Interpreting

Today, we were sitting in church, in the front, as we always do (in front of the interpreter) and Miss Kat had her favorite teddy bear. When it was time for the prayer, Miss Kat arranges her bear so he can "see" the interpreter. When I ask her about it, she says "He is Deaf. He hasn't gone to the doctor yet.  He might get an implant, or a hearing aid, he doesn't know yet. But now, he needs to sign, he can't hear. So, when you talk to him, you need to sign."

Cute, isn't it!

Then, when we got home, she was watching a video and I was sitting on the couch. She went up and sat next to the tv. She asked if she could sign for me. I told her, "Sure". She then interpreted the rest of the movie for me. She did a pretty good job! She even signed "music" when there was background music and indicated when there were noises such as stomping. Maybe she has a future in interpreting (right now she says she is gonna be a teacher at her oral school!)

This is really ridiculous

I wrote a simple post about my child hearing a simple sound and look at the ignorant mess it turned into.

Fact #1- Miss Kat has residual hearing. It has been measured previously, I just haven't bothered to dig the paperwork out (because it doesn't matter!)

Fact #2- Miss Kat has a progressive loss, which means she is more attuned to being able to hear sounds that exist around her. She has had the ability to hear at normal levels in the past, so she knows what it is like to hear sounds, even faint sounds.

Fact #3- Miss Kat has an auditory brain. Because of her previous hearing experience, combined with her excellent hearing through her cochlear implants, Miss Kat's auditory pathways in her brain remain auditory. They have not switched over to visual, and (as the research shows, more often) tactile input.

So, when a profoundly deaf from birth person says they FEEL something, I am positive they ARE feeling it. Their brain has converted all those auditory pathways over to process tactile and visual stimuli. But, that isn't what happens with kids who have very good, early auditory input. Their brain uses those pathways to process auditory input. They do not have the same brains that Deaf adults have.

Be pissed, write me nasty comments, I really don't care. But at least understand the difference before you do it.

Oh, and P.S.-
The reason this blog is mostly about her "ears and mouth" is because it is a blog about our journey through the experience of raising a deaf child who know has cochlear implants. It is not about our daily life. I don't generally blog about going to the dollar store and having her figure out what she wants to buy and then count out the money to the cashier or how excited she was yesterday when we surprised her with new Hello Kitty clothes for summer school, because none of that relates to my goal of this blog. I am writing about the experiences that relate to her hearing loss, her new found hearing with cochlear implants, her journey with spoken language and our experiences with ASL and the Deaf community. Her life is so much more than this blog.

Residual Hearing Continued

So, I checked to see if it was vibrations she was feeling (instead of hearing). First, I stood in the tub and did it...nothing. So, then I had Hubby stand in the tub....nothing. So, then I had Miss Kat stand out in the hallway, on different floor material, and tried again. Yep, she still heard it. Finally, I had Hubby stand in the hall, on a pillow, holding Miss Kat, with her back to me. Dropped the lid three more times, she heard it each time.

Guess she IS hearing it. Maybe I'll get the audiologist to take her in the booth and see what they find.

Residual hearing? Really?!

Miss Kat was in the bathtub today and something crazy happened. I dropped the toilet seat closed and Miss Kat startled. I was surprised, so I did it several times (with the shower curtain closed, so no peeking) and she pinpointed every time.

The sound wasn't very loud, so I was very surprised. I know that she still had a little hearing left, especially in the low frequencies but this was way less than 80 db.

Hmmmm....

***SHE said she heard it, not me. She told me that it was a THUMP and imitated the sound and said it was loud.***

"SING it for the world"

On Miss Kat's last day of school, they had a graduation ceremony for the kids who were moving on. It was amazing, inspiring, and I cried the whole time. The graduates gave speeches about their days at the school, where they are going now, and what they want to do in the future. Every single graduate spoke. It was beautiful.

On a lighter note, the primary department also sang two songs. It was grand. Here for your viewing pleasure are "By the Sea" and "Guacamole".