Lip Reading

When Cormac was implanted we chose for him to be educated in an oral only school. The school he received services from birth to three years old did not teach sign language or any other form of communication besides listening and speaking like his typical hearing peers. That said, Cormac knew tons of signs before he was implanted and still remembers them. I would say he knows about 200 or more signs. When he first started talking he would sign the word as he tried to say it. I thought it was so helpful during this process. Colin and Ciaran also did sign before they were verbal. It was so cute to see them all signing "more" or "cookie". I noticed as Cormac became more verbal he started dropping his signs because he just didn't need them any longer. I thought once he was really verbal we could always go back and learn more since he is still deaf and without his implants I feel like I need a way to communicate with him. We still want to learn but I have found Cormac has an amazing ability to lip read. I mean you can have an entire conversation with him when he is not wearing his implants and he answers you back. I don't understand how on Earth people acquire this skill. There are times in the bath tub Frank will say "he can't be deaf" knowing full well he is deaf.

Now, for three years we made sure he didn't lip read when we talked to him. We wanted to make sure he used his hearing and didn't "cheat" by lip reading. We would cover our mouths when we spoke so he couldn't see our lips but he still can do it. I now he doesn't rely on it but it sure comes in handy. When we are in very noisy situations he can still understand me (Ciaran and Colin wont because if it's too loud and they can't hear me they can't lip read). When he is in water it is awesome.

I will never understand this ability. I would love to hear from others about their experiences with their children or with their own lip reading in life. How do you do it??? This kid never gets it wrong.

On another note, we are heading into NYC for a mapping tomorrow. Just in time because the last few days Cormac has been acting like he isn't hearing as well as normal. Lots of "what did you say?" Not sure what is going on but with some fine tuning tomorrow I have full confidence he will be back to his old self. I took the opportunity to work with him on his confidence to ask others to repeat themselves if he misses something. This is especially important in the class room and will be more important as he gets older. He needs to be able to advocate for himself and never feel embarrassed to ask someone to repeat themselves. So, I taught him to say "excuse me, I didn't hear you. Can you please repeat that again?" Seems like it's working because he said it to me quite a few times this week.

Let's see as for language?? What's Cormac's latest? He told me Black widow spiders are venomous. I asked what does venomous mean? He says "It's poison, Mommy.". He is also telling everyone about Tornadoes. He says "they are funnel clouds" . My sister watched the triplets this morning for a while so I could take Calleigh to the dr and she took them to a class at the Community Center. She said he was basically running the class. They asked them to pretend to be their favorite animal. Cormac's was a penguin and a frog. He told them frogs eat insects with their tongues. SHe basically said he didn't stop talking the entire time right along with the other two nuts I am raising.

But the best story of the week....
Cormac goes into NYC every three months for a mapping. I take him alone because it's just easier. He has referred to NYC as "my city" for as long as I can remember. Whenever we see the skyline he says "look at my city". Ciaran and Colin even refer to it as "cormac's city". He asked if we could bring his brothers and sister with him tomorrow. I said sure. Then he said to Ciaran and Colin "Hey, Ciaran and Colin, do you know why I want to bring you to "my city"? Because I just love you guys!" It was one of the sweetest moments ever. The look on his face was so sincere it made me cry. He is beyond excited to go tomorrow.

A new map for Cormac

We headed to NYU today for our first follow up mapping since the big upgrade to the Harmony Behind the Ears. I must say it was the perfect time of day. Cormac was awake. He wasn't hungry. He was in his usual happy mood. He was eager to show off his many talents.

For those that don't know what mapping is it's basically how you program a Cochlear Implant. Much more complicated than that but you will get the idea. Cormac is hooked up to a computer and his implant is mapped. While he is hooked up he hears different sounds and is supposed to tell us when he hears a sound. Chidlren with implants are conditioned early on to drop a block or something into a bucket when they hear something. Cormac did one better. Everytime he heard a noise he said "what's that?" and then dropped the block in the bucket. Rose gave him marbles and he was dropping them in water which he really loved.

He sang Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph and wished everyone Merry Christmas. He demonstated his ability to write some of his letters. He can really write a lot of letters now. T, L, S, H, I, M, W, O and a few more I can't think of at the moment. Oh, "Q" is his latest. He was upgraded to HiResolution 120. I can't really explain what that means but it's good for him! At one point his eye was twitching from the stimulation but they were easily able to correct it. He now has two maps that are very similar. One being slighty louder than the next. He is on the loudest now but if he seems bothered we can switch it with no problem. But, you know Cormac, nothing really phases this kid. He just rolls with it. He seemed totally fine with his map for the rest of today and this evening.

I have to say today was such a great day. To see him walk into the implant center and be so confident and talking so much more. It just makes my day. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people at NYU. Everyone truly loves our little man. They really care and are so thrilled with his progress. Not to mention they all want to take him home :) He gets quite the amount of visitors while we are at the center. Everyone seemed to notice how much longer his sentences are getting. And he doesn't lose his clarity like he was just a short time ago.

I talked to him the whole car ride home and it's just so sweet to be able to talk to him in the car. He can have conversations now.

I think the sweetest thing so far is the fact that Cormac is always in the mix with his brothters now. Before he could hear he missed out on a lot of their shennanigans. Now, when he isn't participating it's by his choice. Not because he can't hear them or didn't know they were doing something.

Tonight at dinner Cormac asked Colin "Do you want me to feed you carrots?" To which COlin replied "no, I don't like carrots". Cormac responded "Carrots are really yummy". Just these little interactions and conversations cannot be taken for granted.

Did I ever doubt we would get this far? No, not really. I was prepared to do what it takes to get him where he needs to be. Am I surprised how quickly he catches onto things? Not any longer. In the beginning I was surprised but now I just know it's Cormac being Cormac. He remembers everything. He's like and elephant!
Was mentally prepared for him not to do so well? Not really. But I would have dealt with it head on like everything else.

All I know is with continued hard work on all our parts Cormac will continue to learn and adapt to our hearing world. Yep, he's still deaf but it's funny people who meet him now have a hard time comprehending he is deaf. They always say "but I he was just talking to me??". And I think "exactly!"