Drew's Mom is presenting to a class of audiology students this week, to introduce them to the world of cochlear implants and speech therapy from a parent's perspective. She did this last year to rave reviews, and was asked back again.
To prepare, we made a new video of Drew so these students can see his progress year over year; from a little baby responding to his name, to the talkative little boy we have today. While Drew did a fine job, he was in rare form.
It has been nearly three years since Drew's cochlear implants were first activated - and what a journey it has been! Here are some of my favorite videos from the past three years.
Each week at school, Drew's class has a specific focus. It could be shapes (he made the cutest little book!) or colors or, like this week, counting. And each week the class has a special song they work on that goes along with the weeks theme.
Throughout the year I've known about the songs, and Drew's Dad and I have worked with him at home, singing the class song. Well, this week, Drew learned his song at school all by himself! (And I really like how he finishes his consonant sounds - a big piece on our IEP!)
Enjoy "The Fishy Song".
Lyrics:
One, two, three, four, five Once I caught a fish alive! Six, seven, eight, nine, ten Then I let him go again! Why did you let him go? 'Cause he bit my finger so. Which finger did he bite? This little finger on the right!
Drew loves playing outside! He has had so much fun helping rake leaves, playing in the leaves and mowing the lawn?!
He mowed for quite some time, making sure to stop and say "Hi!" and "Bye!" to Daddy each and every time. I just love the quality of his voice. And I just love how truly sweet this little boy is!
And here is video of the dinner ritual with Drew. I was truly spoiled by my first born, who will eat just about anything. She will try just about anything! But not my little Drew! He usually starts saying "I don't want that!" before dinner even hits the table. It's just lovely.
It certainly is annoying, but I love the fact that he is able to tell me with his own, whiny words that he "doesn't want to eat that food!" It's just tuna noodle casserole. Who wouldn't want to eat it?
It's a big day in Buckeye Country, as our beloved Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Trojans of USC. Of course, our family is ready for the game, decked out in our scarlet and gray. And, this season, we're teaching the kids many of our favorite game day songs, including our Alma Mater, Carmen Ohio. Enjoy Drew's singing!
Lyrics can be found here. Drew actually knows the song much better than the video, but something about bringing out the video camera makes my kids go crazy!
We received some very exciting news today upon the completion of Drew's latest language assessment. At 29 months of age, 20 months post bilateral cochlear implantation, Drew tested at 40 months of age! Woo hoo! This test is for typical language development, and in no way takes into account his late start. He is ahead nearly one whole year! Drew's parents are full of excitement this evening.
I have been corresponding with a mother who just learned that her son has profound hearing loss. I so clearly remember those first days. All of the uncertainty. And although this mother lives a thousand miles away, we are forever connected by this experience. It is hard to know in those early days that everything really with be Okay. That life can be normal. My hope is that Drew's story provides comfort to those who have just learned, or will learn, that their baby is deaf. Happy days lye ahead.
I put together a new video of Drew. It's fairly short, but shows you some of his greatest loves: cars and sports. You'll notice that he is only wearing one of his implants in the video. Most evenings after bath time, we will have Drew wear only one ear while we do a little "therapy." We do this because it gives us a clear understanding of how well Drew hears with each ear individually. We know Drew hears very well with both ears, but we want to make sure that his individual ears are mapped appropriately, so it gives us a little insight on how well he is hearing. Enjoy!
That's right! It has now been over 18 months since Drew's cochlear implants were activated. Time flies when you're having fun!
Drew is an amazing little boy, and we could not have scripted this 18 months any more perfectly. He has clearly mastered listening, and will indicate when ever he hears something with the cutest little, "Hear sound?"
Drew is a curious little boy, and asks questions daily like, "What's that?" (We can't wait for the "why" questions to begin.)
Drew is quite social. He will talk to just about anyone, mostly about his two loves: sports and cars. I love watching him talk to his sister, grandparents, friends. He has this cute little way of bending his knees and tilting his head when he is talking to you. It is so precious.
Drew can now clearly articulate his needs. This has made life for the tantrum-proned-boy's Mommy much, much better. When he starts in with a tantrum, I can now say, "Drew, use your words," and he will tell me exactly what he wants. (The only time the tantrum continues is when what he wants to do is not allowed).
Drew now understands the concept of "time-out". If he is doing something he is not supposed to, I will say, "Drew, do you need a timeout?," and generally he will stop the behavior. He also understands my "counting to three" and will stop, most of the time, what he is doing. When Drew does earn himself a timeout, he will sit in the chair and say, "I want down!" And, when it's all over he will say, "Sorry Ma Ma."
My favorite time of day is in the morning. Usually Drew's Sister wakes up for the day first, and will be eating breakfast by the time Drew wakes. After getting his ears on and dressed for the day, Drew always wants to find his sister. He'll say, "Morning [name]. How you?" It is so sweet.
Drew enjoys music, and really likes to dance. He can now sing several songs, relatively in key, and knows most of the words. His favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Shake Out Your Hands, and Jingle Bells. I am so impressed with how he knows to sing "high" and sing "low" with his voice, and he can do so on command.
Drew's Dad and I have been fortunate enough to watch Drew grow over these past 18 months with a sincere appreciation for all he has accomplished. We celebrate each new word or milestone, as it truly is a gift. We are forever grateful for this wonderful technology.
I took some random video of Drew over this past weekend. Enjoy what our little boy can do, 18 months post activation and 2 years, 3 months old!
And, I used Overstream.net for the first time to caption the video. I have never done it before, so I am sorry if the captions are a little off.
Our Christmas day was filled with everything wonderful, as we truly enjoyed Drew and his sister as they experienced the magic of the season. This is the first year that they have both really enjoyed waiting on Santa's arrival, and they truly enjoyed opening their presents. (Although Drew felt that he needed to open, put together and play with each toy before opening another.)
The highlight of the day came in the form of a song, sung by Drew, while playing his new piano. It is a moment that will be forever etched in my memory, as time stood still. Everyone paused, a few of us cried, and we all gave thanks for the gift of Drew's hearing.
Two Christmas' ago, I thought this might never be possible. Hearing my little boy sing. I received many, many wonderful gifts today, but none greater than this.
We hope this finds you winding down a wonderful holiday. Merry Christmas from our family!
We mentioned in a previous post that Drew's Sister had been practicing a tap dance routine for the holidays. Here is the video from her performance:
We are very proud to have the loudest singing tap dancer. It was so sweet after the performance - she was so proud of herself and had a smile on her face that lasted the rest of the day. We hope you enjoy her performance!
A few weeks ago Drew's sister asked from the rear of "daddy car", "Daddy, what are all those signs everywhere?"
I answered that they were for John McCain and Barack Obama, because they were running for President. After answering the following "why?" questions, I figured the issue was over.
However, after turning onto a new street where a whole new set of signs lay ahead, I heard Drew exclaiming from his car seat "John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!"
So that is how Drew learned to say John McCain and Barack Obama. Somewhere in there, they both also learned the name "Sarah Palin".
Naturally, we thought we'd get all of this on tape and so we dressed Drew up in his tie, cleaned up his face, bribed him with Skittles and rolled the tape. We didn't practice this beforehand, didn't suggest answers for him or his sister, and neither of them know who we're voting for...Here's how it turned out.
We took Drew and his sister out Trick or Treating earlier tonight, and they both had a great time. Drew loved walking up to the doors holding his orange candy bag, arms outstretched and bag wide open.
After his sister knocked on the door and the bowl of candy was offered, his natural instinct took over and he tried to grab 2-3 pieces with each handful. He got away with this several times.
He'd say "Trick or Treat", and "thank you", and sometimes ask "other one?" if he wanted another piece. More than once the people handing out candy remarked "he is so good at saying that! You must have trained him!"
Yep, every day for almost all of his life. Talking about the color of the sky and how FLUFFY the white clouds look. Mentioning the dirt stains on his blue jeans and how GRIMY it looks. Investigating the red, orange and brown fall leaves and remarking how CRUNCHY they sound.
It made our day that people were so impressed with his speech. And oh - by-the-way - he had his dragon head on all night and his cochlear implants were totally invisible.
This year he can show off his "fanhood" even more by saying "Go Bucks!", and perhaps most importantly can express his thoughts toward "that team up north". Watch Drew in action.
Last week I posted a video titled "What Does a Cochlear Implant Look Like?", which I thought would be helpful for everyone who hadn't seen one up close before.
In my rush to get it posted (it had been sitting on the camera for months), I neglected to add captions using Overstream. Elizabeth at DeafVillage.com told me she thought the video was really valuable, so I made sure to add the captions to make sure everyone could see what I am describing in the video.
I recorded this video several months ago because as I was remembering our confusion and lack of information when we first heard the words "cochlear implant". What exactly was it? What in the world did this implant look like?
At first I was hoping that Drew wouldn't have to wear hearing aids simply because I feared people or children in school would make fun of him. When we discovered his lack of hearing was more serious than that, I was left wondering what the implants looked like.
I searched for cochlear implant pictures, and I found a picture of an implant that looked like it must have been used in medieval Europe. This thing was a GINORMOUS satellite dish on the side of the kids head, with what looked like cat-5 cable tv cords coming out of it, running to a box the size of a laptop tied to the kids back with barbed wire.
Ok, I exaggerate a bit - but that's what it felt like at that time. So, because I want to make sure curious parents or other members of the public can see what the implant looks like and what pieces it's made of, I give you:
Note: This video is showing Cochlear's Freedom processors with babyworn and snug-fit technologies. Bodyworn or BTE (behind-the-ear) setups can be used, but are just not depicted in this video. What this means is that this setup is for little kids. For bigger kids or adults, you wouldn't have that long cable, it would all sit right on your ear (imagine you "erased" the long cable and only have what's shown above it left).
Please let us know if this video is helpful.
***I've added a captioned version of this video through Overstream. Here it is!
As we get ready to celebrate Drew's first hearing birthday this weekend, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite moments over the past year:
I don't know where the coming year will take us, but I'm enjoying the ride and can't wait to see what is in store for my little boy's second year of hearing!
We've consistently been updating you with stories of how Drew is doing: funny things, surprising things, etc. Well, here's the latest video showing how Drew's spoken language is progressing to this point (19 months old, 10 months hearing).
You'll see that he can respond to auditory commands, make some animal noises, sing parts of "Ba Ba Black Sheep", loves giving kisses, and can be very assertive at times!
For those of you who have CI children of your own, or have kids who may be getting a cochlear implant sometime soon, please remember that every child is different. Some kids will show more language development than Drew at the same "hearing age" of 10 months, and some will show less.
The road to maximize Drew's success with hearing and spoken language has just begun for our family, but we are happy with the way things are working to this point. We hope you enjoy.
I was watching Dancing with the Stars last Monday night. (Well, not really watching, just listening to it in the background as I worked). When Marlee Matlin's turn came, I glanced toward the television to find that she visited Mexico over the past week and witnessed children having their hearing aids turned on for the first time with help from The Starkey Hearing Foundation.
I am not a Marlee Matlin fan. (Although I respect her work). I know nothing about The Starkey Hearing Foundation. (But I am going to learn more). Watching as these children heard their parents voices for the first time brought back the flood of emotions I had watching Drew hear for the first time. Thank you Marlee, Fabian and The Starkey Hearing Foundation for not only helping children around the world to hear, but for bringing awareness to hearing loss.
As a side note, Marlee Matlin will star tonight on CBS in the Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie, Sweet Nothing in My Ear, about a couple's struggle on whether or not to give their son a cochlear implant. (My guess is that the couple ends up not in favor of the cochlear implant for their son, but I'll have to watch to find out!) I've set my DVR and plan on watching it tomorrow and will post my thoughts once I have watched the movie.
Drew is loving the spring weather because he loves to blow bubbles! We blow bubbles on the porch each night before dinner. He enjoys it so much so that we have a hard time getting him to go inside when it's time to eat. He's even learned to say "bubble":
Drew will now walk to the front door and say "bubble" over and over again in hopes that we can go outside. The weather has not cooperated the last few days, but hopefully spring will be here for good soon so Drew can blow bubbles anytime he would like!
