C.I. Sertoma Club

Last night I received a call from another C.I. mom (thanks Susan!) in regards to an ice cream social. I've been wanting to get involved in these types of things, groups etc. and last night was a perfect opportunity to get right in! We met at the Dairy Store and had ice cream and I met a bunch of wonderful people, some with C.I.'s and some not. VERY nice people and I'm excited to attend more meetings. Lily just turned 2 and has bilateral implants and is doing AMAZING! She talks and talks and talks and talks! So inspiring to watch and listen to her! Isaac was another little boy who will be in the same H.I. pre-school program as Elli. He is also a little talker and doing amazing. A lot of neat, inviting individuals!

In a few weeks we head to Old Chicago for another gathering... this time through SENRP... for a build your own pizza!! Very excited for that as well!

It's so great to get out and meet other families. Last night Lily and Isaac's parents were telling me about the Omaha School of Hearing, which I've always wanted for Briggs but the commute is impossible and they informed me that they will come to us! I'm inquiring about that first thing next week.

Thanks AGAIN Susan for the phone call!

Family Work Board

Here is the "family work board". All it is is a piece of poster board with laminated "dry erase" pieces cut out and placed on the poster board. I'm not sure if they are glued on or velcro on but we never take them off. Beth uses one of our towels to erases and then she re-writes. Nothing fancy at all but it is the BEST tool for us!! She suggested we hang it on our wall.

The top box says, "book of the month" each day, and "one new book each day". Mandy, our deaf educator actually wrote this in at her last visit. She went to a seminar on literacy and they said it's very important to have a "favorite book" that you read to your deaf child everyday and then rotate others along with it.

The second box says "high chair toys" - see folder. We have 4 toys attached by string to Briggs high chair at home and at daycare. At home we have an airplane for "ahhhh" and horse for "nayyyy" a car for "vroom" and a boat for "puh puh puh". He sits in his high chair and I say the sound as I'm bringing it up and then he sees the object that goes with it.

The third box says "I spy" and basically it's to describe objects using description, colors etc. and then you show him the object.

The box in the bottom left hand corner has the "common phrases" we're working on along with other things we're working on.

And the 3 smaller boxes on the right are reminder to use the auditory sandwich, a game we play and the 6 ling sounds.

The work board is the best thing ever!!! It's a constant reminder of things to work on with Briggs. I'm very organized and this is what helps me remember everything we're to be working on.

Like I said before we also have a folder that Beth started but everyone uses to review and update. That way everyone is on the same page! It makes for organized visits and a mom and dad who don't have to waste half the visit updating what he's doing. I also take it to his mapping visits so his audiologist knows what he's accomplished. When you're going every couple months it's hard to remember what he's done since the last time we were there. Again, a VERY simple, cost effective thing and it works AWESOME!!!

I hope all of this helps and PLEASE leave a comment if you have any questions!

Briggs Update

I was going back through my posts and realized it's been a while since I've posted an update on Briggs. He is 3 1/2 months post-activation on his right ear and almost 2 months post activation on his left ear. He is turning to his name 100% of the time and localizing sound 100% of the time. His first word and one we hear constantly is vroom-vroom-vroom. He is obsessed with cars and trucks! He'll pick them up and start driving them on the floor and say vroom, vroom, vroom over and over. It is so cute and he's been doing that since about 1 month post activation on his right side. He is saying "ma" for mama!!! Yeah, I'm pretty excited about that one! He says "oof" for woof when he sees a puppy, "uh-oh", "uh-uh-uh" for up-up-up, a much softer "uh-uh-uh" for puh-puh-puh (a boat sound). When asked to point to your eye he stabs us in the eye. :) He's doing so good!!

4th of July

We went to my boss's house for a party on the 4th and one of his friends has a VERY nice camera. She was snapping away all afternoon and evening and she emailed a few to my boss to share with me. I LOVED them! Our 4th was great and we spent time with friends. The kids were in a little parade and then we went to a bigger parade in the town where I grew up. The kids had a blast and Briggs loved the fireworks. He ripped his coils off a few times b/c it was too loud but for the most part he really enjoyed them!

Bath Time Pics!

It has been a while since I've taken the kids' pictures so I decided to capture a few during their bath. They are SO good to each other and I know it'll come to an end some day when the sibling rivalry sets in but I really hope they stay sweet towards each other!!

Briggs Update...

Last night we met our new slp (speech language pathologist). Beth, our original slp left LPS (Lincoln Public Schools) at the end of the school year. She is now working with an independent office and we are still using her. LPS offers "free" services and we now pay for Beth. :) So, Beth is going to our daycare every Monday for a teaching visit and to our house every Wednesday for a visit. We will also have weekly visits with our new slp and deaf educator through LPS. Our new slp is Carol and we love her too! Mandy, our current deaf educator will be teaching the hearing impaired pre-school class full time this fall (morning and afternoon session) which means we'll also be losing her (but she'll be Elli's teacher so we're not technically losing her). Our new deaf educator will be Faye and I've heard really great things about her. We're excited and fortunate to have all the visits and have such a great team to work with Briggs and us!!

Anyway, the visit yesterday was exciting!! Carol was observing and just catching up on Briggs since she had never met him. She was amazed at how well he's doing only being activated 2 1/2 months. Briggs is ALWAYS turning to his name and to sounds. He fully understands no and when he's doing something he shouldn't. He's constantly responding to all the 6 ling sounds. Briggs is waving hi and bye with the verbal cue (not seeing the action first). You ask him where his ball is and he goes right over and picks it up (without us pointing at it). He picks up his cars/trucks and makes a vroom or raspberry sound as he's driving it across the floor. When asked if wants more (snack) he'll turn the person with the food and vocalize for more. He's giving approximations of about 6 different words. He's understanding SO MUCH, SO SOON!!! Miracle!!

Elli will be starting swimming lessons in a couple weeks. We tried last year and she did okay but was still a little to shy. We're waiting for warmer weather so we can go to the pool. She's busy playing outside and the summer is already going by so fast!

Briggs Responding Video

This video was 4 weeks ago - May 6th (5 weeks post activation w/ just his right ear). It's the first I've caught video of him responding to sound. The first couple times he turns to sound I'm doing a raspberry sound and then I tap my leg and he responds. Now, 4 weeks later he has both ears activated and he is ALWAYS responding to sound. Anytime you say his name he turns around. It's amazing for me to watch this video and see how much more he is doing now just 4 weeks later.