WWWeeeeeee

Although I do not have anything new to report I thought I would write a little post anyway for all those hoping for some words from us. We are working hard on composing our bilateral implant request letters and would ask, if you are a person who prays, for you to say a small prayer for us and those who will be deciding about the procedure. We desperately hope that Corrina will receive an implant because she is a very bright little person and having the ability to hear better, localize sound, and pay attention in noisy places seems like such an important thing. But, we also cannot foresee the future so while we feel this is best we are trusting that whatever the outcome is God has Corrina and her life in his hands.
Corrina had alot of fun playing with a toy slide today; climbing up the stairs with her fingers she would reach the top and slide her fingers all the way down, we would all say Weeeeeeeee, and she would laugh! We saw her waiting her turn very patiently and responding to sounds said very quietly.
Corrina loves to make noises by sticking out her tongue and blowing (spit everywhere)! She does this alot in the car. We are teaching her other 'mouth' noises to help make all of this fun. It also teaches her to engage her vocal muscles, something she has little experience with.
I tried to take a picture of Dave and I doing some therapy time at home:


They didn't work out as I had hoped, but here you can see that we are playing with fruit saying "cut, cut cut!" and "yummmy food!"

Hearing is believing

Small steps: You can SEE when Corrina is HEARING (or better said listening intently)!

This post is going to be detailed 1. So i remember the things we did 2. as a resource 3. just to bring you along on the journey
Today in AV therapy we started with a game to help Corrina concentrate and listen. Our AV therapist (I'll call her D) had a container of water, a tall narrow container, on the middle of the table. She has two colors of food dye for Corrina to choose from (we all love choices!). Corrina wanted to add yellow. We talked about yellow for a bit! Next Corrina got to choose between a choo choo or a roar roar. Once item was chosen Daddy had a turn putting item to his ear, and listening for a noise (ahhhh, shhhhhh, mmmmm, etc...) and when he heard the sound he dropped it in the jug of water. Corrina had so much fun listening, waiting and watching the toy plunk down in the water. I had fun making little comments like when the dinosaur went in the water "oh, not, don't drown me, i'm already extinct!" The short of the long, Corrina worked very hard to wait and listen. It is wonderful to See her hearing!
The next game we played was with a baby doll to teach Corrina about sleepy time words. We would all pass baby around the circle-- while Corrina watched wondering why the heck we took the baby from her-- and tell it "shhhhhh (finger at lip), time to go to sleep". When Corrina's turn came up she lay the baby down, put her finger to her lip and stared intently into the baby's eyes. It was sooooo cute and funny. Then we all took turns going to sleep, and when D would say "Wake Up" we would quickly lift our heads up from the table! IT was a hoot.
Next we worked through the parts of our faces with Potatoes heads. Corrina and Dave had a nice bonding moment because we all know that Dave LOOOVVVEES potatoes heads! We sang head and shoulders knees and toes....

Each session is packed full of activities and songs, play and talking! We also do an audiology session each week and Corrina responded very well to the noises presented. When she heard the noise we showed her to put a toy into a bucket. She responded about 6 times before she got bored. The audiologist is trying to work down to the lower decibels of sound just to make sure that Corrina is hearing them. I think they made it down to 40 decibels this week, which is great keeping in mind that Corrina heard nothing at 90 dec before her implant.

I told dave to start little posts if something happens that he wants to record. I found this in the list:
Today June 11?
Corrina heard herself burp, and laughed a lot

Very nice!

Actually Corrina has been making a number of different noises. She has always made an 'aaaaa' noise, but now it has some 'oooooo's' and g's sorta... very interesting. She is alot more vocal as well, often making lots of sounds when she is excited! Dave has the camera at work right now, but i will do my best to catch some of the sounds on video soon because they are better heard than written!

I hear that!

Today at AV therapy we saw Corrina focus, look and listen to a cow mooing! She watched as we passed the cow (which mooed on it's own) from person to person, everyone taking a turn to hold cow to ear and say "Oh, I hear that, the cow says moo". Corrina was so eager for her turn that she stilled, waited for the cow to be at her ear, widened her eyes and let out a big sigh! She was so excited to listen! She was very tired during this appointment but kept her patience as she learned to wait her turn, concentrate on the toy before her, and of course listen to sounds!
We have many goals for the week that include certain words and phrases to teach while she plays. The most interesting of the goals in my opinion is the 'cause and effect' we are teaching her. She needs to learn that words are powerful. Many children her age understand, for instance, that saying please makes a difference (whether they sign it, or say it!) and has when asking for something they would like. Corrina needs to learn that words have power! So before we stack a block to build a tower we say "Up, uuupppp, uuuuppp," then we bring out the block and put it up, up up! My favorite is the airplane which goes something like this "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, aaahhhhh...." then the airplane come out of nowhere, flying overhead, all over the room, then lands in front of Corrina! She loves to follow and listen, looking from the airplane to the speaker, connecting the sound and sight! (we still need to buy an airplane toy for at home... this was all at AV therapy).

I would like to figure out how to link this blog to a simple page that has the (boring) specifics, like every word that we will be working on just as a resource to those who either would like to teach their children who are hearing to help with language development, or just for the curious at heart. (claire, how might i do that??? without starting yet another blog??)

Dave is coloring pictures of dogs, airplanes, cows, etc.. so that we can hang around the house so Corrina can learn to associate words with objects/pictures even further.

We are having tuna casserole for dinner! Mmmmmmm (thought i would add something homey in there!)

Cereal Box

This morning I had Corrina at the table and I pulled out a box of Raisin Bran and shoke it beside my ear and said "Oh! I hear that" Corrina's eyes got wide and she smiled, so I shock it beside her head and then mine and kept saying "I hear that. Do you hear that?" She seemed interested and responsive, but maybe she just thought it was funny. -Dave


Janie here: Corrina attended day care for the first time with her hearing ear! There was alot of noise and when children were screaming she did react to the loud sound by pulling her coil off. I imagine this will be a stimulating environment for her both in good ways and in ways that will tire her out! Her one on one worker is attentive to her needs and really cares for Corrina which means Corrina will receive lots of speaking and listening attention. Our auditory-verbal therapists (AVT) visited our one-on-one worker today to teach her all about talking with Corrina in the daycare environment. That time went really well so we are encouraged to know that while Corrina is at daycare she will be benefiting from the great play environment that she is in! Right now she is still at daycare so I will have a better report of her day later tonight!


Just the other day i sewed pockets onto a few tank tops that Corrina will wear as undershirts. The pockets are for her processor to sit in so she doesn't need to wear a harness or have the processor clipped onto her shirt. There is a company that makes these but I decided it would be more cost effective to make my own. I just found some other tank tops that will be perfect for more pockets... I'd better get sewing!