack of new blogs. Drew's Dad and I continue to spend most of our free time working on Drew's preschool placement. While not much seems to be happening in the way of scheduling Drew's MFE or moving forward to the actual IEP writing, Drew's Dad and I are hard at work researching and finding resources to help our case. While we aren't traveling the easiest of roads, we are confidant that everything will work out in the end.

Talking on the Phone

As a working Mom, sometimes I have to travel out of town for several days at a time. This week finds me on the road again, with only the telephone to connect me with my family at home. When I call home, I love hearing Drew's sweet little voice in the background say, "I wanna talk Mama!"

Over the past several months we have been able to hold the phone to Drew's ear, and prompt him with what to say. (Tell Daddy, "I love you!") But this time, things are different. Drew is actually having full conversations with me. (And this isn't being done on speakerphone, or with any assistive technology. He is holding the portable phone to his ear, like you or me, and listening and talking!) And while his speech isn't completely intelligible over the phone, I can get most of the conversation.

Today we talked about his lunch. He went "to McDonald's with Gramma." Upon further questioning I found out that he ate a cheeseburger. And when I asked if he ate the whole thing, he said, "Yeah! I did!" But he "didn't have fries today."

We talked about his love of basketball. "Mama, I shoot the ball in my basketball hoop net." He also told me about how he played basketball at Gramma's house, and "made a brick."

When I asked Drew whether or not he slept well last night, he said, "My sheets wet." I immediately knew that, once again, his overnight diaper leaked and he wet the bed!

And best of all, he said, "I love you Mama!"

Cochlear Implants are pretty damn cool!

A Little Off Course

As you know, we are in the transition process from Part C to Part B of the IDEA. Unfortunately, this road to securing an appropriate placement for our son is looking to be a bit more difficult than we had anticipated. With the public nature of the Internet, I do not feel comfortable sharing the details of our transition, at least not today. But know that we are here, advocating for our son, and learning a lot about the IDEA, LRE, IEP, etc. of the situation at hand.

I am keeping all information at hand, and will share once a placement option has been selected for Drew and the transition process is complete. This is quite a process, and my hope is that the research, letter writing, advocating that we have done for Drew, and will continue to do, will help another family in a similar situation. I just can't publicly share the information at this time.

Thank you for your continued support of our little boy. I know that in the end, Drew's Dad and I will be back on course with the educational plan we have for our son.

Transition

I have spent much of the last week researching IDEA, IEP's and LRE's. A lot of acronyms for this Mom to handle! We completed our transition meeting last week, and have determined that we have one more preschool tour to complete, that of our districts cross-categorical program.

In the meantime, we have spent much time researching the policies and procedures for this impending transition, and I thought I would share some helpful sites we have found when determining the appropriate placement for a child with hearing loss:

• Excellent information from the State Department of Health on appropriate education for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Special Education Laws and Operating Procedures
• LRE Clarifications
• Forms

It is our hope that, after the completion of this tour, we will be able to select the most appropriate program for Drew, and that with the cooperation of our school district, we can move froward with the necessary evaluations and placement.

Lip Reading

Drew wakes up each morning, and talks quietly in his crib for a little while. I always know when to finally go in his room and get him up for the day when the volume of his talking grows louder and louder. It is so nice that he wakes up happy each day and can entertain himself for a bit in his crib!

The other morning, as I walked into his room, with his ears in my hand, he started saying, "Mommy, I want lunch. I want lunch, Mommy."

I hadn't turned his ears on yet, so as I worked to get both of them turned on and ready, he continued, "I want lunch, Mommy," over and over. And over again.

I knew he must be hungry, since he never wakes up asking for food the way he was on this particular morning.

In an attempt to quite him down, and prevent any melt-down type behavior, I looked at him, with his ears still in my hand, and said, "Drew, it's not lunch time. It is time for breakfast. Let's get you dressed and then we'll eat breakfast!"

Drew paused for a minute, then looked at me and said, "I want breakfast, Mommy!"

Now, I certainly don't think that Drew understood every single word that I said, but clearly he was able to read my lips enough in our conversation to understand that I was telling him that it was time for breakfast. It truly is amazing how much of a hearing child he really is. Even without his ears, he is able to communicate.