new to group - deaf child

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am new to the group and was wondering if anyone else's child was deaf as well?

My son, Rory, is now six and was diagnosed deaf at 9 months and received a

cochlear implant at 2 years. His hearing with the implant is good but he is

still not talking. Over the last 2 years we have had a diagnosis of Atypical

Autism - (non specific PDD in the US), but I now realise that he has some sort

of Apraxia.

His receptive language is not good but is way ahead of his expressive which is

limited to agh eee for Daddy, aaaaa for , his brother, and another two

syllable sound for mummy. He can now count to ten and it does sound quite close.

His 'babble' is pretty much syllable correct but he has no consonants. However

he can produce a perfect p and b with prompting and help.

It's like he can hear the word and find it in his brain, but if he has to find

the word in his brain and speak it, he can't. Take 'spoon' - he know's what a

spoon is and if i ask him if he wants a spoon he will say 'yeah' (I forgot -

yeah and no are very clear now!). However if i ask him what he wants he will

have to gesture and make a noise (nothing like spoon). So i show him the spoon

and I ask what it is and he makes a noise. I say spoon and he manages 'ooo',

watching my mouth pattern.

Also it seems when he thinks' he can't find the way to say the word. So I'll ask

him who this is and he will say Rory - really clearly. i ask him again (he

thinks) and he can't do it!

He's made loads of progress (tiny steps but progress!) in the last 18 months.

I've just started him on the ProEFA and he gets 4 sessions of SLT a week at his

wonderful school for the deaf. Despite not really knowing what is wrong the

approach from the school is spot on.

One thing that mystifies the school is that sometimes he can do something and

get it right and we all think - yes it's gone in and he's got it, then a week

later he can't do it. Is this common? It would fit with a sort of

retrieval/memory issue with the brain.

Anyway, thanks for the group. At my last meeting with the autism team i said i

wanted to keep it on file and them on hand, even though 'not talking' was the

only characteristic that Rory had... now it's finally ruled out autism in my

mind. It will be very interesting to share all of this with them when i see them

next. I have to confess i am really hoping the ProEFA will really help! Just in

time for going back to school.

Thanks

UK mummy to deaf aged 8 with CI - started talking at 6

Rory deaf aged 6 with CI only just starting to talk