Using the telephone with cochlear implant(s)

Here you'll watch Brook who happens to be nearly three years younger than Gage but is bilaterally implanted, use the telephone (speaker phone) with ease...

And to show a previous video of Gage using the phone, you'll see he does very well too, but needs assistance. He wears only one device. though it's not captioned, you can see him looking at me a good bit, for repeats. It would help if he held the phone up closer to his processor.

ASHA'S Drawing Contest

Upon the suggestion of his former Speech Therapist, Gage entered a contest held for Better Speech and Hearing Month (May) held by ASHA. It had to be hearing related so this is what he came up with. You see the ci in the upper corner and it says "hear that engine roar...louder" ! That's my boy.

Where I Come From...

Where I come from...this is your morning traffic jam (actually taken two days ago!).

You'll hear coyotes, see snakes...(yes it's real but a harmless chicken snake)

and you might get caught eating a steak dinner OUTSIDE.

Yes, my veggies are in foil (lol) and to the CI Gal...do you like my cup??? hmmmm. Now that's how we do it...where I come from!!

Bday Party

Go Kendall, it's your birthday! And YES, I LET MY CHILDREN JUMP IN A JUMP-A-ROO!! I simply take off their processors so there is no chance of erasing the program from static. Don't the cake look yummy? And check out my nephew, cute huh? He's also a FANTASTIC babysitter for Gage. Put it on my tab Chase! I can't believe that little chocolate face that I watched come into this world is now three.

Ask Me About My Implants

Thanks Cochlear for the new buttons sent to us volunteers! Unfortunately in my neck of the woods, I have a lot more work to do before the folks around here look at people's heads when they see this instead of...well you know!

Bloomin' Babies

Do you talk (or cue or sign, whatever applies) enough to your baby? This is the latest from ABC World News, check it out. Helping your baby's language bloom and all before the age of THREE!!!

Cats in the Corner

not time for caption but here's the lowdown...I hear her playing school teacher w/the cats as usual and I hear her say "that was rude" so I grab my camera hoping to film w/out being noticed but low and behold she HEARS the door open of all things. I find my kittens in the corner because she thinks they are hurting their mama...she thinks they were biting her but they just wanted their milk...can you tell Brook went to time out today? she did!!

Some things are too cute to correct

Yes, I will help her with the pledge over the summer but I just adore hearing her version. She's already teaching others, and please note she even crosses their hearts. So patriotic.
P.S. I've had her slow down before and say it word for word so although it sometimes sounds like she says indivisible, she swears the correct word is vegetable.

Health Fair

Had a great time at the NBC Health and Wellness Festival today. Thanks to Gerry, Jeremy, "Dixie", and Shane for helping out with today's event and yesterday as well. I could not attend yesterday, but today I met some really nice people and a cute little three year old we'll call Mr. A who had bilaterals! Hopefully his mom will join the volunteer crew soon...(hint, hint)!! But I have to say, the highlight was when Dixie, her husband, and Jeremy all fed this unusually tame squirrel. Have a look!

Rally Caps Tribe

Jodi who needs no other introduction has shared some really good news about her book Rally Caps. Those kids in the hospital will receive an uplifting treasure from Jodi and Cochlear. As an original Rally Caps Tribe Member, Gage received a Rally Caps shirt and is seen here supporting her while he listens to ACDC on the computer. Hot Stuff, that Tuscany Princess and keep up the good work. We all love reading her blog...some of us check it more than once per day I know...guilty!

DISCLAIMER: this blog "Cochlear Kids" is in no way, shape, or form to be held responsible for what comes out of the mouth of said named above (Jodi). Enter at your own risk, cursing, loud music, and sometimes sexy photos mysteriously appear on her blog. And that's why we love her! **smile**

Who Invented Spring Break??

Must have been the teachers! Although I've enjoyed the kids all week, looks like they got either really bored today or had a lot of fun. I have learned though that just because something looks like it came from a hog farm, and smells like it came from a hog farm, doesn't mean they're actually hogs. Somewhere underneath, those are my children. Want to babysit?
p.s. they were very proud of themselves for taking their shorts off so they wouldn't get them dirty

the Dog House

So I'm relaxing in the sun and something keeps catching my eye on the dog house. Unsure of what I see, I approach the dog house to take a closer look and wow, to my surprise someone has put some scripting on her house! Wasn't me, doubt it was Chad and Brook can's spell yet. Hmmmm, looks like the same word I found spelled on my fridge w/magnetic letters not too long ago. It's four letters and starts w/an S! So thank you closed captioning and first grade, we are advancing nicely.

The Seeds Have Been Sewn

I love having a garden! Having my kids plant seeds with me, watching them grow, and then eventually enjoying what they become. Love being able to walk out into my garden in the summer and picking dinner. I usually have enough to take to the audiologist and AVTs at our clinic, not to mention family and friends too. Most people we know don't have the space for such a garden so we just plant waaaay more than we need and share.
Oh, and I know red and pink don't match but hey, she dressed herself (it's Spring Break)! and check out my boots! Don't be jealous, knee length rubber is quite fashionable here in the country!

Are We Well Rounded?

A very interesting post my Ms. Jodi today. Made me realize I could be giving the wrong impression to some people because I show "mock lessons" I do with my kids. So here are some shots of what my kids are doing today. You'll see that later in the week, my kids will help plant the garden that will feed my entire family and friends all summer. Gage is making mud pies and playing with his trucks since all he wants to do is drive a big truck one day. Do I sit around and school the children all day? Heck no! That's the beauty of AVT. You learn how to talk to your kids, give your kids more meaningful information when you do talk so you don't spend all your time in therapy. For the most part we are just country goof balls and LOVIN' IT!! We need to do a captioned documentary, like a reality show so people can see what really goes on inside these AVT homes. You'd be surprised at how little "therapy" could be noticed to the naked eye. Gage is all boy and can certainly fish (and I do mean bait hook and remove fish) shoot a BB gun, his and Brook's exposure to LIFE is unlimited. So if anyone questioned our "well roundedness" we try to be...always work-in-progress.

As for the video below you can see they're not robots...they are just laughing and Brook simply asks Gage to help her if she gets scared...I filmed this from inside the house, they have no idea!

Fictional Stories

I decided to work on Brook's make believe stories. As you can see the length of the story is good, it seems to go on and on. The content is fairly age appropriate (I guess) for a four year old. She's thinking of other stories (like 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed) that relate to numbers, something I'm sure they do a lot of in preschool. For all I know, she's just trying to retell a story they did in conjunction w/the butterfly they made. Either way it's always a good idea to not only read books but to encourage the kids to make up stories about pictures, and also retell events. For retelling use dreams they have, or events of the day, etc. This gives them a chance to use their verbal skills as well...do a little expressive language instead of just receptive. Sequencing events in the proper order is a plus, we used snapshots of they kids carving pumpkins, planting flowers, or just use flashcards. Always try to use receptive (what the kids understand) and their expressive(what they verbalize/sign/express) in daily activities.

Sorry no caption, all she says is "two little butterflies fly a way and then there was one butterfly, and then there were five butterflies, and then there were four butterflies" and so on and so on.

Tag

Okay, so I've been tagged a few times...this is a game bloggers play and it goes around from time to time. Here it goes:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Anything I wanted!!!what can I say...pre-kid times.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Oranges
2. 100 calorie pack cheezits
3. 100 cal. pack chocolate shortbread cookies
4. 100 cal. pack chex mix
5. popcorn
but hey, I just lost 15 lbs!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. sponsor some kiddos & adults to get ci's
2. build the perfect house
3. start scholarships to pay for hearing aids/therapy/fm's for all ages

Five jobs that I have had:
1.stay at home mom
2. Accounting Dept.of major beer distributor
3. bookkeeper
4. cashier
5. inspector at a sewing plant

Three of my habits:
1. inturrupting people (ugh, I'm the rudest person I know!)
2. checking email constantly
3. Sirius Satellite Radio- '80s Hair Bands

Five place I have lived:
1. ALABAMA
I'm serious...that's it!!

So that's it...I won't personally tag anyone but feel free to consider yourself tagged and answer the questions. See, I'm boring!!

Makin' Music

Now all I need is Riley from Sound Check Mama and maybe Thomas to show us some moves and we're all set.All are deaf children with ci's.

subtitled-Do Cats Have Umbilical Cords?

as requested: here is the one w/subtitles. Kids are so funny!

Lesson of the Day

Spring Break is this week so I'll be able to do lots of "lessons" w/the kids. Today, I had Brook take my digital camera and I asked her to take photos of different things. One time I said "something warm and something you wear"...for warm she took a picture of a blanket and for wear she took a photo of her socks that were in the floor. Here I asked her take a photo of something quiet, something loud and something that doesn't make any sound at all. The chair has no sound...the heater is quiet and the dryer is loud (unfortunately).

Weeds Be Gone

Perfect opportunity for Brook to learn WEED as a verb as well as a noun. Here she is helping Daddy recycle some weeds from one flower bed to a hill that is in need of grass.

The Napkin

People sometimes hear me refer to Gage as "a special case" when I talk about him and his ci. So why is he different, why is he special? Let me explain. These are impromptu drawings made by Gage's ENT.


The first one is a typical ear and he's showing us how he had to remove the canal and the middle ear basically to insert the electrodes into his cochlea. He then filled the voided space with belly fat (taken from Gage, and YES I DID OFFER, but it had to be from him). Now the other picture is the one that nearly broke my heart the day it was drawn. He was four months old and was being sedated for a simple tube insertion and ABR hearing test. Yes, this is the day he showed absolutely no response on the ABR and we found out FOR SURE he was in fact deaf. That's not what broke my heart. Instead it was when the doctor came in and told me he couldn't even insert tubes into my baby's ears because they were so tiny and looking at the CT scan he informed us that Gage's ears were "severely deformed inside". Not exactly what I was expecting. I felt like they were telling us that nothing would help, he's going to just continue to have ear infections, he's never going to hear, and have a nice day. That wasn't the case at all, only a mother's interpretation of being caught off guard and hearing that her baby had deformities. Anyway, so you can see why he's a special case. He said his bones were fused together, some things unrecognizable and his cochlea didn't have enough curves. All of this was on a napkin he grabbed as he told us the news. He quickly drew a picture of a "normal" inner ear and then Gage's cochlea as he explained. So yes, he's a special case, his implant was placed a little differently than your average patient and then his ear was sewn shut. You can see here, you can't even tell it unless you know it. We opted for the surgery to be done this way because we already knew that his facial nerve was out of place as well. So this is why he wasn't successfully implanted until age three and a half. Kids these days get implanted much younger and I'm right there with ya folks. I would have implanted him younger also but it just wasn't a possibility for Gage without all the research and investigating it took to find a way to help him hear his firetrucks. That's the only sounds he could hear at that age so he carried firetrucks on his shoulder like a breakdancer in 1980 with a boom box or radio. All of this came back to me today because Gage is now almost seven and has yet another ear infection...in his unimplanted ear...just something we deal with.

Am I jealous?

Gage wakes up this morning, THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL BEFORE SPRING BREAK!!!, with an earache. So instead of cleaning carpets (in my spare time) I take him to the doctor. As soon as I walk in, I see a gorgeous lady w/her son who is probably 12. They are the only ones sitting in the "well child" room. The other room was loud, tv blaring, kids all over the place, so I motion for Gage to go into the quiet "clean" room so we don't leave with more than what we came with. Now this lady was a little older than me, had hair a little lighter than mine, she wore a little more make-up than I do and her jeans alone cost more than everything I was wearing, and she was probably about ten or fifteen pounds lighter than I am. For a minute, as I'm secretly checking her out...YES, WOMEN DO THIS!! I thought to myself...am I jealous? I've never been one to desire what other people have or to be envious...so why was having to ask myself this question?...I decided before I agreed that I was in fact jealous of this ABSOLUTE GORGEOUS woman...I would have to do some investigating. Surely, I could find something wrong with her...believe me...didn't take me long! She smiled as we walked in and Gage immediately told her how pretty her purse was (brightly colored) and she said to him "how sweet, my boys would never say that!"...she then buried her head back into her magazine...never to look up again. We were in this tiny room w/her and her son for an hour and a half. Her son and I spoke about school and current crime issues in our area....nothing from her. Am I jealous? Gage as usual spoke the entire time and even though I've seen his truck he built 500 times I let him show me all the parts, describe what they were for...and I acted just as interested as I did when I heard it all the first time. I smiled and asked questions, he showed her little boy, he did the same, asked some questions. I don't know if we were keeping Gage entertained or ourselves. Nothing from her. Am I jealous? I even saw her son try to show her a photo from a magazine he had and he tried to tell her that he wished he was there, in that photo, on the beach somewhere, anywhere but where he actually was. She didn't look up, but I did hear a "umm,hmmm". Poor little guy, he sadly put his earbuds back in but I gave him a little smile so he knew I was listening. The entire time, this lady did not even speak to her son. I was really shocked. An hour and a half and not a complete word from her to him and they were two feet apart. So that's it, I knew I could find something negative about the "we all wish we were her" Gal. I'm not jealous!! So ladies, when you're having one of those "fat days" and you know what I'm talking about, don't feel sorry for yourself...no one's perfect. I'll take my ten lbs too much any day if being skinny/beautiful/rich lets you forget how to speak to your own kids!

WARNING!!!

Gage has put up a warning on the huge cardboard box we have the new mother and her kittens in...so don't even think about gettin' in that box.

Mapping a Cochlear Implant

Some of you hear me say "I have to take them for mapping"...translated: get their processor adjusted so they hear better... Here is a photo of Brook at a mapping session. As you can see, she's wearing one processor as it is hooked up to the audiologist's computer behind her. She plays with playdough and simply tells us when she hears the tones or beeps. Younger children are unable to simply announce when they hear sounds so they sometimes do some type of listening game (conditioned play)where they drop a toy into a bucket when they hear the tones as shown by this child. Other times someone will simply watch for the baby/child to react to the sound (such as looking up, turning their head, etc). It only took around an hour to do a thorough mapping on one processor and a quick mapping on the other. We started to lose her there at the end, she got tired of those tones. Now she hears much better and she's happier and less frustrated. Oh, please note the farmer's tan (actually sunburn).

Look at the Babies !

After preschool today, Brook came to tell me that our cat Squeekers didn't want to play, she just wanted to go into the dog house and poopoo! Well, knowing of her impending births I jumped up to race outside and we got to see some of the babies being born. We think there are five but do not want to disturb just now...we'll update later.

Roll Tide-These Girls Rock!!!

Someone from above must have heard my kids earlier today (see previous post) donating their balloons to Heaven because we go to this awesome Meet-and-Greet at the local HEAR Center where my kids had AVT (auditory verbal therapy) and still receive audiology,and Brook's former AVT gives them both a balloon...does she know how happy that made them? We were of the lucky few chosen to meet the University of Alabama Women's Softball Team (ranked No. 2!!! Hello!)

Gage had a list of questions as you can see him handing them over...like"when you win, what do you earn?" and "why is it softball if the ball isn't soft?"These ladies were awesome, they talked to all of the kids, signed posters, gave them shirts and I saw one arm wrestling Gage. We had a ball and I can't thank them enough for adopting the HEAR Center as their chosen charity! You girls ROCK! Check them out here . I heard Gage telling Brook in the back seat on the ride home that the cops would be looking for us. He could not understand why we took all "that stuff" without paying for it. So we had a little lesson on memorabilia.

Now That's Love

We went to the dentist this morning and all went well. Brook didn't spit or bite anyone, she just SCREAMED which was improvement. Gage likes the dentist so he's always good. Here's the story: they both earned a balloon as a prize and couldn't wait to get home to tie B's to her bicycle and Gage's to his 4wheeler. As soon as Gage started to tie his it floated away. So Brook does what any good sister would do. She goes and gets her orange balloon and releases it so that it can go to Heaven w/Gage's. As she let it fly away at her own will, she was screaming up to the sky, "Jesus! Jesus! save our balloons for us". She then told me that Jesus would save their balloons for when they go to Heaven, he wouldn't pop them. Love how their little minds work. And both kids were happy again.

Country Livin'

Moving to the country was one of the best decisions we made. The kids never get bored and there is always work to do! Here the kids are "helping" PawPaw Doyle change the tires on his trailer. Gage is obsessed with tires. The first thing he wants to know about a vehicle is what type of tires it has...all terrain/super swampers/mud...etc. Lots of language opportunities here. We learned from PawPaw what a steele burr is and used words like socket wrench, jack,and loads more. Hands on learning at its finest.

Go Val...It's Your Birthday!

So I haven't received flowers since.............hmmm, before we got married 11yrs ago? But it's nice to know that you're still loved despite all of your flaws. Today is my birthday (33) and I'm pleasantly surprised to have awaken to not only flowers but two cd's I wanted and love note (via email of course...so we're not perfect!) But it is in fact good to get these little pick me ups ever now and then. Despite the heavy huffing and puffing I do as I pick up cups/clothes/toys/etc. other people leave out...oh, and that Little Debbie paper I saw someone over the age of 30 lay down last night...I am still loved. Despite my rolling eyes and disappointed voice after I found out a Red Rider bee bee gun had been purchased for our almost 7 year old...I am still loved. Despite the fact that we rarely see each other on this "High Five" schedule we are on (noted as such by my husband since that's all we have time for while he works third shift temporarily)...I am still loved. And despite the fact that I have to sometimes put little girls into time out(tears dripping off her face) and have them write a loooong "I'm sorry" note when they get into trouble (yet again) for shooting a bird at preschool...I'm still loved. And finally...even when I take four wheelers away from little boys who get checkmarks in school for talking...I'm still loved.
So my advice is this...when your husband asks what you want for your birthday, don't give him the old "oh nothing" because that's what you'll get...TRUST ME! Write down a couple of small items for him to choose from and you might get a little extra. My favorite was the email I got by the way! So give your husband an unexpected smile every now and then, worked for me.