Sam has really rounded a curve at the 24-26 month time range. We understand this is developmentally where kids take off with language, so no surprise to Sam’s professional team. But we are ecstatic!
Sam is listening well and talking up a storm! It happened all of a sudden. He would never repeat words, and then all of the sudden, he repeats everything you ask.
His own vocabulary is growing and he can ask for certain foods he prefers: cheese, apple juice, oranges, bananas, and “emo,” which we are still trying to interpret. Sam can talk about his toys: car, ball, choo choo, book, truck. And he’s a pro at animal names.
More notably, he seems to understand all of our instructions (whether or not he heeds them). We are working on two-step instructions now. We just completed a questionnaire/assessment at the last audiology visit that indicates Sam is at the low end of average for his listening milestones based on his age (25 mo. at the time) and at the high end of achievement based on his listening age (~9 months based on CI activation last June). So basically, he can do what other kids his age can do, we just need to build consistency and vocabulary.
Sam has been meeting with a therapist/teach of the deaf/hard of hearing weekly since he received his CIs. I participate 2-3 times a month so Dan and I can try to work the techniques into our day to day. Sometimes we are on it, and sometimes life gets busy. We just try to talk to him all the time, challenge him to use his words, and then reward him when he does. We’re in a good habit of reading before bedtime now, which has not always been the case due to someone’s obsession with Elmo on TV. We are getting there!
We also just tweaked Sam’s map (CI programming) on his left ear in March, so he’s in maintenance mode on his gear. We used to be in and out of the audiologist every 4-6 weeks or more. Now we are on 6-month check-ups, unless we have any concerns. What a change!
Now that we are in Indy, we are connecting with other families and resources tied to the deaf/hard of hearing community. I’d say that about once every two weeks or so I run into someone around town who asks about Sam’s CIs and has a CI child, CI grandkid, or professional experience that gets us talking.
We are grateful that Sam is doing well and couldn’t be more pleased with this path that we’ve chosen for him. I am slowly dabbling with a little bit of ASL on YouTube, and we’ve asked our parent advisor (which is part of our early intervention plan in IN) for some more info on how we can learn some ASL to help us through bedtime and bathtime, two times when Sam is off the air. We also are just enjoying this time in life in which Sam is doing well with listening and we are not yet dealing with the new challenges that will come with the school years.
