DO YOU HEAR THAT?: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

back to wisconsin...

we made our second trip to madison, wisconsin to participate in the bilateral cochlear implant study. Although it was two full days of travel and two days of straight testing, we had another great time.

it was really interesting to see the improvement from last year's results compared to this year.

one (of 3) airplane rides there...

DAY ONE:
localization tests...

reward time...

study break...

showing off his sticker box...

speech testing...

showing off his big reward for a day of great "listening & talking"...

relaxing in the hotel after day one...

strolling the local mall...

his dinner of choice, McDonald's...

i had promised him ice cream but could not find an ice cream shop within walking distant, so lucky for me, he settled for finding a grocery store and getting some ben & jerry's with a bottle of colored sprinkles...

jjj

DAY TWO:

more language/speech recognition tests...

break time...

non-verbal intelligence tests...

we always love our time with the kind (and patient) ladies at the WU speech center and look forward to going back next year.

Monday, March 29, 2010

new kids on the block band member, joey mcintrye, shares his story...

this article just came out in People Magazine this week.

Monday, March 22, 2010

where have we been?

Logan has been busy with school, therapy and t-ball and we have neglected the blog! Here are some of our happenings over the last few months...

we had a great day at Do Art, full of language and fun...

Logan has been in his spiderman phase (for almost 2 years) and so EVERYTHING must be red and blue...

last month logan fell in the doorway and split his lip. his top tooth literally went through his bottom lip...not fun. we rushed him down to dad's clinic so he could stitch him up. it ended up being a bigger deal than expected and he had to be sedated...

we celebrated the winter olympics...

had our first t-ball game...

and we are now preparing for our second trip to wisconsin (this week) to participate in the CI bilateral study...

LOGAN'S STORY...

Logan was diagnosed at birth with moderate to severe hearing loss, due to E.V.A.S, to hearing parents. It was a progressive hearing loss and we were aware that his loss would get worse over time. He was fitted for hearing aids at 4 months of age. At about 18 months old Logan seemed unresponsive to most sounds, even with his hearing aids on. We battled with his audiologist about our concern that he had lost his hearing completely. She reassured us that it was just his age and most likely he was "ignoring us." We still felt like something wasn't right and tried hard for about a year to convince the audiologist to do a sedated ABR test to get accurate results. Once those results were in, we received the news that Logan was now profoundly deaf in both ears. Our hearts broke, but peace came when we knew that Logan was now eligible for the Cochlear Implant. We rushed the process of having his first surgery done because he was almost three and at a critical time for speech development. He is doing far better then expected and just received his second implant in December of 2008.

The Beauty of Holland

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability-- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

"When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip--to Italy! You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelango David. The gondolas in Venice. You even learn some handy phrases in italian. It's all very exciting.

"After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?!?', you say. 'What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'

"But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

"So you must go out and buy new guide books and learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all talking about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'

"But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland"

--Emily Perl Kingsley