Quiet

From the moment Henry wakes up in the morning, til when he goes to bed at night, I talk;  I commentate, I label, I read, I play games, I sing, I do not stop talking.  I know that to have the best chance of developing speech and language, Henry needs to hear the language- often.

But every afternoon we go to the pool for an hour.  I take off his CIs when we arrive at the pool (which can’t get wet) and stop talking and it’s such a relief!  I give myself, and Henry, a break, and just enjoy the water, the quiet.  Although, my quiet is not the same as Henry’s quiet.

Of course I wish with all my heart that Henry could hear at the pool, but I know how lucky we are that he can hear the majority of the time and it always makes me appreciate that a little bit more when I experience how difficult it is communicating with him without sound.  People say to me, oh kids don’t need to hear at the pool, they just swim!  But Henry can’t swim and I’m finding it quite difficult to teach him without the benefit of words.  I sign ‘kick’ to him, and he signs it back, so proud, thinking that that’s the game- like giving high five, look, I can copy you.  But I don’t want him to sign it, I want him to do it!!!  Watching Imogen’s swim lesson yesterday, the teacher didn’t stop talking, kick your legs, face in the water, blow bubbles; all things I need to teach Henry somehow.  But, you know, it’s just a small hurdle.  Yes, it makes it a little bit harder, but some kids hate the water, every child needs to be taught in their own way, in the way that suits them best. 

And at the moment, I am not too focussed on the swimming thing.  Right now I am just letting Henry enjoy the water, and allowing both of us to enjoy the break from my voice.

School

My daughter will start school soon, and we are busy considering the different options we have for her.  As we are in Dubai, we have to consider the curriculum we put her in (International, British or American) as well as a host of other factors.  She is an incredibly bright, confident little thing and I know she will thrive in most environments.

About six months ago I had a discussion with Henry’s therapist about pre-school options for him.  Australia has some excellent pre-schools aimed specifically for deaf children learning to listen and speak and I wondered if we should start getting him enrolled in one of these.  Melissa advised me that most likely Henry would be able to go to a ‘normal’ pre-school.  At this point Henry had not yet been implanted, seemed worlds apart from hearing children, and while I found this encouraging, I wasn’t totally convinced.

However now, six months on, Henry is progressing beautifully with his listening and speech and I have no doubt that he, like his sister, will be able to attend and flourish, at any school we choose for him.  Henry’s hearing impairment, while still an important factor in any decision we make, not only about him, but about our family, is just one of the many issues that we consider.  

This week I hosted playgroup, attended by a diverse range of children; different nationalities, religions, backgrounds, parents, abilities, strengths, weaknesses.  Every child comes to us with their own personality, and is shaped by their experiences.  Amongst all these children, Henry was like every other child; unique.  His deafness is part of who he is, but it doesn’t define him.

How cool is this?!

Henry gets to be just like any other child, enjoying playing music with his sister.

How great are Cochlear Implants!!!

We are eternally greatful for the opportunities Henry has.

hearinghenry business is up and running!

Our hearinghenry business, selling products to keep hearing devices in babies and toddlers is up and running!
We have four great colours of both the hats and headbands and deliver worldwide!  We have:
Pilot hats - to keep hearing aids in, and
Headbands - to keep cochlear implants on.
Please check out our website: www.hearinghenry.com

Would love to hear your feedback!!

Twelve and Six Months On

Twelve months ago, Henry was five months old.  After numerous appointments and tests and re-tests, he had been diagnosed in Dubai (where we were living) with moderate hearing loss, fitted with hearing aids and sent on our way.  From my online research I understood that Henry would benefit from some sort of early intervention, but I thought this was more of a bonus, not the necessity it actually is.  I made an appointment at the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) in Sydney, and I feel that this was the turning point to getting us on the right track with Henry.  Melissa, who would become our therapist, took the time to explain hearing loss, early intervention, and the sort of services that were available in Australia.  Despite my lack of knowledge of all things hearing related, I had a mother’s instinct that Henry still wasn’t hearing, despite wearing his hearing aids every waking moment.  With Melissa’s support, we pursued this over the next few months.  The assessments and tests we did in Australia over the next few months, combined with my observations and Henry’s lack of progress hearing-wise, resulted in a clear diagnoses in December of profound deafness.  These six months between our first trip to Australia, and Henry’s surgery in January, were fraught with worry, confusion, uncertainty, sadness and stress.

Our next turning point was 4^th February 2011 when Henry was switched on.  In the last six months, Henry has moved ahead in leaps and bounds.  It seems like he was just waiting for a chance to hear and access the rest of the world.  Our quiet, serious little baby has been transformed into an engaging, curious, very intelligent, still sometimes serious, but also very noisy, little boy.  Before the surgery we were so worried about him getting CIs, how much work they would be to manage and maintain.  But most days we barely notice he has them.  I put them on first thing in the morning, and then I just have two normal, hearing children who play together and fight together and do everything that any other child does.  I am eternally grateful that Henry has been able to enter our hearing world, and especially at such a young age.

This week Henry had his six month post-implantation assessment, and even though we knew he was doing well, it was so nice receive such positive feedback from his audiologist and therapists and to compete the same assessments he did six months ago, but this time with completely different results.  In one assessment on speech perception and language, he got a score of 1/44 last time.   This time he got 36/44, which is an awesome result.  I am so proud of how far my little boy has come and so grateful to everyone involved in our progress, particularly RIDBC and SCIC.

I Need You

Just jotted down some thoughts on my responsibility as a parent and what Henry needs from me.

I Need You

I need you to teach me, with patience and understanding.

I need you to help me, nurture my strengths and strengthen my weaknesses.

I need you to challenge me, new ideas, new problems, new insights.

I need you to set boundaries for me, allow me to explore safely, and to know my limits.

I need you to set examples for me, allow me to live by the model you demonstrate to me.

I need you to love me, unconditionally, without question.

When I succeed, I need you to celebrate my accomplishments.

But when I cannot do the things that other children can do, this is when I need you the most.

I need you to be proud of me and love me, as I am, who I am, to love me in spite of, because of, my differences.  I need you to be proud of me, so that I can be proud of myself.

Imogen

Imogen has adopted the language of a mini- Auditory Verbal Therapist as she models her behaviour on mine, as always.

She points out sounds: ‘Henry, did you hear that? (exaggerated pause, pointing to her ear) Did you hear that, that was a cow”

She repeats herself:  ‘Henry, do you want the truck, this is the truck, do you want the truck?’

She commentates life:  ‘Henry, look, Grandmas is cooking, can you see Grandma cooking?’

Her language has even become more basic as she adopts my simplified versions of everyday words:  She says: “ba, ba, ba, balloon” and “ta” instead of thank you.

And she matches objects with sounds, “Look Henry, that’s a bird, the bird says, tweet, tweet, tweet, bird, Henry, that’s a bird”. 

All without even thinking.  It’s amazing how as the language has become second nature to me, so too has it to her. 

Sometimes I find it frustrating that I can’t sit and read to Henry quietly without Imogen chatting away.  Talk about minimising background noise, not an option when Imogen is around!  But having her around also provides so many positive benefits for Henry. And she is the best model for Henry.  He watches her every move and copies everything she does, so it’s a very powerful thing to have her modelling language for him.  I have to remember not to expect too much of her, after all, she is only three.  So if she wants to crawl under the table and pretend to be a cat, which Henry can imitate perfectly, well, that’s okay.  After all, they are children first  The most rewarding thing is to see them playing together, not as an advanced three year old and hearing impaired one year old, but as brother and sister, my two precious munchkins.

Some photos of the kids mucking around...

Henry and Immi being silly in milk crates

Henry teaching Immi tricks this time- car in the mouth for photos!