Lab Rat

Today we took part in a science experiment! I am not sure exactly what kind of results they are looking for, but it was run by a neurolinguistic lab out of one of our state universities. They did three separate experiments, all designed for CIkids who sign, too. The first one was auditory- Peter had CI's on, and watched a silent video, and they played some (loud) random noises. Peter had a little cap on with electrodes touching his scalp, and they recorded brain response to the noises. Peter just sat in my lap, and was completely unfazed, though I could tell the first loud noises were a bit startling. The second experiment he still had the cap on, but no CI's, and he watched a video (of a funny claymation penguin) with some random peripheral vision things once in a while. The last  exercise was just a language (sign) survey- so no cap, and CI's were back on. One of the researchers would show a page with two pictures, sign one and ask which picture it was (in sign). Peter did so well! He didn't know the signs we don't use (like CANDY) and there were a couple where he liked one picture and was excited to touch it regardless of the question, but he got a huge majority right- and I have never done that kind of game/test with him at home in sign.

The whole thing, including picking a prize (toy tractor for Peter, $20 Target card for me) took less than an hour, and afterward we went to the playground for a little bit. It was beautiful and sunny, and a fun start to Peter's birthday weekend!

Age-appropriate!

We have done a few evaluations lately as parts of various programs, and on two separate evaluations from two different speech therapists Peter has tested at within normal range FOR A NORMAL HEARING CHILD!!!!

He is on the lower end of normal right now, but moving quickly.  One therapist said she had never seen a child test at that level with less than a year of hearing. Our work is far from done, but it is such a relief to know that it is truly paying off. I think all those different pieces - family, me, signing as much as I could from birth, music class, school, and his three different speech therapists all contributed to his growth over the last year. We are doing so well we got booted from Baby Talk (a free FaceTime-delivered distance therapy program), so they can help families who need it more. Gotta say I don't mind being dropped because Peter is just doing so well.

I know not all kids are going to catch up like that. I think it is usually closer to three years old, but they do catch up, and are often ahead of hearing peers entering school!  This technology is amazing!