Audiology

Miss Kat had a trip to the audiologist today (4th day of school). While her classroom already has a soundfield, we believe Miss Kat needs a personal FM. The spend time in a classroom of hearing kids (so 25+ students total) and they do a lot of small group work, so I think she would really benefit. So, to demonstrate a need for a personal FM, we needed to do the "Hearing In Noise Test" or HINT. When I suggested the test to our audi, he was a little concerned. Miss Kat has only been hearing with her CI for 9 months and he summed up the concern with "The point of the HINT is to score well in quiet and not in noise. What if her score is low in quiet??"

It was a valid concern. Pre-CI Miss Kat was given the ESP test. It was a closed set of 12 words that were vastly different. She scored 1 out of 24. That means she couldn't tell "ice cream cone" from "toothbrush" from "airplane". Seriously. Those were the words on the test. This time she would have "gum" vs. "gun". It is a much harder test!

Sooo....Miss Kat scored 86% in quiet!!! Her audi was dumbfounded! No one could have imagined that Miss Kat would be doing this well, and so quickly! Every single day she improves. Her private SLT thinks her progress is amazing too. She can't stop talking about the difference the CI has made for Miss Kat. (By the way she scored a 68% in noise, so we have proof that an FM would make a difference) Her SLT cautioned me that I shouldn't think that every ASL using, late id'ed, late implanted Deaf child would turn out like Miss Kat, so don't go around recommending it to other parents! I know Miss Kat is an exception (perhaps because she is so exceptional!!) but we are just enjoying the ride. I can't wait to see how high she'll fly!!

First Day of (Oral!) School

Today was Miss Kat’s first day at the oral deaf class. I had to work, so I sent Daddy to take notes and report back to me. I also went there straight after work and checked up on Miss Kat. I hung around for about an hour and then came back to pick her up.

There are nine students in the class, including Miss Kat, seven girls and two boys. Miss Kat’s spoken language is by far the lowest of all the students, but academically, she is absolutely on grade level. She is the only one who is severely delayed, except one little girl, “M”. M uses cued speech. She has a transliterator. She is very dependant on the cuing. I don’t understand why M can have a transliterator, but Miss Kat can’t have an interpreter…

When Daddy walked Miss Kat into the classroom, the teacher had all the kids go and find their desks. Miss Kat got very worried. Up until that moment, she had been very excited and proud to be going to school. She was worried that she wasn’t going to have a desk (poor baby) Of course she did have a desk, and she was very happy when she found it! I had tried to prepare her and worked really hard to try to answer all her questions and assuage any fears she might have. We had played on the playground, looked around the school, found the bathrooms, and talked about the schedule and where the library, gym and lunchroom were. I NEVER thought that she would think there was no desk for her; I guess there is no such thing as totally prepared!

First thing in the morning, they discussed the day, and what was happening. She was paying attention, and when she understood, she would turn to Daddy and sign it to him. After a few minutes, she turned and told Daddy that she needed to potty. He told her to tell the teacher, she raised her hand, and voiced “Potty”, and the teacher understood and took them all to the bathroom.

Through the day, if Miss Kat didn’t understand, the teacher would repeat and then sign or gesture and Miss Kat would understand. The teacher knows some sign, but nothing like at the bi-bi school! She says she is trying, but she worries that Miss Kat doesn’t get the information if she doesn’t sign. I told her that we are also worried, but that it is still very early, and we are hoping that it will click soon, and she will start catching up. She says she isn’t too concerned yet, but that we all want to be on the same page.

Miss Kat is very very happy. She is excited to go to school. She tells me how much she likes “talking school”, how much she loves her new teacher, and that she has lots of friends. She is terribly proud that she can hear and speak. She always tells us “I can hear you” with a big grin on her face.