just found out my 5month old is deaf

[happyfrog]

I have all 13 of your dvds. LOVE THEM!! We bought them for our toddler who is fully hearing, but is speech delayed. He knows at least 400 signs and learns more daily - he's a sponge!

I never figured I'd NEED ST like I apparently will.

We just found out today our son (born in Jan) is severe to profoundly deaf. We go in 2 weeks for the ABR test to find out more conclusively - they just did the first few tests today at Children's speech pathology dept. (Same woman who did my toddler's hearing tests which was cool - she remembered us - mostly because of my toddler who was a signing away even when he was just over a year).

I figure this is a good place to start - what should I know/do differently ??? for/about my youngling?

I just started in the last month or so to teach him 'milk' and 'more' - hadn't really been teaching him actively any more than that as I didn't see the real need - but now I am thinking we should start signing more intentionally around him, instead of just with thetoddler (that's my toddler's primary way of communication, although he is in speech therapy as well).

This has just been such a shock - esp as my youngling coos, giggles, belly laughs, etc., so it's so weird to comprehend in my heart and head that he actually can't hear what he's doing or my/our responses to him.

I really don't even know what/where to start.

BettyAnn
ds 3.8.04 LOVES his ST and also has learned add'l signs as needed
ds 1.16.06 apparently will be using ASL even more than his brother d/t hearing loss (and how can it be a hearing loss if he never had it at all?????? This is all new terminology to me)

http://www.answeredprayers.aboutmybaby.com

Guess it really is serindipitus that our family uses ASL and now has a hearing challenged child ourselves. . . .

[aligreat]

I had ASL as my foreign language in college, and 14 years later I was blessed with a Deaf daughter. Do you have Baby Signing Time? My twins loved watching ST! but didn't start signing along with the DVDs until they were watching BST! on a regular basis.

One thing you should know is that ofttimes the cooing and wonderful little noises deaf infants make stop at about 8 months because they don't get the same feedback that hearing children get through their ears. The thing that I did differently between my hearing and Deaf daughters was that in the same way that I would mimic the coos of my hearing daughter I would mimic the "babbling" my Deaf daughter did with her hands. Eventually, just as my hearing child began to mimic me back with her voice, my Deaf child started to mimic what I did with my hands.

[Bill]

hi happy frog;
kids are loved deaf or hearing. i am deaf and a very
happy person.

e-mail

[J Graham Mom of Triplets]

I know it is difficult to hear that your child has a hearing loss. We have triplets and one of our sons Nathan has Mod-severe. He passed his new born hearing test and was the first one to say words. He was diagnosed at 2 years. Just know you are not alone!

[c01dunlap]

Hint, Hint!! We've been looking forward to meeting you, David and your newest little one too! Our next playgroup will be July 14th, from 2-4pm. Hopefully Vonnie (Deaf mom) and Jelani (Deaf toddler) will be there -- she may be able to answer some of the early baby "response" and other questions!

[cheryl]

Hi,
There is a very good list-serve called Listen-Up for parents of children with hearing loss. If you want to look into it, the website is http://www.listen-up.org/

There's a lot of links on that site too with additional information about hearing loss in children.

Take care,
Cheryl

[happyfrog]

Thank you all for your wonderful responses!

As you had probably experienced yourself, there are so many emotions that hit in waves.

I'm looking into either taking ASL classes at OSU or getting a tutor. A tutor may actually be the best route for our family, so that we all can be together.

Immersion usage is planned once we start classes - I want our family to have 'no voice' days (like Tues/Thurs/Saturdays) so that we can become more proficient in using ASL as a true language instead of just a bunch of ASL words that we use. Hope this makes sense. We just need help/education in quantifiers and all that makes a language a language.

Chris - I'd love to come to playgroup, but I already have plans made - but those plans are in Columbus at 12 noon, so as I think about it, maybe?? Where is it? In Westerville? Usually we can't go d/t prior commitments (our Saturdays are all pretty filled up - esp in the summer). I'm assuming a snack is needed - what are the allergy restrictions/dietary restrictions (if any) of the other members?

Bill - if you don't mind me asking, are you in a family of deaf, or do your parents have hearing? It doesn't matter in the grand scheme - I LOVE LOVE my sons - but I am just curious if your family made changes to help nurture your communication or not and if the decisions made - from your viewpoint - in retrospect, made it easier/harder for you and what you would have preferred differently, if anything.

Cheryl - thank you for the link! I have bookmarked it. It is very interesting reading and will continue to be good reading for a good while to come!

Triplet mommy (sorry, can't remember your name) - it seems like you were blown away, too with the dx that your son is deaf - esp since he had/has verbal words!! That's the thing that still makes me shake my head in disbelief - my William is just SOOOOOOO verbal!!! He's also REALLY REALLY loud! My David never did as much of the cooing, rasberries, etc., that my William does. That's the one thing that hurts my heart - knowing that he will ?? probably get silent and those sounds will be gone.

Ali - what a great suggestion - to mimic his hand movements! I've already started making more of a conscious effort to sign each toy name as I hand it to him, along with 'silly boy' or happy boy, etc., pretty much the words I use when I speak to him, to get him more used to me signing often. I have noticed he recognizes the sign for 'milk' - I'd been signing that for a few weeks now right before nursing him - and today when I signed 'milk' - before I even got my shirt up, he was all bright eyed and excited with that 'nursing' face he makes so I KNOW he's making the sign connection - and now that I know he's deaf, I bet he starts connecting more signs even faster - he's so incredibly visually observant - which is why we never even suspected he was deaf.

I sure did yammer on!

Thank you all!!! I will continue to hang out in these forums - lurk mostly, actually, and post occasionally.

I'll let you all know what the various experts tell me after the next set of tests.

I DO know that I'm not doing the cochlear implant at this time - even if it's suggested as the best option for William. I just don't feel comfortable with drilling a hole in his head. My biggest concerns - 1)won't work, and 2) would make a weak point in skull since a good sized portion is removed and with 2 boys, they already roughhouse - and I fear he could hurt his brain if he fell just theright way. I'd rather wait a few years and see what William's input is on cochlear implants and whether he even wants it or is happier with or w/o hearing aids.

Having a child who has a possible communication barrier seems to be a bigger deal to many of my family/friends, more so than my other son's intestinal issues - severe Reflux, EE with severe furrowing, which in many ways, is a much bigger deal - if we can't figure out why his (toddler son) white blood cells are eating away at his esophagus, things won't be so good for him.

Anyways, being a parent is hard. So many tough decisions to make - on what/how/when/where to treat, also when to say 'no' to treatment options. It's just a lot of hard decisions regardless of what the experts say is 'wrong' - be it ears or innards. . . ..

BettyAnn
mommy to the 2 cutest mud monsters you ever did see! :)

[CNow]

Betty Ann,

I too live in Columbus and have a deaf son (mod-sev). I would be thrilled to talk to you about resources we have found in the area. Our son was diagnosed a little over a year ago when he was 2 and it has been quite the adventure as we have tried learn about deaf culture and what we can do to help Alex and the rest of the family adapt.

We have never made it to one of the playgroups yet but we plan to sometime soon.

Please contact me anytime at this forum or in a personal message.

Connie

[c01dunlap]

Playgroup this Saturday from 2pm - 4pm (or so) will be up in Centerburg. If you can, please come!! I'd love for Connie & BettyAnn to meet in person, and both of you to meet Vonnie (Deaf mom) and Jelani (Deaf 3 yr. old). Those last two are definitely coming, and looking forward to meeting some new people! (They are relatively new to Columbus).

[CNow]

Chris,

I will try to make it but we have company coming this weekend and I'm not sure my mom would want to go to a playgroup session.

You know what, I think Jelani might go to school with my son at the Alice Cogswell Center (Ohio School for the Deaf). There is a Jelani in his class (not a common name).

Where is centerburg? Do you have directions to the location for the playgroup?

[c01dunlap]

Chris,

I will try to make it but we have company coming this weekend and I'm not sure my mom would want to go to a playgroup session.

You know what, I think Jelani might go to school with my son at the Alice Cogswell Center (Ohio School for the Deaf). There is a Jelani in his class (not a common name).

Where is centerburg? Do you have directions to the location for the playgroup?
Yes! That would be the same Jelani! Centerburg is pretty far north - near Sunbury (next exit north of Polaris off I-71). See the post (http://www.signingtime.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10626#post10626) in the Ohio Playgroup thread for directions/details. I would be open to an alternate location if there is somewhere that would be more convenient for you or BettyAnn. Forgot (if I knew) what general part of town you're in.

Also, I'm always open to an ad-hoc get together given a few days warning - we're pretty flexible right now. I understand that your mom might not want to spend her visiting time with a bunch of strangers. ;)

[happyfrog]

Connie - I'd love to learn more about the resources/info you've gleaned. email me/pm me at one happy frog @ all tel . net (Remove all spaces!) (Hoping that prevents spam. . . )

Chris - I just did an expedia directions and Centerburg is 50 minutes from where I'll be in Pickerington at noon, and an add'l 50 minutes to get to my house. That's one heck of a lot of gas expense. I just can't do it.

Maybe next month? If I know far enough in advance, I can plan out my driving plans for the month and fit in a long drive if I cut out a church service. (We attend church in Cols and only go 2x month as it is (gas prices are killing us!) - anytime I drive to Cols, I lose another church service.)

I have been on the phone constantly in between other doc appts for my toddler to get hooked up with the best way to learn 'true' ASL - the linguistics - so that we can be truely bilingual. I don't want my child feeling alienated in his own family, so his language WILL be our language.

It gives me hope that I can get really fluent because from what I read (here on this 'about us' page) that Rachel and her family didn't know ASL before Leah and man, can she ever sign! :) I'm in awe! I'm thinking total immersion is the key. ???

BettyAnn
mommy to the 2 sweetest, or is it stickiest?? (LOL) boys ever! :)

[c01dunlap]

BettyAnn,

Playgroups are usually in Westerville (2nd Saturday of the month). Don't know if that makes it more reasonable to come. Maybe we can do some off line information exchange (e.g. where specifically you live, etc.) so we can plan a get together aside from the playgroups. Actually, we now have several interested families that would rather meet during the week, so I'm going to open up a discussion about that on the Ohio Playgroup thread. Maybe we'll start another get together during the week in a different part of town the 4th week of the month...?

I DO agree - total immersion is definitely the best for any language, ASL is no different! Spending time with Vonnie and Jelani (try to do a couple of times a week - hit and miss these days), has really helped me, Sophie & Moni.

[MomtoToes]

My daughter was diagnosed as severe to profound at 6 months. She is now almost 13 months.

She was aided at 7 months and we have seen some improvement in her babbling. She tends to focus on a "word" for a couple weeks and then stop using it all together. She was saying da-da-da-da-da a couple weeks ago and now doesn't say it at all.

My daughter failed her first two newborn screenings. Then she failed another at 6 weeks. For some unexplained reason, she passed an ABR at two months. Over the next several months, I saw no indication she was hearing. Anything. So, I took her in for some behavioral testing. Which indicated a need for another ABR. This is when the severe to profound diagnosis was given.

I was very upset after her 6 week test. I cried a lot. Felt miserable. It broke my heart to think she would never hear me say "I love you". I was elated when she passed her 2 month ABR. I guess I was fortnuate in that I was able to come to terms with the situation slowly, as I watched her grow. When we got that final diagnosis, I was mainly relieved that I finally had proof that what I had been seeing was real.

It is a frustrating journey, to say the least. But every milestone is such a joy.

We made the decision this past Friday to go ahead with the cochlear implant. It was not an easy decision, to say the least. It is so tough when you are making a decision like this for your child, not knowing if they would make the same decision themselves.

We are only going to do one ear. We want to wait until she is old enough to make the decision herself on the other ear. 12 - 13 years old, at least.

Once the decision was made, I felt much more at peace. It is important to us that she is able to develop oral language. However, we do plan on learning ASL as well, so we can communicate with her when she is not wearing her processor.

On that note...

Erin is in a traditional daycare setting, and they are very ASL focused. They use basic ASL signs with all the kids. But Erin picks up on signs quite a bit faster than the other kids.

We think this is because she is focusing so much more on visual communication than the other kids are. We have noticed that she loves to watch her hands and develop different gestures on her own. It is as though she has realized she can communicate with those things at the ends of her arms and she wants to figure it all out!

I know I have bounced around a lot in my response here... I just wanted to tell of my experience. Maybe we can touch base now and then!

Oh, and I live in Cleveland and my bro lives in Sunbury. I'd love to try to make it down for a play group one day!

Wendy

[c01dunlap]

...Oh, and I live in Cleveland and my bro lives in Sunbury. I'd love to try to make it down for a play group one day!

Wendy
Wendy,

Our home is actually in Centerburg/Sunbury area! Perhaps we can host a get together there...

[Bill]

me was born profoundly deaf. i not trade it for hearing at all. it is so peaceful. Also, Deaf are all connected all over the world. if you go somewhere, it is free because deaf say come on in for the night. how lucky for you and family. deaf know everyone all over and they always welcome everyone hearing and deaf.

rejoice and celebrate with your new born. congradulations!! :)

g