Responding to His Name

Drew is continuing to amaze us everyday. This journey to hearing is so exciting. We have turned Drew up to P2 which is an ADRO program. Drew's audiologist plans on using this ADRO setting for all future maps, as it really helps children by equalizing both loud and soft sounds to a comfortable listening level.

Drew continues to have multiple therapies weekly (a big thanks to Gamma who chauffeur's him around Columbus to all of his appointments while Mom and Dad are off at work!). During therapy it has been noted that Drew is responding nearly 100% of the time to environmental sounds of all decibels. He's even responding about 90% of the time to speech sounds. Truly amazing.

Here is some recent video. Note the loud environment - clearly not the best listening environment, but he's doing well. Also, note the ignoring he does after he responds the first time. Looks like he is learning from his sister.

Drew's Therapy Status

If you've been following along with us during the last several months, you know that even though Drew now has his bilateral cochlear implants, we all have much work to do. Right now, his work includes several therapy sessions per month with professionals, and many with the "I'm not an AVT, but I play one on TV" Drew's Mom and Dad.

Earlier this week I took Drew to his therapy session and arrived almost 30 minutes late due to idiotic reliance on Mapquest Driving Directions. Usually they're perfect, but every once in a while you end up in the middle of nowhere.

We could not do as much practice as we would have liked, but Drew did respond to all the "Ling" sounds at close range and was localizing where the sounds were coming from (i.e. turning to the right or left depending on where the therapist was speaking from).

One interesting thing that I learned was that hearing develops spatially from side to side before above and below. For example, when the therapist rang bells from below a table where Drew could not see them, he made an expression which seemed to say "I hear something, but I have no earthly idea where it is!". When the bells were rung above his head he indicated the same confusion. Meanwhile, ringing them to his left or right resulted in an immediate swivel of the head toward the sound.

I feel he is doing very well at this point. I don't really know how to judge whether the map is finely tuned or not, but there is definite indication that he does get a great deal of hearing benefit from the implants, and we look forward to more leaps and bounds in the coming weeks.

Mapping is All Greek to Me!

Drew had his third mapping appointment yesterday. Before they began to update his map they put Drew in the sound booth to see what he was hearing currently. Depending on the frequency, he was hearing somewhere between 25 - 40 db! Can you believe it? Just one month ago a jet engine could be roaring right next to him and he would not have heard it. Now he is hearing within the speech range. Unbelievable! I sat in the sound booth with him ready to cry each time he would turn and look in the direction of the sound. I held it together, but I can't help to get emotional when he hears things that he has never heard before!

There was a audiologist from Cochlear at his mapping yesterday. It was simply coincidence, but nonetheless, very exciting. She looked over his map and made some suggestions to his audiologist on how to tweak his map. We are working to make sure that each of the 22 electrodes is programed for optimal hearing on all frequencies at about 15-20 db.

One thing that has been really interesting/perplexing to his audiologist is that his right ear requires a much more powerful map than his left ear. This can happen as a result of scaring in the ear, normally from repeated ear infections. The reason it is so perplexing is that Drew has never had an ear infection and does not have fluid in his ear. It was nice to have the Cochlear audiologist recommend turning up the power on the right ear to ensure he is hearing all frequencies the same. I think it made our audiologist more comfortable with her decision to turn up the power on his right ear again. It also made me feel better about his map in general. It is really nice to have a "second opinion," especially in an area that is so complicated.

During the whole appointment the audiologists (there were three total) were talking about NPT's, hugging the "T" line, impedance levels, the list goes on and on. I felt like I was in a room where everyone was speaking a foreign language. It makes it really hard on a parent when you want to know everything that is being done to your child so you can understand what you need to do to help, but everyone except you speaks a different language. As far as I was concerned, it was like they were all speaking in Chinese and I only understood English! I think I need to go back to college and take some classes on this stuff so I can understand it better! Now if I only had TIME to do that...

Drew is now on his most powerful map ever and is responding to just about every sound around him. Last night the most amazing thing happened. We were all four playing together, working on language and doing some of our "homework" from therapy. Drew crawled over to his sister's table and chair set and was trying to pull up on the chair. He is getting really close to being able to pull up on his own, so I watched him and then helped him just a bit. Once up, he was able to stand and hold on to the chair all by himself. That's not the amazing part. He stood there for a while not moving his legs or struggling to remain standing. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing. Drew had found that there is texture on the seat of the chair. He was standing, raking his nails over the texture and LISTENING to the sound his fingernails made when he drug them across the texture. Can you believe it? It was the most amazing moment and made me cry. Even Drew's Dad had a little sniffle at that one!

Makin' Some Noise!

What a difference 23 days can make! Drew is making new noises daily. This journey is so amazing and we have only just begun.

In the last 23 days the loud, screeching sounds that Drew made before his cochlear implants have completely disappeared. Now our home is filled with beautiful "singing" and blissful laughter! It is so pleasing to our ears. He will sit on the floor for half an hour singing. I think that he can hear himself doing it, so he is getting used to his voice. It is so much fun to just sit and listen to the little noises he is making.

Drew is even mimicking sounds that we make, such as "ahhhh", "mmmm" and even raspberries. Whenever he is sitting on the floor not looking at me, I will make the raspberry sound and he will mimic it and turn in the direction he heard the sound coming from. He'll give me a cute little grin, as if to say, "Yeah, Mom. I heard you!" It is truly amazing! Whenever he is eating, we narrate the whole experience. It goes something like this:

Daddy: "OK, Drew. Open your mouth. It's time to eat some bananas!"
Drew: Opens mouth as wide as he can and sucks every bit of banana off the spoon. (He's a hungry and growing boy!)
Daddy, rubbing his belly: "Oh, Drew. Banana's are yummy. Yummy, mmmmm."
Drew: "Mmm, mmm"

Amazing!

We are enjoying each and every day with him - and his sister. When Drew's Sister was born two years ago, I don't think we took the things that she did in developing language for granted, but I know that we did not have an appreciation for how children learn to communicate through hearing. When Drew was born with profound hearing loss it gave us a great understanding of this amazing process and for that I am forever grateful. Now everything that both of our children do in developing their communication is truly special. Just yesterday, Drew's Sister (who is two years, three months old) broke out the "Why?" question. Drew's Dad and I have heard it about one hundred times since then and we will continue to hear it for years to come. And even though it can be irritating to hear, we are just so thankful that she is able communicate with us!

Drew Can Hear The "Ling" Sounds (Video)

Drew is consistently moving through his different "maps" and is doing well. Yesterday we tested his hearing ability by having Drew's Mom sit behind him and make the "Ling Sounds". These sounds are 1) "aaah", 2) "oooh", 3) "eeee", 4) "mmmm", 5) "ssss", and 6) "shhh", and are supposed to represent the sounds that one needs to be able to detect to hear speech properly.

Here is Drew hearing the "Lings":





We were excited to see that Drew clearly responded to most of them and seemed to respond to the others when the sounds were made at close range. We will keep moving farther and farther away to monitor how well he is hearing, but this is a great start!