Have a great week!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
School Days
We have enrolled Peter in a non-public school that specializes in aural rehabilitation for deaf children. Most kids there have Cochlear Implants, but some have hearing aids, and there are also quite a few "hearing peers" (mostly teachers' or therapists' kids) mixed in. This school has students from all over the SF Bay Area- I have heard from parents who commuted from Monterey and Berkeley. The school said there had even been some from Marin, which seems really far away, but I don't know if its a worse drive than Monterey. Right now I know of families coming from Santa Cruz, Fremont, and me from my mountains. So this school has got a good reputation, and draws from a pretty big area.
A lot of people get their Early intervention programs to pay for it, since their EI departments don't have the training to help CI kids. Santa Clara County has a program. I can't speak to the quality of the program until I have seen more, but they have one, so they won't pay for anything else. So we are footing the bill. Is it worth it? We will see. There are some things about the school that have nothing to do with classes that I wanted for Peter- things like seeing loads of other kids with CI's, and having friends who also have CI's. I was hoping to meet other parents, and expand my support network. I was willing to spend the money to make sure Peter had experienced teachers and therapists. So what does a day look like at this school?
Today we arrived about 10 minutes late- thanks to crazy traffic, a three car pile up (off on the left, but still slowing everything down) and a motorcycle-car incident (motorcyclist hit the car, I think- he was standing there looking embarrassed). I bring up the commute because that is the one thing I really really really don't like. But we get there and go to Morning Music first thing. There is a half hour of music for everyone- lots of classic kid songs, mixed with some just for the school, and some dance music once in a while. Last Thursday the woman who leads had a fake chicken and did the chicken dance- Peter was shouting "la la la" right along with her! After music each class is sent off to their room.
9:00 Circle time - I guess some classes start with free play, supervised and narrated by the teacher and an aide, but Peter's class all just head to the chairs first thing. There is another boy with hearing aids, a little girl with normal hearing, and Peter. The little girl has only spoken Spanish up to now, but she is learning English quickly. During circle the teacher does things like blowing bubbles, but it isn't just bubbles. First she gets two bottles out, and asks them which one has bubbles in it, based on weight (if they hold it) or looking in it. Or she has ice cream cone shaped bubble bottles and has them pretend to lick to increase awareness of their tongues. Then she tries to get them to ask for the bubbles to be opened with "O!" Or "open" or "open bubbles please" - depending on where they are in their speech development. Peter is slowly warming up, but until today he was just very observant, and didn't participate as much. Then they try to blow the bubbles, ask for more (mmm, or more, or bubbles!) and eventually say bye-bye to the bubbles. Then we do songs, and the kids then use a pointer to see if they can match up a picture to a song. We also talk about who is there, and today we also talked about the mommy and daddy of each child in class. The teacher and aide do most of the real talking, but they are really good about waiting to see what the kids will say, and praising them for talking.
9:30 Peter and I head to another room with our Speech Therapist for our 1/2 session. The class does snack while we are gone, talking about colors, textures, crunchy, flavors, more, etc.
10:15-10:45 After our therapy time the class has about 1/2 hour outside. The adults narrate some of the play, but also give the kids a chance to just run around or dig in the sandbox (Peter's favorite thing outside).
Back inside there is some guided activity- today it was stories, then a monkey tree toy, then using cut up maradi gras necklaces like noodles. Lots of auditory input, sensory stuff, and so much individual attention. But most important to me- Peter is having fun while learning.
11:15 we do a quick cleanup and a goodbye circle with more songs and pictures. We head out at 11:30.
I like that Peter is getting so much attention, and there is a lot to be said about "monkey see, monkey do". Peter will mimic other kids much faster than he will mimic me;)
A lot of people get their Early intervention programs to pay for it, since their EI departments don't have the training to help CI kids. Santa Clara County has a program. I can't speak to the quality of the program until I have seen more, but they have one, so they won't pay for anything else. So we are footing the bill. Is it worth it? We will see. There are some things about the school that have nothing to do with classes that I wanted for Peter- things like seeing loads of other kids with CI's, and having friends who also have CI's. I was hoping to meet other parents, and expand my support network. I was willing to spend the money to make sure Peter had experienced teachers and therapists. So what does a day look like at this school?
Today we arrived about 10 minutes late- thanks to crazy traffic, a three car pile up (off on the left, but still slowing everything down) and a motorcycle-car incident (motorcyclist hit the car, I think- he was standing there looking embarrassed). I bring up the commute because that is the one thing I really really really don't like. But we get there and go to Morning Music first thing. There is a half hour of music for everyone- lots of classic kid songs, mixed with some just for the school, and some dance music once in a while. Last Thursday the woman who leads had a fake chicken and did the chicken dance- Peter was shouting "la la la" right along with her! After music each class is sent off to their room.
9:00 Circle time - I guess some classes start with free play, supervised and narrated by the teacher and an aide, but Peter's class all just head to the chairs first thing. There is another boy with hearing aids, a little girl with normal hearing, and Peter. The little girl has only spoken Spanish up to now, but she is learning English quickly. During circle the teacher does things like blowing bubbles, but it isn't just bubbles. First she gets two bottles out, and asks them which one has bubbles in it, based on weight (if they hold it) or looking in it. Or she has ice cream cone shaped bubble bottles and has them pretend to lick to increase awareness of their tongues. Then she tries to get them to ask for the bubbles to be opened with "O!" Or "open" or "open bubbles please" - depending on where they are in their speech development. Peter is slowly warming up, but until today he was just very observant, and didn't participate as much. Then they try to blow the bubbles, ask for more (mmm, or more, or bubbles!) and eventually say bye-bye to the bubbles. Then we do songs, and the kids then use a pointer to see if they can match up a picture to a song. We also talk about who is there, and today we also talked about the mommy and daddy of each child in class. The teacher and aide do most of the real talking, but they are really good about waiting to see what the kids will say, and praising them for talking.
9:30 Peter and I head to another room with our Speech Therapist for our 1/2 session. The class does snack while we are gone, talking about colors, textures, crunchy, flavors, more, etc.
10:15-10:45 After our therapy time the class has about 1/2 hour outside. The adults narrate some of the play, but also give the kids a chance to just run around or dig in the sandbox (Peter's favorite thing outside).
Back inside there is some guided activity- today it was stories, then a monkey tree toy, then using cut up maradi gras necklaces like noodles. Lots of auditory input, sensory stuff, and so much individual attention. But most important to me- Peter is having fun while learning.
11:15 we do a quick cleanup and a goodbye circle with more songs and pictures. We head out at 11:30.
I like that Peter is getting so much attention, and there is a lot to be said about "monkey see, monkey do". Peter will mimic other kids much faster than he will mimic me;)
Sunday, September 15, 2013
An idea of our busy schedule
Monday:
8:15 - leave home to drive to local elementary school to pick up my preschool carpool kids
9:00 - drop off preschoolers and drive to Early Start school
9:30-10:30 Speech Therapy provided by Early Start
Free time (park? Story time at a library? Coffee with a friend? Errands?)
12:30 - pick up preschool carpoolers and deliver them back home.
home in the afternoon (refrain)
1:00 - 3:00 Peter naps
3:15 -Sydney gets home (except Wednesdays, it is between 1:45-2:00)
Homework, bath, dinner, cleanup, choosing clothes, storytime and lights out :)
And every night I have to pack lunches and snacks for the next day, as well as making sure the batteries for Peter's CI's are charged.
Tuesday:
7:00 - leave home to drop girls off at carpool mom's house
7:15 - start drive to Peter's school
8:15 - Peter is tired of the carseat and starts to scream
8:30 - arrive at school (I will detail a typical day there in a separate post)
11:30 - school ends, get snack/lunch for Peter and start driving back south
12:30 - pick up Samantha and maybe one carpool buddy to take home
Refrain
Wednesday:
9:00 - leave home for music class
9:30-10:15 Music Together (so fun!)
Snack, drive 20 min.
11:00-12:00 Speech Therapy paid for by our health insurance
Drive home 30 min.
Refrain
Thursday:
See Tuesday
Friday:
8:00 - leave to go to School for the Deaf if there is a play date
8:30 - leave to go to Early Start Playgroup if no CSD play date.
9:00-11:00 Playgroup
Maybe time for an errand, otherwise just head home
Refrain
4:30-5:30 Teletherapy through BabyTalk program
And then I am a tired little heap on the floor, and my car needs another full tank of gas...
I will evaluate everything in December to see if we keep going like this, or drop anything that isn't worth the time/effort to do it.
8:15 - leave home to drive to local elementary school to pick up my preschool carpool kids
9:00 - drop off preschoolers and drive to Early Start school
9:30-10:30 Speech Therapy provided by Early Start
Free time (park? Story time at a library? Coffee with a friend? Errands?)
12:30 - pick up preschool carpoolers and deliver them back home.
home in the afternoon (refrain)
1:00 - 3:00 Peter naps
3:15 -Sydney gets home (except Wednesdays, it is between 1:45-2:00)
Homework, bath, dinner, cleanup, choosing clothes, storytime and lights out :)
And every night I have to pack lunches and snacks for the next day, as well as making sure the batteries for Peter's CI's are charged.
Tuesday:
7:00 - leave home to drop girls off at carpool mom's house
7:15 - start drive to Peter's school
8:15 - Peter is tired of the carseat and starts to scream
8:30 - arrive at school (I will detail a typical day there in a separate post)
11:30 - school ends, get snack/lunch for Peter and start driving back south
12:30 - pick up Samantha and maybe one carpool buddy to take home
Refrain
Wednesday:
9:00 - leave home for music class
9:30-10:15 Music Together (so fun!)
Snack, drive 20 min.
11:00-12:00 Speech Therapy paid for by our health insurance
Drive home 30 min.
Refrain
Thursday:
See Tuesday
Friday:
8:00 - leave to go to School for the Deaf if there is a play date
8:30 - leave to go to Early Start Playgroup if no CSD play date.
9:00-11:00 Playgroup
Maybe time for an errand, otherwise just head home
Refrain
4:30-5:30 Teletherapy through BabyTalk program
And then I am a tired little heap on the floor, and my car needs another full tank of gas...
I will evaluate everything in December to see if we keep going like this, or drop anything that isn't worth the time/effort to do it.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The boy who signed wolf
Lately our life is all about speech therapy....but it isn't just about speech. The goals of the sessions encompass listening, thinking, and social aspects in addition to speech. Cognition demonstrated by Peter on Tuesday for his therapist at the school when he saw a Little People pay house. He rang the pink doorbell, and there was a noise. She opened the house, and Peter immediately found all the pink objects and pushed them to make noises.
Cognition and audition were demonstrated tonight.....Tonight I was in Peter's room getting Peter clothes for tomorrow and he looked around, saw a picture we hadn't really talked much about, and signed WOLF. Yes! It was a picture of a wolf, five of them! Cool, but that just shows he is observant, and know what a wolf looks like (the app called SoundTouch has several wolf pictures we look at). But the cool thing? I was in our bedroom with my husband and Peter, telling Chris about Peter signing WOLF downstairs. Peter looked up, signed WOLF, and then bent his head around to point out the picture of a wolf in our bedroom! He understood at least some of what we said, and made the connection between all the different wolves! I am very proud of my little guy :)
Cognition and audition were demonstrated tonight.....Tonight I was in Peter's room getting Peter clothes for tomorrow and he looked around, saw a picture we hadn't really talked much about, and signed WOLF. Yes! It was a picture of a wolf, five of them! Cool, but that just shows he is observant, and know what a wolf looks like (the app called SoundTouch has several wolf pictures we look at). But the cool thing? I was in our bedroom with my husband and Peter, telling Chris about Peter signing WOLF downstairs. Peter looked up, signed WOLF, and then bent his head around to point out the picture of a wolf in our bedroom! He understood at least some of what we said, and made the connection between all the different wolves! I am very proud of my little guy :)
Sunday, September 8, 2013
2 Ears On!
We had a busy couple of weeks! Peter started school on Tuesday 9/27 AND we got his right CI activated. I have video, but I haven't edited it yet. It was not as dramatic as the first activation. Mostly he looked like it was really no big deal. No shock, no fear, just picked up that drumstick and started banging away!
So far Peter has seemed to be doing well with the second CI, though it seems to pop off easier, and I can't tell if he is knocking it off on purpose, or if it is just coming off.
We also went to our new early start playgroup on that Friday. Peter loved the ball pit!
This last week we still had bad traffic for the commute to school. We are slowly adjusting to getting up extra early. My girls decided they would sleep in the next day's outfit to save time in the mornings we commute. I have two wonderful friends with kids the same age who are taking the girls on Tuesday and Thursday, then dropping the older kids off at elementary school, and the younger ones at preschool. I am so thankful for this crazy arrangement! I just have to figure out what I can do to give back.
So far Peter has seemed to be doing well with the second CI, though it seems to pop off easier, and I can't tell if he is knocking it off on purpose, or if it is just coming off.
We also went to our new early start playgroup on that Friday. Peter loved the ball pit!
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