We have three dogs. They are always underfoot, trying to kiss the baby, or barking for their food. So they are a big part of Peter's daily experience. We use the sign for PEPPER for Pepper, a shaking ASL "L" for Lundon, and an ASL "3" into an ASL"T" for Trinity. Today Peter looked at Trinity and signed "T"!!! Maybe it was a total fluke. But, just like we do with babies babbling and getting excited when they sort of say a word, I ran over to Trinity and signed "T" and said (and signed) Yes!!!
Even if he didn't mean it, it was pretty cool to see that even a baby could make the T sign- which is thumb between first and second finger in a fist (like when your are saying "I got your nose!"). That would be a good first sign. The other day he made something that could be interpreted as a baby version of DADDY or DONKEY (insert joke here)- so I ran off to get a stuffed donkey since Daddy was at work. But since neither a donkey or Daddy was around when he did that, I am more inclined to think that was an accident.
Also Friday we went to the School for the Deaf, and even though I know Peter was tired, he stayed awake to watch everyone talk with their hands. He is always so happy when we are there! It will be interesting to see if more "finger babbling" is evident :)
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
School, next year?!
The 30th of November we went for a second visit to a private Oral school about an hour from our house. I think that's where I want to take Peter for the 2013-2014 school year, but I needed to see more. I chose a great day for it! It was pouring rain so hard we got drenched just getting to the car. Traffic was miserable, gutters were overflowing, and I was worried about accidents. BUT that was the only day my mother-in-law would also be able to see the school, and I thought it was important for her to see for herself how well these kids were doing.
We were a little later than planned (no shocker with the weather). Originally we were going to watch some of their Friday music assembly for the whole school and parents. We only caught the end of one song, but the kids were all enjoying singing and clapping. Then there was story time, and the kids acted like any other kids- answering questions, laughing, even joking with each other. The director of the school found us and took us down to the toddler area. It's in another building, and it felt like we had to wade down a river to get there! But it was worth it to see the class in session.
There were two 23-month old kids who had been implanted recently (one just a couple months prior) and one hearing child, who was a staff member's child. There were another 2-3 kids who hadn't come due to the miserable weather, and I didn't think to ask their ages. In this class, two parents were helping out, and there was at least one aid, so each child was getting lots of attention and auditory input from the adult behind their chair, as well as the teacher.
The class was working on "containers" as an overall theme, and had different bags, and different objects in them to work with. One thing I noticed was the open-ended questions they used with the kids to allow as much communication as the kids were ready for. "What do you see?" was used instead of "what is this?" because then the child is always right, and can say lots of things they see on the object in question.
I was really amazed to find out that one child had only had their CI's active for a matter of weeks. Maybe the child had had some access to sound, or had lost hearing after having some, but he was already listening and starting to talk! I know that Peter will probably take more time before he talks, but he will also be much younger at activation.
My mother-in-law got to sit in for a while, too, and I know it really affected her to see these kids. She told my early start teacher, with tears in her eyes, that she finally felt like Peter "was gonna be OK".
Now comes the hard part- seeing how much, if any, the Early Start program can/will contribute towards the school costs. Also, the Oral School doesnt know what days of the week they will have toddler classes next year, as it depends on who enrolls, and how many. Whether we go for two days depends on how much funding and it also depends when they have the two days for toddlers. Since I want to keep going to the school for the deaf on Fridays, if the toddler class ends up being Wednesday and Friday I might see if we could just do Wednesdays. I really don't want that, though, for so many reasons. First, Wednesday is a short day at the public school up by my house, and I would not have any wiggle room to be home in time to meet the bus (as I fully plan on putting my homeschooled first grader back in school for second grade). Also, I need to figure out where my preschooler will be in school next year. If the Oral school has class Tues/Thurs then I can put her in a nearby drop-off preschool she liked. If the Oral school has class Mon/Wed, I can't pay for Samantha to go to that preschool three days a week, but only go two. If the Oral school classes are Wed/Fri....well, I don't know what I would do for Samantha. Maybe she'd get home-schooled next year....So much that I know I don't know. It doesn't make me philosophical, just crazy.
We were a little later than planned (no shocker with the weather). Originally we were going to watch some of their Friday music assembly for the whole school and parents. We only caught the end of one song, but the kids were all enjoying singing and clapping. Then there was story time, and the kids acted like any other kids- answering questions, laughing, even joking with each other. The director of the school found us and took us down to the toddler area. It's in another building, and it felt like we had to wade down a river to get there! But it was worth it to see the class in session.
There were two 23-month old kids who had been implanted recently (one just a couple months prior) and one hearing child, who was a staff member's child. There were another 2-3 kids who hadn't come due to the miserable weather, and I didn't think to ask their ages. In this class, two parents were helping out, and there was at least one aid, so each child was getting lots of attention and auditory input from the adult behind their chair, as well as the teacher.
The class was working on "containers" as an overall theme, and had different bags, and different objects in them to work with. One thing I noticed was the open-ended questions they used with the kids to allow as much communication as the kids were ready for. "What do you see?" was used instead of "what is this?" because then the child is always right, and can say lots of things they see on the object in question.
I was really amazed to find out that one child had only had their CI's active for a matter of weeks. Maybe the child had had some access to sound, or had lost hearing after having some, but he was already listening and starting to talk! I know that Peter will probably take more time before he talks, but he will also be much younger at activation.
My mother-in-law got to sit in for a while, too, and I know it really affected her to see these kids. She told my early start teacher, with tears in her eyes, that she finally felt like Peter "was gonna be OK".
Now comes the hard part- seeing how much, if any, the Early Start program can/will contribute towards the school costs. Also, the Oral School doesnt know what days of the week they will have toddler classes next year, as it depends on who enrolls, and how many. Whether we go for two days depends on how much funding and it also depends when they have the two days for toddlers. Since I want to keep going to the school for the deaf on Fridays, if the toddler class ends up being Wednesday and Friday I might see if we could just do Wednesdays. I really don't want that, though, for so many reasons. First, Wednesday is a short day at the public school up by my house, and I would not have any wiggle room to be home in time to meet the bus (as I fully plan on putting my homeschooled first grader back in school for second grade). Also, I need to figure out where my preschooler will be in school next year. If the Oral school has class Tues/Thurs then I can put her in a nearby drop-off preschool she liked. If the Oral school has class Mon/Wed, I can't pay for Samantha to go to that preschool three days a week, but only go two. If the Oral school classes are Wed/Fri....well, I don't know what I would do for Samantha. Maybe she'd get home-schooled next year....So much that I know I don't know. It doesn't make me philosophical, just crazy.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Second Sound Booth Test
We went for Peter's second sound booth test the Monday after Thanksgiving. The girls came, too, and wanted to see the booth. Tara showed them how the Animals banged the drums when the sounds played. Peter laughed. I think he remembered.
When we sat down to do the test it seemed like Peter reacted to more noises, but he also seemed to be swiveling his head around to see if one box or the other would light up. He was also watching Tara VERY carefully through the window. He is so visually acute that it is hard to know what he heard and what he saw.
Tara thought she got a response at 70dB again, but again, it wasn't repeatable. She said she was hoping to see a response a little lower than 70, but couldn't be sure. We will try again in January.
When we sat down to do the test it seemed like Peter reacted to more noises, but he also seemed to be swiveling his head around to see if one box or the other would light up. He was also watching Tara VERY carefully through the window. He is so visually acute that it is hard to know what he heard and what he saw.
Tara thought she got a response at 70dB again, but again, it wasn't repeatable. She said she was hoping to see a response a little lower than 70, but couldn't be sure. We will try again in January.
Play Date with hearing aids
Friday after Thanksgiving we had a mom and her little guy over to play. The mom is hard of hearing and wears a hearing aid, and their little guy is just a bit older than Peter. The two boys have the same hearing aids, and similar hearing loss. The other little guy LOVED playing with the crinkly Mylar that our Early Start teacher gave us. He seemed to react to the sound more than Peter does....I hope it's only because he is a little older.
While the boys were rolling around, drooling on things, and grabbing crinkly things, I got to talk to the mom. She was raised to be Oral, and can lip read, and uses her hearing aid to help clarify what she sees. She learned ASL as an adult, and works using ASL now. I think she wishes she had learned ASL as a child, too. Knowing how sensitive the topic of CIs might be, I did say "if Peter gets CIs" that I wanted to continue to add to his ASL vocabulary, that I wanted to give him everything, every opportunity to learn and succeed. She said her mother in law really pushed them to get their son CIs, but they hadn't decided anything yet. She said that before she learned her baby was deaf she thought there would be no question- if they had a deaf baby that would be that, but now it's so much more complex. I don't envy them their decision. For Peter, I can embrace ASL, but our family speaks English (and some French and Spanish), and we want the same for him. When your family language is ASL it might be more complicated.
The mom was so great about helping me with my signs. I know it must take extra work to understand my attempts at ASL. I felt like I was back in Beginning Spanish, trying to express adult, complex thoughts in my two-year-old vocabulary ;)
I hope we get to see them again, soon. It will be good for Peter to grow up knowing deaf/hoh peers, even if they don't go to school together. Also, I really enjoyed getting to know the mom, and would like to get to know her better.
While the boys were rolling around, drooling on things, and grabbing crinkly things, I got to talk to the mom. She was raised to be Oral, and can lip read, and uses her hearing aid to help clarify what she sees. She learned ASL as an adult, and works using ASL now. I think she wishes she had learned ASL as a child, too. Knowing how sensitive the topic of CIs might be, I did say "if Peter gets CIs" that I wanted to continue to add to his ASL vocabulary, that I wanted to give him everything, every opportunity to learn and succeed. She said her mother in law really pushed them to get their son CIs, but they hadn't decided anything yet. She said that before she learned her baby was deaf she thought there would be no question- if they had a deaf baby that would be that, but now it's so much more complex. I don't envy them their decision. For Peter, I can embrace ASL, but our family speaks English (and some French and Spanish), and we want the same for him. When your family language is ASL it might be more complicated.
The mom was so great about helping me with my signs. I know it must take extra work to understand my attempts at ASL. I felt like I was back in Beginning Spanish, trying to express adult, complex thoughts in my two-year-old vocabulary ;)
I hope we get to see them again, soon. It will be good for Peter to grow up knowing deaf/hoh peers, even if they don't go to school together. Also, I really enjoyed getting to know the mom, and would like to get to know her better.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Would it be like getting teeth?
Peter is teething. I think I even see the teeth, right there below the gum. Thank goodness he isn't using me as a teether anymore, though! I think that in the next three weeks while Nana Bev, my Mother-in-Law, is here to visit, Peter will start to crawl AND get his first teeth. Things always seem to happen when more family is around....
Tonight Peter was up on all fours rocking back and forth. He even got one leg to move forward once before he rolled over. We applauded, he grinned, and tried it again. Babies have so many new things that just happen- like teeth, the desire to crawl, the strength to sit up. It made me wonder if that's how Peter will view hearing. My mom said she thought it would be like," ok, I'm one now, that's how old you are when your ears start working". Just like he must be saying to himself about the six month mark and food and teeth ;)
I saw a man and his adopted daughter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium today. I noticed them because an aquarium employee or volunteer was signing to the girl about the Open Ocean exhibit. Then I noticed the girl had two cochlear implants. I told the man that Peter was a candidate, and he said he thought the young ones did phenomenally.. His daughter was 21/2 when she was adopted- and no one told her adoptive parents she was deaf. Maybe the Chinese orphanage didn't know, but....In any case she was implanted a year ago at 5 1/2, and still relied heavily on sign. Her father said she was making progress, but that it was much harder being implanted after 5 (being without language for 2 1/2 years probably doesn't help either). He also said that being silent for so long made the noisy world harder to adjust to, and it seemed like his daughter turned her CIs off if it was too noisy. We said hi and introduced ourselves in ASL, then I had to run after My three year old!
I hope that hearing will be a gift, and not a drama. I also hope that Peter can see the silence as a gift, too, and enjoy both worlds. Also, I am tremendously thankful that insurance here covers CIs, and that our insurance has been so easy to deal with so far. In China most poor people can't afford to pay out of pocket for CIs, so often their best hope for a child born deaf is to drop them off at the orphanage, and hope they get adopted by someone who can sign and/or pay for a CI. My heart goes out to the deaf children in Chinese orphanages, and I have so much respect for the several families I know of who have adopted special needs kids abroad.
Tonight Peter was up on all fours rocking back and forth. He even got one leg to move forward once before he rolled over. We applauded, he grinned, and tried it again. Babies have so many new things that just happen- like teeth, the desire to crawl, the strength to sit up. It made me wonder if that's how Peter will view hearing. My mom said she thought it would be like," ok, I'm one now, that's how old you are when your ears start working". Just like he must be saying to himself about the six month mark and food and teeth ;)
I saw a man and his adopted daughter at the Monterey Bay Aquarium today. I noticed them because an aquarium employee or volunteer was signing to the girl about the Open Ocean exhibit. Then I noticed the girl had two cochlear implants. I told the man that Peter was a candidate, and he said he thought the young ones did phenomenally.. His daughter was 21/2 when she was adopted- and no one told her adoptive parents she was deaf. Maybe the Chinese orphanage didn't know, but....In any case she was implanted a year ago at 5 1/2, and still relied heavily on sign. Her father said she was making progress, but that it was much harder being implanted after 5 (being without language for 2 1/2 years probably doesn't help either). He also said that being silent for so long made the noisy world harder to adjust to, and it seemed like his daughter turned her CIs off if it was too noisy. We said hi and introduced ourselves in ASL, then I had to run after My three year old!
I hope that hearing will be a gift, and not a drama. I also hope that Peter can see the silence as a gift, too, and enjoy both worlds. Also, I am tremendously thankful that insurance here covers CIs, and that our insurance has been so easy to deal with so far. In China most poor people can't afford to pay out of pocket for CIs, so often their best hope for a child born deaf is to drop them off at the orphanage, and hope they get adopted by someone who can sign and/or pay for a CI. My heart goes out to the deaf children in Chinese orphanages, and I have so much respect for the several families I know of who have adopted special needs kids abroad.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Fridays at CSD
I have said before how lucky I am to live within an hour of so many great resources for Peter. The California School for the Deaf, in Fremont, is one of those great resources, and I have really been enjoying my visits there. The people who work at CSD are great, and I feel like I have already learned a lot. My girls have been welcomed, too, and have enjoyed playing with the the deaf kids, and some hearing siblings of deaf children.
One Friday the parents had a workshop on ASL reading techniques. I was one of two hearing parents there. The speaker discussed how to embrace/ communicate both the language of the author and ASL. Finger spelling was really emphasized as a tool for kids learning to read. Also using the ASL sign, showing the written word, fingerspelling the word, and explaining in ASL- using all of these tools together were suggested. Changing signing size/space taken up is used as a technique to make things "louder" or "quieter"- e.g. signing BEAR from above your shoulders all the way to your waist could be the character in the book shouting "Bear!"
My ASL is not great, but working with one of the teachers to translate a storybook into ASL was so much fun! We did a book called "Thud!", and in just a few minutes I learned 5-10 signs. I wish we had had more time to finish the story. The way you use your kinesthetic mind and your eyes with ASL is such a great Yin to spoken English's Yang- I wish more hearing kids were taught ASL. I think kids who are very visual or who need to move to learn might really be helped by including ASL in "regular " schools. By the way, Peter was rolling around on a blanket screeching happily during this reading time- and no one was bothered ;)
Last Friday there was a special storytime at CSD, signed by the Superintendant of the school. We were a little late and missed most of the stories. Note to self: leave on time next week. Then there was Playtime and snack in the preschool class. I saw my girls get a little frustrated with 2-year-olds taking their food or crashing their buildings, but I was actually happy that they didn't find anything unusual about the little kids. We did work on the signs for SHARE, YOUR TURN, MY TURN afterwards.
My girls really like the teachers at CSD. I really like the teachers, too, and the whole energy of the preschool. They have really interesting art all over and fun projects and interactive posters for the kids in the preschool. It is bright and cheerful and comfortable. I don't know if we could put Peter there for some Preschool, and an Oral environment for part-time as well....we will see in a couple years what makes the most sense. For now we are just going with what seems to be the best for Peter at this point. Peter was happiest checking everyone out, of course. Lots of people signed to Peter. He loved it. I even managed to have a couple conversations in ASL with no interpreter. Maybe what I took away is not exactly what was said, but I tried;) Even better, I met a couple moms who want to set up play dates, and have offered to help me with my ASL!
My hope is that Peter gets a strong foundation for language with ASL, and that he enjoys ASL enough to continue using it as he grows up. I hope having peers, mentors, and positive experiences now will encourage the ASL use long-term, even if his hearing and speech are great. CSD is like a small private school, but it is public and free (for deaf students). It could be a good alternative to our local public schools if the classes there keep getting bigger and the money keeps getting siphoned off by the state. But that is a ways off ;)
One Friday the parents had a workshop on ASL reading techniques. I was one of two hearing parents there. The speaker discussed how to embrace/ communicate both the language of the author and ASL. Finger spelling was really emphasized as a tool for kids learning to read. Also using the ASL sign, showing the written word, fingerspelling the word, and explaining in ASL- using all of these tools together were suggested. Changing signing size/space taken up is used as a technique to make things "louder" or "quieter"- e.g. signing BEAR from above your shoulders all the way to your waist could be the character in the book shouting "Bear!"
My ASL is not great, but working with one of the teachers to translate a storybook into ASL was so much fun! We did a book called "Thud!", and in just a few minutes I learned 5-10 signs. I wish we had had more time to finish the story. The way you use your kinesthetic mind and your eyes with ASL is such a great Yin to spoken English's Yang- I wish more hearing kids were taught ASL. I think kids who are very visual or who need to move to learn might really be helped by including ASL in "regular " schools. By the way, Peter was rolling around on a blanket screeching happily during this reading time- and no one was bothered ;)
Last Friday there was a special storytime at CSD, signed by the Superintendant of the school. We were a little late and missed most of the stories. Note to self: leave on time next week. Then there was Playtime and snack in the preschool class. I saw my girls get a little frustrated with 2-year-olds taking their food or crashing their buildings, but I was actually happy that they didn't find anything unusual about the little kids. We did work on the signs for SHARE, YOUR TURN, MY TURN afterwards.
My girls really like the teachers at CSD. I really like the teachers, too, and the whole energy of the preschool. They have really interesting art all over and fun projects and interactive posters for the kids in the preschool. It is bright and cheerful and comfortable. I don't know if we could put Peter there for some Preschool, and an Oral environment for part-time as well....we will see in a couple years what makes the most sense. For now we are just going with what seems to be the best for Peter at this point. Peter was happiest checking everyone out, of course. Lots of people signed to Peter. He loved it. I even managed to have a couple conversations in ASL with no interpreter. Maybe what I took away is not exactly what was said, but I tried;) Even better, I met a couple moms who want to set up play dates, and have offered to help me with my ASL!
My hope is that Peter gets a strong foundation for language with ASL, and that he enjoys ASL enough to continue using it as he grows up. I hope having peers, mentors, and positive experiences now will encourage the ASL use long-term, even if his hearing and speech are great. CSD is like a small private school, but it is public and free (for deaf students). It could be a good alternative to our local public schools if the classes there keep getting bigger and the money keeps getting siphoned off by the state. But that is a ways off ;)
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Deaf Community Center
This past month I have taken Peter to three ASL-using events. There was a special Pumpkin-themed event at the Deaf Community Center, and two Fridays at the California School for the Deaf, in Fremont. Across the board, the people were very friendly and welcoming. The people at the events did initiate conversations with me, even though my signing leaves so much to be desired, and they all gave Peter loads of good vibes.
I can be a shy person, so driving more than an hour on a Saturday morning with just Peter (possibly screaming the whole way) to attend an event at the Deaf Community Center where I wouldn't know anyone, and could barely understand the language, was daunting. I sweetened the deal for myself by arranging to have lunch with one of my longest-standing friends afterward. Nicole lives closer to where the event was, so it wasn't too hard for her to meet me there. I got to the event, and after misspelling Peter's name (I used P at the start and end) I decided I REALLY need to master my finger spelling! I learned the sign for Pumpkin, and watched the parents talk about colors and painting and pumpkins. I could understand something directed to a two-year-old if I knew the context ;). The adult conversation was beyond me- I felt bad when I couldn't even understand LIVE (where do you?). But I watched and tried to absorb some of it. There were interpreters, so I did know what was going on in the larger context. Peter loved it. He didn't want to stop watching to nurse or sleep.
I feel like the one thing I misspoke on was asking a hearing mom when her child had gotten his CI's. the answer was 23 mos. and 36 mos., but it kind of opened a can of worms with the other 2 people near us. I think the mom was using the Total Communication approach, and I can understand why as the little boy maybe had cerebral palsy, as he was in a wheelchair and didn't have very good hand control either, so neither mode (oral or signing) of communication was easy for him, and using both ASL and speech was what worked for them. The deaf woman running the event seemed a bit taken aback that I had brought up the CI's and just cautioned me to research carefully, as there were a lot of people for whom the oral route didn't work. She told an anecdote about a meeting where the speaker asked the deaf/hoh crowd who had felt like a failure in the Oral Education track, and most people had raised their hands, and when asked who had felt like a failure with ASL education no one had raised their hands. I get it. And I also figure that maybe not as many people who felt successful in the Oral world would have been at a meeting conducted in ASL.
I will attend as many Deaf Community Center events as I can - there are only 8 a year or so, and some are too far away, as they rotate around the SF Bay Area. The ASL immersion is great for Peter, and he loves it. Lunch with my friend is an added bonus. I just have to remember to stay away from Deaf politics.
I can be a shy person, so driving more than an hour on a Saturday morning with just Peter (possibly screaming the whole way) to attend an event at the Deaf Community Center where I wouldn't know anyone, and could barely understand the language, was daunting. I sweetened the deal for myself by arranging to have lunch with one of my longest-standing friends afterward. Nicole lives closer to where the event was, so it wasn't too hard for her to meet me there. I got to the event, and after misspelling Peter's name (I used P at the start and end) I decided I REALLY need to master my finger spelling! I learned the sign for Pumpkin, and watched the parents talk about colors and painting and pumpkins. I could understand something directed to a two-year-old if I knew the context ;). The adult conversation was beyond me- I felt bad when I couldn't even understand LIVE (where do you?). But I watched and tried to absorb some of it. There were interpreters, so I did know what was going on in the larger context. Peter loved it. He didn't want to stop watching to nurse or sleep.
I feel like the one thing I misspoke on was asking a hearing mom when her child had gotten his CI's. the answer was 23 mos. and 36 mos., but it kind of opened a can of worms with the other 2 people near us. I think the mom was using the Total Communication approach, and I can understand why as the little boy maybe had cerebral palsy, as he was in a wheelchair and didn't have very good hand control either, so neither mode (oral or signing) of communication was easy for him, and using both ASL and speech was what worked for them. The deaf woman running the event seemed a bit taken aback that I had brought up the CI's and just cautioned me to research carefully, as there were a lot of people for whom the oral route didn't work. She told an anecdote about a meeting where the speaker asked the deaf/hoh crowd who had felt like a failure in the Oral Education track, and most people had raised their hands, and when asked who had felt like a failure with ASL education no one had raised their hands. I get it. And I also figure that maybe not as many people who felt successful in the Oral world would have been at a meeting conducted in ASL.
I will attend as many Deaf Community Center events as I can - there are only 8 a year or so, and some are too far away, as they rotate around the SF Bay Area. The ASL immersion is great for Peter, and he loves it. Lunch with my friend is an added bonus. I just have to remember to stay away from Deaf politics.
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