Note to Self...

When attaching another contraption to your child's head, you must warn the teacher!! :o) They were a little confused at school today and were unsure what to do about the FM system that plugs into his BAHA at school. When they asked Morgan about the 2nd BAHA, he threw up his hands and said he had no idea!

Today we went to Cincinnati Children's for Ryan's hearing evaluation. We had not been in 9 months - yikes! It took Ryan a few minutes to get acclimated to the whole stimuli/response process, but once he settled in he was ready to rock and roll!! He was not at all thrilled with the tight fitting earphones and let the audiologist and her assistance know they were not comfortable and that the whole procedure was taking way too long! I had no idea until I came out and looked at the clock that we had been in there for over an hour! Evidently, the audiologist has seen evidence to support that two BAHAs are making some significant differences for some of her patients. upposedly, the extra BAHA is helping some children better localize the sound and is helping them discriminate between some phonological sounds. A few weeks ago, I truly realized that although Ryan can hear my voice, he is unable to distinguish where it is coming from. He was wandering through the house trying to find me while calling my name. I was in Morgan's room hanging something up in his closet and asked Ryan what he needed. He began asking where I was - By the way, he was in his room right next to Morgan's room. So, I decided to play a little game with him and instructed him to follow my voice. Well, he was all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, trying to find me. I was completely shocked at his inability to find my location! So, when the audiologist asked me if we wanted to give it a try, I told her we open to trying it out and seeing what happens. This morning, Ryan wanted no part in wearing two BAHAs, but this afternoon opened up to the idea and actually requested it. It will be interesting to see if there will be a significant difference noticed here at home or at school. Not sure if we will proceed with a second one as we are still unsure as to the time line of the surgeries and exactly what route we are taking regarding surgery. The audiologist did feel fairly confident that even after the surgery that he will need a device for amplification as most children do even after the surgery. However, after the surgery he might be a candidate for a regular hearing aid as he would then have a middle ear and an outer ear to hook it around. Well, that is the update for now... Still more decisions to be made and lots of observing over the course of the next two weeks! So, how do you wear two BAHA's? Just like this... I hope he won't interfere with all the wireless technology out there as this little boy is wired!

Ryan's New Exercise Regimen

After 7 weeks, we were finally able to get back to speech therapy. The snow days all seemed to fall on the days we were scheduled for therapy and then last week Ryan was sick. It was great to get back to work. After talking more with the therapist, we believe that it is crucial that Ryan strengthen his tongue and jaw muscles and gain more control over them. We believe that this might help him with his sounds as so many of them are very lateral and sound so sloshy. When in a conversation, it becomes even worse as the conversation progresses as his muscles might be weakening So, we will be using a crazy straw to drink from, chew gum, eating Tootsie Rolls and Starbursts, encouraging him to eat with his mouth closed more often (he is really bad at smacking his food), and then sticking a raisin or peanut butter in the bottom pockets of his gums and getting him to retrieve it with his tongue. I do not know if this lack of strength and control is due to his diagnosis or due to the fact that he was not really eating table food prior to coming home. I am hopeful that this will help him and that we might begin seeing some progress in the weeks to come!

After 7 weeks, we were finally able to get back to speech therapy. The snow days all seemed to fall on the days we were scheduled for therapy and then last week Ryan was sick. It was great to get back to work. After talking more with the therapist, we believe that it is crucial that Ryan strengthen his tongue and jaw muscles and gain more control over them. We believe that this might help him with his sounds as so many of them are very lateral and sound so sloshy. When in a conversation, it becomes even worse as the conversation progresses as his muscles might be weakening So, we will be using a crazy straw to drink from, chew gum, eating Tootsie Rolls and Starbursts, encouraging him to eat with his mouth closed more often (he is really bad at smacking his food), and then sticking a raisin or peanut butter in the bottom pockets of his gums and getting him to retrieve it with his tongue. I do not know if this lack of strength and control is due to his diagnosis or due to the fact that he was not really eating table food prior to coming home. I am hopeful that this will help him and that we might begin seeing some progress in the weeks to come!