Wow, You guys are so great!!

[Guest guest]

I never expected such a wonderful response in such a short period of

time. I feel SO much better. I've been reading some of the other posts

and I feel badly that we have gotten such a late start (3 yrs old) but

I'm really looking forward to moving on and learning more. I've been

looking at some of the pictures of your kids with their aids and I'm

so excited about getting our first set of hearing aids.

I'll keep ya'll posted ;-) Thanks again. Your kind words and

encouraging stories are just what I needed today.

Vicki (feeling much much happier!!)

[Guest guest]

That's 'cause we've all been there. In one way or another, we've all been

there.

Trish

I never expected such a wonderful response in such a short period of

time. I feel SO much better. I've been reading some of the other posts

and I feel badly that we have gotten such a late start (3 yrs old) but

I'm really looking forward to moving on and learning more. I've been

looking at some of the pictures of your kids with their aids and I'm

so excited about getting our first set of hearing aids.

I'll keep ya'll posted ;-) Thanks again. Your kind words and

encouraging stories are just what I needed today.

Vicki (feeling much much happier!!)

[Guest guest]

Vicki - don't feel bad about the late start - my older son was diagnosed

at 3-1/4 years and aided at 3-1/2. He - and we - worked very hard but

he's doing wonderfully well. He's 14 and in the 8th grade - fully

mainstreamed - and as happy as a 14 year old can be. He's very involved

in drama and improv (he's hysterical!) and has a black belt in

taekwondo. Being deaf hasn't held him back at all!

Barbara

vickilee30533 wrote:

> I never expected such a wonderful response in such a short period of

> time. I feel SO much better. I've been reading some of the other posts

> and I feel badly that we have gotten such a late start (3 yrs old) but

> I'm really looking forward to moving on and learning more. I've been

> looking at some of the pictures of your kids with their aids and I'm

> so excited about getting our first set of hearing aids.

>

> I'll keep ya'll posted ;-) Thanks again. Your kind words and

> encouraging stories are just what I needed today.

>

> Vicki (feeling much much happier!!)

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/1/2006 12:52:46 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

Barbara.T.Mellert@... writes:

Being deaf hasn't held him back at all!

Barbara

I have to agree wholeheartedly! Being deaf hasn't held back either of

Barbara's sons, they are amazing kids (bravo to Mom and Dad!) There's no reason

to

expect it's going to hold back others.

Our Ian was diagnosed really late -- at 7½, and it took another year to

determine the extent of his hearing loss. (long story, bad doctor). By the time

we realized what was going on, Ian was an accomplished lip reader, a marvelous

coping skill that only helped to keep his hearing loss hidden for longer.

(sigh)

Ian is now almost 16 (I seem to say that a lot ... about a month to go to

the dreaded learner's permit!). He is starting his Junior year this Tuesday,

mainstreamed in our local high school. He does everything that any other kid

does -- except date. He doesn't seem to be ready for that just yet, (which is

fine with me, LOL.) His theory on dating: You date someone you like, who's a

good friend. And then when you break up, you can't be friends anymore. It

just doesn't seem worth it. Well, that theory held until there was . But

then her family moved to Florida before the big spring dance and he's been

gun-shy ever since. Ah well. All in good time.

Ian loves to hike, camp, kayak, white-water rafting and rock climbing (which

makes me cringe in maternal fear and yet fascinates me all at once). He goes

bowling with friends, makes jokes that his friends need to speak directly to

his face or Deaf Boy can't hear them. He is the new SPL (Senior Patrol

Leader) for his scout troop -- the head boy who runs things and is just a few

items short of being an Eagle Scout.

Yeah, this really does sound like bragging ... but there's more to it.

There's more than a touch of wonder on my part. This kid has managed to

accomplish

so much in the past 10 years. I no longer see even a glimpse of the

incredibly, painfully shy boy who cried when asked to stand up and say his name

in

Kindergarten. The clinging, insecure boy who need to " practice being brave " by

going up to buy his own french fries at Mcs, looking over his shoulder

the whole time to make sure I was still there.

Our kids can accomplish amazing things. Other kids on this list have learned

to speak Japanese and other languages. They play music, sing in chorus ...

so much more than what used to be offered to D/HOH kids. The sky really can be

the limit.

To be fair, not all kids are going to do it all. Ian has had enough trouble

with English, a foreign language really is too much for him at the moment.

He's not the next Einstein or Feynman, but he's managed to accomplish so much

more than I feared for him when all this began. Being D/HOH does present

limits and challenges, but it doesn't have to be as limiting as most people

assume.

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

Ah, Jill - thanks. And poor Ian re: ! Doesn't it break your

heart when their hearts break?!

Tom had difficulty with French last year - I didn't realize (duh) that

his hearing had dropped so much when they told me in early october that

his word recognition scores were 4%, I'm thinking " and I'm guessing they

mean 4% of ENGLISH words " so we pulled him out of French.

Tom's actually thinking about a second implant. He still wears a

hearing aid in his left ear (his implant's on his right) but he's not

getting much from the hearing aid at all any longer. I think some is

that he's used to his implant but some is that his hearing is continuing

to drop. We're meeting with our surgeon and audiologist to chat about it.

I gather you didn't venture to NH this summer and went " out west " ?!

Take care!

Barbara

JillcWood@... wrote:

>

> In a message dated 9/1/2006 12:52:46 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

> Barbara.T.Mellert@... writes:

>

> Being deaf hasn't held him back at all!

>

> Barbara

>

>

>

>

>

> I have to agree wholeheartedly! Being deaf hasn't held back either of

> Barbara's sons, they are amazing kids (bravo to Mom and Dad!) There's no

reason to

> expect it's going to hold back others.

>

> Our Ian was diagnosed really late -- at 7½, and it took another year to

> determine the extent of his hearing loss. (long story, bad doctor). By the

time

> we realized what was going on, Ian was an accomplished lip reader, a

marvelous

> coping skill that only helped to keep his hearing loss hidden for longer.

> (sigh)

>

> Ian is now almost 16 (I seem to say that a lot ... about a month to go to

> the dreaded learner's permit!). He is starting his Junior year this Tuesday,

> mainstreamed in our local high school. He does everything that any other kid

> does -- except date. He doesn't seem to be ready for that just yet, (which is

> fine with me, LOL.) His theory on dating: You date someone you like, who's a

> good friend. And then when you break up, you can't be friends anymore. It

> just doesn't seem worth it. Well, that theory held until there was .

But

> then her family moved to Florida before the big spring dance and he's been

> gun-shy ever since. Ah well. All in good time.

>

> Ian loves to hike, camp, kayak, white-water rafting and rock climbing (which

> makes me cringe in maternal fear and yet fascinates me all at once). He goes

> bowling with friends, makes jokes that his friends need to speak directly to

> his face or Deaf Boy can't hear them. He is the new SPL (Senior Patrol

> Leader) for his scout troop -- the head boy who runs things and is just a few

> items short of being an Eagle Scout.

>

> Yeah, this really does sound like bragging ... but there's more to it.

> There's more than a touch of wonder on my part. This kid has managed to

accomplish

> so much in the past 10 years. I no longer see even a glimpse of the

> incredibly, painfully shy boy who cried when asked to stand up and say his

name in

> Kindergarten. The clinging, insecure boy who need to " practice being brave "

by

> going up to buy his own french fries at Mcs, looking over his shoulder

> the whole time to make sure I was still there.

>

> Our kids can accomplish amazing things. Other kids on this list have learned

> to speak Japanese and other languages. They play music, sing in chorus ...

> so much more than what used to be offered to D/HOH kids. The sky really can

be

> the limit.

>

> To be fair, not all kids are going to do it all. Ian has had enough trouble

> with English, a foreign language really is too much for him at the moment.

> He's not the next Einstein or Feynman, but he's managed to accomplish so much

> more than I feared for him when all this began. Being D/HOH does present

> limits and challenges, but it doesn't have to be as limiting as most people

> assume.

>

> Best -- Jill

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Maggie did ok with Latin, the " non-spoken " language. She is trying Spanish

this semester. I'm taking a wait and see attitude about the Spanish. I'm

meeting with all of her teachers next Wednesday since she is new to the high

school, though it is a K4-12 school. So it's the same school, just different

teachers and administrators. They seem very open and willing to accomodate.

[Guest guest]

I dread the day/year when my son will have to start learning a foreign

language--as if English wasn't already hard enough for him as it is. As long as

he does Band in middle school, he won't have to take a foreign language until

high school.

I am fluent in French, and can get by in German, Spanish, or even Italian. I

also loved Latin when I took it in high school, so I know that I will be able to

help him through whatever foreign language he chooses to take.

Our (normal hearing) 15yo daughter opted for French, mainly because she hears

it pretty often around home (DH and I use it to talk about the kids in front of

them), and because she knows that I can tutor her. She is now taking her second

year of advanced French. Her high school also offers ASL as an elective course,

and she is taking that this year, too. There are several deaf kids at her

school, and they help with the classes as " native speakers, " which she thinks is

really cool. However, it doesn't count for foreign language credit, for some odd

reason. I know that technically ASL is American, but the vocabulary and syntax

are more different from English than French is, and many universities allow

students to take ASL as their " foreign " language.

I do know some ASL, too. When I was a child, we had a deaf family who lived

across the street from us. Both the parents were deaf, but their son (my age)

was hearing, so they encouraged him to play with me and my sister to help his

spoken language skills. However, it was easier for him to teach me ASL than it

was for us to use English with each other, so I think his parents' plan

backfired somewhat. When our son was diagnosed with profound/severe hearing loss

at the age of four months, we actually started teaching him ASL, so he was able

to sign for communication with us long before he was able to talk to us. He

still remembers some of the signs, but it's mainly his sister who uses it now.

Kiminy

Kiminy

pcknott@... wrote:

Maggie did ok with Latin, the " non-spoken " language. She is trying Spanish

this semester. I'm taking a wait and see attitude about the Spanish. I'm meeting

with all of her teachers next Wednesday since she is new to the high school,

though it is a K4-12 school. So it's the same school, just different teachers

and administrators. They seem very open and willing to accomodate.

---------------------------------

How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/1/2006 6:48:33 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

Barbara.T.Mellert@... writes:

Tom's actually thinking about a second implant. He still wears a

hearing aid in his left ear (his implant's on his right) but he's not

getting much from the hearing aid at all any longer. I think some is

that he's used to his implant but some is that his hearing is continuing

to drop. We're meeting with our surgeon and audiologist to chat about it.

I gather you didn't venture to NH this summer and went " out west " ?!

Take care!

Barbara

Wow, a second implant. That sounds great and yet scary. As a mom, my first

thought is " more surgery " and not the benefits of the implant. That's me,

always worrying about the danger before the bennies. When Ian had his surgery

we

combined the ophthalmologist and the ENT into one " anesthetic event. " I just

didn't want him put under for two surgeries if we could avoid it. Funny thing,

once I asked for it, they really liked the idea. Maybe I started a trend,

LOL

Yeah, we changed our summer travel plans at the last minute when my family

combined the wedding and 94th birthday into a weekend-long event. At first the

wedding was to be in the early part of September, after we'd started back to

school and wouldn't have been able to go. But then they all got together and

combined efforts, figuring that would get more family into town. They were

right!

So, we took that old adage seriously and " went west, young man. " I'll put

up a couple pictures on the Listen-Up page ... they're even bigger now.

The kids are still pushing for a northern camping trip in October (the long

holiday weekend). We'll see what the calendar looks like. I haven't managed to

get through all the email (or the US mail) just yet. We got home at 3:30 am

yesterday morning and then were out-and-about by 10 am running errands. I

can't even begin to plan the fall calendar for a couple more days.

-- Jill (who is going for more coffee now)

[Guest guest]

Hi Jill - I felt the same way with Tom's first implant and I'm not crazy

about the thought of a second surgery but seeing the HUGE benefits he's

realized, well, it makes it easier to think about.

So does " camping trip up north " mean to our neck of the woods?! :-)

JillcWood@... wrote:

> Wow, a second implant. That sounds great and yet scary. As a mom, my first

> thought is " more surgery " and not the benefits of the implant. That's me,

> always worrying about the danger before the bennies. When Ian had his surgery

we

> combined the ophthalmologist and the ENT into one " anesthetic event. " I just

> didn't want him put under for two surgeries if we could avoid it. Funny thing,

> once I asked for it, they really liked the idea. Maybe I started a trend,

> LOL

>

>

> The kids are still pushing for a northern camping trip in October (the long

> holiday weekend). We'll see what the calendar looks like. I haven't managed to

> get through all the email (or the US mail) just yet. We got home at 3:30 am

> yesterday morning and then were out-and-about by 10 am running errands. I

> can't even begin to plan the fall calendar for a couple more days.

>

> -- Jill (who is going for more coffee now)

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/2/2006 7:04:40 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

Barbara.T.Mellert@... writes:

So does " camping trip up north " mean to our neck of the woods?! :-)

Yep .. it does. My kids loved our trips to your general and specific area.

We've gone up Lake Champlain (and looked for Champy -- a cousin of the Loch

Ness monster) and been to garnet and marble quarries. They adored the Maine

coast (Portland area) in the late fall ... it was really blustery and really

cool. My sister's in-laws were in Hanover and we combined camping with them and

a

trip to Boston one time. And a friend had a place in Ludlow VT so we spent a

long weekend there at one point.

If we don't swing it this fall, I had to promise that we'll do it around

spring break.

They just really like that area in general and I started to looking for

camping in the White Forest Nat'l park, and then was going to move onto the

state

parks ... but didn't get too far since my family changed the wedding/b'day

plans. I was going to have us camping and seeing things in New England.

Instead we did Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons ... slightly bigger mountains,

LOL.

So, perhaps we'll swing a visit soon, maybe on a lake where we can send the

kids out in our canoe. They'd have a blast!

Best -- Jill