logan in now 7 years old and is progressing very nicely. he is the 1st grade at a mainstream elementary school, but spends most of his time with 6 of his buddies in the oral-deaf classroom. his reading has been a concern for me, but he has made a big jump the last month or so. there is talk of mainstreaming him full-time next year as a 2nd grader (now he is mainstreamed about 70% of the time), but the idea of that kind of freaks me out.
the everyday "speech practice" has become second nature. having him read street signs, cereal boxes or having him repeat himself to make a word clear, has just become apart of what we do.
since he is not in private speech therapy right now, i do most of the "therapy" with him. with three other brothers in the house, we try to squeeze in at least 30 minutes a day to "practice good talking"--as he calls it. i love that he loves to practice and wants to perfect his speech. it makes my job a lot easier. :)
sometimes i forget that he is deaf. i try to remind myself what a blessing and a miracle this technology is. i had a "reminder" a few months ago in church:
every year the children do a program for the rest of the congragation. it's something they work on for several months. they sing church songs as a group and each child is given a speaking part to memorize and recite during the program.
logan has participated in these programs since he was 3 years old. for the last 4 years, i have had to be next to logan during his speaking part to help him recite it. i would break it up in to smaller parts and he would repeat it after me, the best he could. at ages 3, 4, and 5, most of his speaking parts were unintelligible.
this year, we practiced and practiced, as always. but this time, he said, "mom, i don't need your help. i can do it all by myself." when the big day came, i asked him again, just to make sure. i didn't want him to get up there and realize he needed help.
i have to admit i was a bit nervous. i watched the order of the program and anxiously waited his turn. when he was two people away from going up. he looked at me with that beautiful smile and gave me a "thumbs up." he was so excited.
oh how i wished i had taken video of this! it was so much more magnificent then i ever thought it would be, he said his part perfectly! he spoke slowly and clearly. the tears immediately began to run down my cheek and my husband put his arm around me and gave me a little squeeze. i was such a proud mama! it was something so simple, yet marvelous.
how easily we "hearing folk" take speech and language for granted. it comes so natural for most of us. most people will never understand how much hard work has gone into this sweet boy to simply speak and listen.
im glad that he still amazes me. i hope that it never becomes too "normal" for him to be speaking and listening like the other kids. i hope as he grows older that he, too, will be grateful for this special gift.
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