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| Savannah with Daddy! |
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| Savannah with her Easter baskets from her Godmommy and Grandma Jeananne |
Updates about all things Michael, Chauntelle and, most importantly, Savannah!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Easter!
Savannah's first Easter was great!! We were in Oak Harbor with my grandparents and went to my childhood church. There really isn't much to mention, so here are some pictures! :-)
--Chauntelle
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Savannah Hearing Loss: Part 2 - Early Intervention
Like I mentioned in my last post, Savannah has been in hearing aids now for about 5 months. Other than her wanting to chew on them, they have been an easy adjustment for her.
After she was diagnosed at three months, our friend from Children's suggested that we get involved in an Early Intervention program through the state. These program would provide us a chance to work with an organization to best help us and Savannah adjust to Savannah's loss and development.
We were given three different programs to choose from for Savannah's hearing loss:
1. An organization with a sign-language focus
2. An organization with a sign-and-talk focus
3. An organization with a listen-and-talk focus
Based on Savannah's case and the suggestions of some of her doctors and audiologists, we decided to talk with two of the organizations above to figure out which one would be a good fit. The first was the sign and talk focused org and the second was the listen and talk focused org.
After meeting with these two programs, it really seemed like the last one was the best for us and Savannah. We chose to work as part of the Parent Infant Program at Listen and Talk. The focus of Listen and Talk is...well...encouraging kids to use their hearing and voices to communicate. Given the usable hearing that Savannah has and with the help of her aids, this seemed like a great fit.
We have now been with Listen and Talk since mid October of last year (before Savannah even got her aids) and absolutely love the assistance we are getting!! Each week, our EI Specialist, Tara, comes to our home and we have a session where she evaluates Savannah's continued development and also gives instruction on how we can help Savannah utilize her hearing and communicate back with us. It is amazing the progress that she has made over these past months. Not to mention how much Savannah loves seeing Tara each week. She has quickly become like a member of the family in our home. We have had so much assistance in troubleshooting hearing aids that I feel like a pro now.
In addition to Tara's visits, there is also a Music and Movements class that Savannah attends with our close family friends - Ray and Jeannane - every other Friday. Savannah loves the interaction with other kids. It is important to both Michael and I that Savannah have the chance to see that she isn't alone with her aids and that other kids also have the same devices or ones that are similar to help them with their hearing as well.
After these past two posts, if there are a couple of things I could leave you with, it would be these:
1. Savannah has two hearing aids that she wears to amplify her hearing.
2. She is not deaf.
3. You do not need to shout at her. Lol. Even without the aids she still can hear what you are saying...although it may not sound as clear as it does with the aids.
4. My biggest pet peeve is people saying "oh, now you can hear me, Savannah" or "yay, your ears are on!" when they see her with her aids in. Her ears were never missing from her head! Ugh. Don't be ridiculous.
5. She is no different than you, your child, niece/nephew, brother/sister or cousin. God made her exactly as He wanted her to be, and she is on loan to Michael and I while we grace this earth.
As we told our friends about Savannah's hearing loss, I was shocked at how many of them (you) actually have hearing loss personally or know someone close who has hearing loss. I have two different friends who actually wore hearing aids as children and I would have never suspected it now because they don't wear them anymore and communicate just fine. It has been encouraging to hear your stories of triumph as a parent.
All of your encouragement is appreciated! Separate from the hearing loss, Savannah is a handful in the best kind of way - super active and opinionated without crying. Haha. Her current favorite things seem to be Sprout (other parents know what I am talking about), watching basketball, and swimming with me once a week. Her hearing aids aren't water proof (there are currently no water proof aids available) so we swim without them, but she LOVES the water and the songs that I sing with her and has even attempted to start blowing bubbles like I do. I don't know if its a blessing or a curse, but I think she is going to be a little fish!
--Chauntelle
After she was diagnosed at three months, our friend from Children's suggested that we get involved in an Early Intervention program through the state. These program would provide us a chance to work with an organization to best help us and Savannah adjust to Savannah's loss and development.
We were given three different programs to choose from for Savannah's hearing loss:
1. An organization with a sign-language focus
2. An organization with a sign-and-talk focus
3. An organization with a listen-and-talk focus
Based on Savannah's case and the suggestions of some of her doctors and audiologists, we decided to talk with two of the organizations above to figure out which one would be a good fit. The first was the sign and talk focused org and the second was the listen and talk focused org.
After meeting with these two programs, it really seemed like the last one was the best for us and Savannah. We chose to work as part of the Parent Infant Program at Listen and Talk. The focus of Listen and Talk is...well...encouraging kids to use their hearing and voices to communicate. Given the usable hearing that Savannah has and with the help of her aids, this seemed like a great fit.
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| Savannah and Tara |
We have now been with Listen and Talk since mid October of last year (before Savannah even got her aids) and absolutely love the assistance we are getting!! Each week, our EI Specialist, Tara, comes to our home and we have a session where she evaluates Savannah's continued development and also gives instruction on how we can help Savannah utilize her hearing and communicate back with us. It is amazing the progress that she has made over these past months. Not to mention how much Savannah loves seeing Tara each week. She has quickly become like a member of the family in our home. We have had so much assistance in troubleshooting hearing aids that I feel like a pro now.
In addition to Tara's visits, there is also a Music and Movements class that Savannah attends with our close family friends - Ray and Jeannane - every other Friday. Savannah loves the interaction with other kids. It is important to both Michael and I that Savannah have the chance to see that she isn't alone with her aids and that other kids also have the same devices or ones that are similar to help them with their hearing as well.
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| Savannah with Ray at her Music and Movements Class |
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| Clapping!! |
Listen and Talk also provides special nights for parents of children with hearing loss where they bring in guest speakers or just have a group question and answer time. The support is really a bonus. One of my favorite meetings was a night that five teenagers who started in the Listen and Talk program when they were young came back to talk about their experiences and how we, as parents, can help our kids adjust to their hearing loss. It was unbelievable to look at these kids and know they had hearing loss when I could have never told! Each of them had loss more severe than Savannah and their speech was impeccable! It was encouraging to hear their stories and suggestions.
After these past two posts, if there are a couple of things I could leave you with, it would be these:
1. Savannah has two hearing aids that she wears to amplify her hearing.
2. She is not deaf.
3. You do not need to shout at her. Lol. Even without the aids she still can hear what you are saying...although it may not sound as clear as it does with the aids.
4. My biggest pet peeve is people saying "oh, now you can hear me, Savannah" or "yay, your ears are on!" when they see her with her aids in. Her ears were never missing from her head! Ugh. Don't be ridiculous.
5. She is no different than you, your child, niece/nephew, brother/sister or cousin. God made her exactly as He wanted her to be, and she is on loan to Michael and I while we grace this earth.
As we told our friends about Savannah's hearing loss, I was shocked at how many of them (you) actually have hearing loss personally or know someone close who has hearing loss. I have two different friends who actually wore hearing aids as children and I would have never suspected it now because they don't wear them anymore and communicate just fine. It has been encouraging to hear your stories of triumph as a parent.
All of your encouragement is appreciated! Separate from the hearing loss, Savannah is a handful in the best kind of way - super active and opinionated without crying. Haha. Her current favorite things seem to be Sprout (other parents know what I am talking about), watching basketball, and swimming with me once a week. Her hearing aids aren't water proof (there are currently no water proof aids available) so we swim without them, but she LOVES the water and the songs that I sing with her and has even attempted to start blowing bubbles like I do. I don't know if its a blessing or a curse, but I think she is going to be a little fish!
--Chauntelle
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