Three Musketeers

We are planning to hang pictures in a variety of black and gold frames to adorn the very large wall above the fireplace, so we have been choosing pictures. This is one that we're going to use, which I think Bryndi took. (Hi Bryndi!)

It is so us.

We haven't played Guitar Hero together is sooo long, but we still do nerdy things together. For example, today we played Rummikub while watching Kung Fu Panda. We're very homey and familyish.

Katie is funny, because she generally refers to Laynie as her sister. She'll say to her friend, "I went there with my sisters," or "My sisters would love that," meaning Laynie and me. It's very sweet. I'm glad we all get along.

Good Listener!

Laynie has been spending a lot of time upstairs at the desktop computer, working on a project. We email each other if we need to say something, so that we don't have to run up and down the stairs all the time (I hang out downstairs).

The visual email notification isn't working right now (dumb OSX Lion), but it still pings when a message is received. I can't believe that Laynie hears that ping every time! I asked her whether she was keeping the mail program on top of everything else, and she said no, she just listens for the ping.

Even if I'm watching TV downstairs, which is very audible upstairs since Laynie's in a loft room that is open to the living room, she hears that ping!

Just now I turned down the volume on the TV a little to hear a video on the internet, and I got a message from Laynie right away. She was asking what that noise was, whether someone was yelling or if I was on the phone. She's such a good listener!

Wicked Awesome Pictures!

Laynie, Katie, and I went to a sign interpreted performance of Wicked a few week ago at the Kennedy Center. It was such a fun night. We got there early, so we went up to the terrace for pictures!

Me and Kate

Laynie!

No, those are not long earrings... They're Laynie's 'plants! She changed her cochlear implant processor batteries before the show.

Look, she's so happy to hear! (Or she nearly dropped her left 'plant and barely caught it.)

You can see the Lincoln Memorial on the right and the Jefferson with the dome.

Yay! Almost time! Check out the interpreter--on the left. She was a fantastic actress!

Benefit? YES!

On Friday I went with Laynie to interpret for her rehab appointment, where a rep from Laynie cochlear implant company, Med-El, would be present. The woman showed up early, and they were chatting in the waiting room. One thing she asked Laynie was, "Do you think you benefit from having cochlear implants?"

Benefit? How do you quantify that. Laynie was surprised by the question and not able to answer it fully. The simple answer is YES. But how to explain why? It's especially tough when she's really not understanding much spoken language yet. (yet)

For someone who is hearing and becomes deaf, gets an implant, and understands when people talk, I think a CI would be such a relief. The benefit would be clear. Similarly, a young child implanted and learning to hear and speak, as many implanted kids do, would clearly benefit. But for someone in Laynie's situation, the benefit is less externally apparent. She shared an anecdote about understanding her mother say, "I love you," which made an impact, as well as a few small examples of ways that hearing aids and cochlear implants have been different for her.

At dinner later, we were talking about it, trying to think back on life before implants. After two years with them, it sort of feels like she's always been this way.

I was telling Laynie that I have a very clear memory of an instance when we were standing in a busy area on the BYU campus between classes. I had asked Laynie what she heard, as she happened to be wearing her hearing aid that that day. She said that she heard noise. I asked her to describe it. All she could say was that it was noise, that it was all one sound blended together, at a constant volume. People talking, construction nearby, cars passing... all one sound.

The other day we were in a restaurant, and she asked if there were kids around. I told her which direction, and she nodded knowingly. Later she asked if a table was being cleared nearby. She had heard the clatter of dishes. Not only is she distinguishing the sounds, she's identifying what they are. She can identify laughter in another room. Jazz music, which she hates. A piano amidst the din of a department store. A car vs. jetliner vs. prop plane vs. truck vs. motorcycle going by. Thunder. A baby vs. a toddler screaming during sacrament meeting.

In the kitchen today, Laynie's back was toward me. The microwave was in use, the fan over the stove was on, and food was sizzling in a pan. I don't remember what her attention was on... throwing away trash or something. I said her name at a conversational level and she turned to me.

With hearing aids, Laynie could hear some things, but she could only identify a few. Whistling. A drum. A piano, if she knew it was music and focused on it. But she couldn't tell a voice from a car going by. Not that she couldn't hear the voice. Everything just sounded pretty much the same.

Laynie is hearing quieter things. Today she heard distant thunder from inside the house. She hears all the speech sounds, including very quiet ones like H and TH. Today I whispered quietly from three or four feet away, just to see if she heard me... she did. With her hearing aids there was a whole slew of sounds she didn't hear at all.

Obviously hearing and understanding are two different things. Two different levels of the same thing. Hearing is the bottom rung of the ladder, and understanding is the top. Laynie understands some things when listening purposefully in therapy. But she also understands things occasionally outside of therapy. Just simple things like asking a question and not looking as the answer is given, listening for the yes or no.

Yesterday she was sitting next to me on the couch, telling me something--showing me something on the computer. I don't remember exactly. But I remember that I asked, "Where?" She told me what it was again. I said, "I know, but where?" She said, "Right here," and showed me. I didn't sign it, and she wasn't looking at me. She heard and understood. I asked her if she knew what I said, and she answered, "Where." She didn't realize that I didn't sign it until I told her.

Things like that happen every day. Just the fact that she uses her CIs every day, all day long, is testament to the benefit she receives. She likes them. They help her feel connected to the world around her.

Like many children with CIs, she's beginning to prefer sound over sight for some things. Sometimes sound is easier.

She was saying that she wanted to get a doorbell, because some people knock quietly, which is hard to hear (even for me, and I'm "very hearing" as she says) from the kitchen. We discussed getting a flashing light doorbell, which she's had before. We realized that she hasn't used one in two years! With her CIs, she doesn't need one. She hears a knock just like everybody else. She thought that she would prefer a doorbell that chimes rather than flashes. A flashing light can be easy to miss in the daytime, if you're not looking in that direction. But she could hear a chime from wherever she is, whatever she's doing. So she'll be getting a doorbell that chimes... and she found one that has a portable receiver with a blinking light.

That doorbell will be a perfect fit for a girl who's straddling two worlds. She's Deaf yet very much a person who hears.

Listening Girl

I went to Laynie's rehab session on Friday. Of course, she continues to make progress and is doing great.

Laynie started a new word/sound list from the WASP program. That program introduces the listener to every sound in the English language, as well as various syllable shapes, like vowel-consonant (of, in) and consonant-vowel (my, be).

I couldn't help comparing how she did with these new words/sounds with how she did the first time with the first WASP list. For one thing, she is much quicker. I think she spent half an hour on the first five words of the first list. On Friday, she got through 10 words in about 10 minutes. And they were much harder words. I was impressed. All of this is through listening only, with the teacher's mouth covered.

Her comprehension has really improved, too. On the first visit, she often said the words perfectly (after many attempts) but had no idea what she said. "Me, me, me, me, hmmm..." Now she knows what she is saying. And these are new words!

So that was cool.

Then they got into the meat of the session: listening to sentences. The teacher says a short sentence, and once Laynie gets all of the words in the sentence, the teacher expands the sentence. Laynie has to listen to where the expansions occur: sometimes adding to the end of the sentence, sometimes inserting words in the middle of the sentences. Sometimes a word from the original sentence is changed.

Obviously this is pretty hard, because Laynie has no idea what the sentences might be. It's not like she has a list of choices. She just has a blank sheet of paper in front of her.

She did such a great job! The teacher says the sentence until Laynie makes a guess at one of the words. Sometimes she just gets a word right. Often she is close, like guessing watch for walk or your for are. It's so neat that she can do that just from listening.

I am so proud of Laynie! And glad that she has weekly rehab sessions for the next few weeks. Imagine: she's doing this well after only having two or three sessions in the last two months, because of vacations and whatnot. She's going to do great when she's focused on listening more often.

Listening Therapy Videos

Laynie recorded some listening therapy we did over the weekend.

First is the Ling 6 sound check. The sounds mm, ah, ee, oo, ss, and sh cover all of the frequencies of speech, so they should be checked before you practice listening. Probably should be checked every day. The point is for Laynie to hear them (like raising your hand when you hear a beep), but she can usually tell what they are, which is great.

In the next clip, Laynie is listening and saying the words she hears. She chose these ten common words, and we have been practicing them off and on for a few weeks.

Next is a list of words that has groups of words beginning with the same letter. Laynie might have the choices "pan, pail, Pete, pitch" and have to say which one she heard. It's not too hard, except that she hasn't heard the words before (or not anytime recently)--that makes it harder. She has to use her phonics knowledge and her listening skills to figure out which word I'm saying.

The last activity is me reading a book to Laynie and pointing out things that I see on each page. I don't think she's really listening to me read, because she's thinking about what I'm going to ask her to point to or say. Most people haven't really heard Laynie talk, but I can tell you that her speech has definitely improved. I should look for an old video of Laynie talking before implants, so you can see the difference. It's just amazing that she can imitate just using her hearing, without visual cues. In these videos, you can see Laynie using strategies, including narrowing down the choices by sound, focusing on one word at a time, and saying what she thinks she hears to check if she's right. So here is the train book. Oh, I split up the videos because someone (ahem) got distracted by a bird on the balcony and wasted some time. ;)

Laynie Is Making Great Progress

My spring break is this week, so I got to go to Laynie's auditory rehab session yesterday. She is doing so well!

Last week the therapist, K, told her that she is done with closed sets, because she is doing so well with them. K has been giving Laynie lists of words or sentences and saying them with her mouth covered. Even with lists of 16 words or 10 sentences, Laynie has been getting 100% right with only a few repetitions. It's too easy for her!

Laynie has been doing one open set task every week, the WASP list (sounds, syllables, and simple words that cover all of the sounds of English). K says something, mouth covered, and Laynie repeats it. This was pretty hard at first, but Laynie just finished the first list of 25 sounds/words, and she's on to the next list. She is really improving with being able to say what she hears. She uses some strategies that K and I have taught her, as well as a "cheat sheet" that K made for her during therapy showing groups of sounds that are similar, to narrow down her guesses to the right kinds of sounds. Sometimes her brain knows the sound and doesn't tell her what it means--she can say it but not know what she's saying. She is doing just amazing with this task. It's the same one K initially thought would be too hard for Laynie even to attempt, which she almost didn't include in the original assessment.

Yesterday Laynie did all open set tasks, which is what she will be doing in rehab from now on. She did the whole first WASP list, and she learned five new sounds/words from the next list. She whipped through them! Then she did a new task, which K warned would be much harder. She was going to say a short sentence and Laynie would repeat it. Or at least try to figure out how many words were in the sentence--whatever she could do.

K said, "I saw him." Laynie said, "I saw cat." K and I nearly fell out of our chairs! After we had recovered and K said the sentence again, emphasizing the last word, Laynie said, "I saw hat." She heard the /h/. Of course then she started trying to guess, thinking of all the H words she knows instead of really listening. When she got back to listening, she got the whole sentence right. Wow.

Then K added a word to the sentence: "I saw him yesterday." They worked on strategies like first focusing on how many syllables, then on a specific syllable, then on the beginning of that syllable, etc. Laynie got the word. K added another word: "I saw him yesterday afternoon." Using the same strategies, Laynie got it.

Then her hour was up! K explained that they will do another open set task in their next session, where K will show Laynie a sentence with a word or phrase missing, and Laynie will listen and fill in the blank. I'm sure she will do a great job.

Aren't you impressed?

I'm working on uploading some videos to YouTube of Laynie and me doing some listening therapy over the weekend. Hopefully I can add a blog post with those videos soon.

Another Listening Update

Wow, this is my 200th post. I thought I'd lose interest long before 200 posts.

Laynie has gone to auditory therapy twice now, and I got to go along on her second visit (it was while I was recovering from the kidney stone incident).

I like her therapist, Kristen. She is so positive, and she really "gets" deaf people. And did I say she is so positive?

Classic Kristen: "Mistakes are wonderful! I just love that you had the opportunity to listen to your choice and what I said and decide for yourself. Didn't that help you so much?"

I don't want you to get the wrong picture: she's not all valley, peppy, bubble-person positive. She's urban, hipster positive. Picture this: 50ish, haircut resembling the nasty (yet chic) queen on V, with chunky glasses and gold hoop earrings. She seriously cracks me up.

The positive vibe somehow communicates "I'm totally confident that you are going to succeed eventually, yet I'm pleasantly surprised by every little bit of progress along the way." That's just the antidote for a person who thinks slow means forever and forever means never.

They spent an hour doing two tasks--nice, slow pace. Laynie listened and repeated sounds and words. Yes, she can do it! Wowie! She can make her voice go higher and lower, louder and softer, matching what Kristen did (hiding her face behind a screen--no lipreading). She needed repetition, of course, because she is just learning. Laynie remembered three of the words she had done before: I/eye, be/bee, and shoe. Then she listened to sentences of about seven to eight words, with a group of five sentences as choices, and she pointed to the one that Kristen said. She did a great job with that, too, with not many repetitions. After doing each sentence several times, Kristen covered up the sentences and asked Laynie just to listen. She got the first one right away! She got the rest with just a few repetitions.

The tasks were standard issue auditory therapy, but I think having a good teacher makes all the difference in the world. I loved her approach and want to emulate her positive-even-through-difficulty attitude. And although none of the activities are things we haven't or couldn't do at home, just the fact that she has an appointment and drives to the clinic for the express purpose of working on listening skills makes a difference--she's very vocal after therapy sessions and comes home wanting to practice more.

Laynie has made a big leap by learning to repeat what she hears. The next step is realizing what she is saying, what the words she is repeating are. Remembering what the words sound like. Hearing the same words over and over is the key, which Kristen said as well. So Laynie chose ten words to learn this week: help, want, hungry, thirsty, food, computer, bed, store, clean, shower. She is doing a great job with them!

Laynie's favorite thing lately is whispering. I think it must have been about four years ago that I explained what whispering is (she sort of had an idea of what it was, but not exactly), but now that she's an implanted girl and can hear it, she loves it. Sometimes she'll whisper from across the room, probably to test my hearingness. It's funny to play with sound, right?

So the gist of the listening update is: Laynie is doing great, and I heart Kristen. So glad Laynie got the perfect therapist for her. Kristen feels like Laynie is just about to climb up to the next rung of the listening ladder: comprehension. That rung is spaced pretty far from the one below it. But she will do it. She's only had her implants (well, the first one) for two years, and the first year was a mess of mapping issues (struggling to get them programmed right). The audiologist said she'll take at least 5-7 years to reach her potential and might continue to improve long after that.

Speaking of the audiologist... I love him, but maybe she needs to switch. She was getting an eye blink with some sounds, which could mean too much stimulation overall or a problem with a certain electrode. It might mean that some electricity is learning the cochlea, where it's supposed to be, and stimulating the nearby facial nerve. The audiologist just globally decreased the power on both ears, which made things quieter, which she did not want. The problem is that it's hard to find an audiologist who knows how to program Laynie's brand. She has Med-El, which I guess you could say is kind of like the Apple of cochlear implant brands... think pre-iPod Apple. Okay, so it's more stable and user-friendly, and the quality might be higher... but it's not on most people's radar, and good luck finding programs for it. Med-El has a fantastic track record (no "oops we accidentally put out YET ANOTHER BAD IMPLANT that went down in a blaze of glory or maybe killed a few kids" like AB or paying off doctors like Cochlear), and the company has been wonderful with the few minor technical problems Laynie has had, but it sure is a pain to find an audiologist who can map it.

There's a fantastic audiologist at GBMC that a lot of deaf people go to, whom they bring their deaf children to.. but she only maps Cochlear and AB. Maybe she'd be willing to learn? I did hear of a good audiologist who maps Med-El, who is down at the University of Maryland. There's another guy at Hopkins who specializes in mapping adults, but it's kind of awkward to switch to someone in-house. And her current audiologist signs, which is a bonus--not fluently but enough to get by if I couldn't go with her. (Sure she could get an interpreter, but that's a crapshoot.) And of course I have to admit that Laynie is probably a very difficult patient to map, just because she doesn't know what things are supposed to sound like and can't provide very good feedback yet. Who's to say that the current audiologist didn't do the right thing by turning everything down? I'd like to see him spending more time with her and figuring out problems, though. I guess I'll just close this little digression by saying that I don't envy Laynie her decision of which audiologist.

And I'll close this whole post by reiterating that I'm so proud of Laynie for the work she is putting in. Oh, I forgot: the other day she recognized that her dad answered the phone not by his linguistic style but by his deeper voice. She is doing great!

Evaluation

Laynie was interested in seeing how she was doing with her cochlear implants in relation to other CI users, and she wanted to see if she could improve her listening skills, so she went for a rehabilitation consult at The Listening Center at Johns Hopkins.

Let me give extraneous background information... My experiences as a professional working with members of The Listening Center team has been negative so far. Audiologists who don't email us back, AVTs who are anti-signing for every deaf child (including my favorite little guy, who had no language until he began learning ASL at age 6 (yes, years, not months) and was implanted at age 7), who diagnose apraxia for any deaf child who hasn't caught up in spoken language by two years post implant... the list goes on. And it's not just The Listening Center. Kennedy Krieger, which is the Johns Hopkins clinic for hearing kids with developmental/speech/language/whatever issues, is even worse. They have SLPs diagnosing autism (should be a psych or doctor), and they also love to call everybody apraxic. I actually had them diagnose one child with a language disorder after she scored within the normal range on all of their language testing. Basically, parents pay for the diagnosis. Whatever they went in thinking is what the child ends up having. So based on all of this, I did not have high hopes for Laynie to get much out of the appointment, especially with her being so ASL and Hopkins being famously anti-ASL. Well, I was wrong, and I was happy to be wrong.

The appointment was great!

Laynie's name was called, and I tapped her. The woman came over to introduce herself, and my interpreting hands went up.. and back down as the woman fingerspelled her own name. Then she signed, "I sign but lousy." It was English signing (L handshape for lousy.. hehe) but it was signing! She explained that she had requested an interpreter and was going to look for that person. Laynie was kind of anxious about that, because interpreters usually make it harder for her to communicate. Not harder than relying on lipreading and gestures, but harder than.. um.. me. Or writing. She usually gets, and I quote, "Stink terp." They miss half of what she says and don't ask her to repeat herself, just make stuff up to fill in the blanks. And they don't do much better with the English message. But, another happy surprise, the interpreter was good! He missed only about 5% of what she said, and I spoke up when it was important and let it go when it wasn't. He was so nice. I wonder if you can request specific interpreters or if it's just whoever the agency sends.

I thought that the woman Laynie would see was an SLP, but no, she was a teacher of the deaf. I'll call her the TOD. She was kind and patient, and she seemed genuinely interested in what Laynie had to say. The purpose of the consult was to determine Laynie's current level of performance with listening and spoken language, but mainly with listening. The TOD explained the four levels of listening:

1. Detection--you know that you hear something

2. Discrimination--you can tell whether it's this sound or that sound when given choices

3. Identification--you can tell which sound you hear (without choices--could be anything)

4. Comprehension--you understand what you hear

For example:

1. Someone says "see," and you raise your hand.

2. Someone gives you a paper with the words see and go on it and says "see," and you point to or say "see."

3. With no visuals, someone says "see," and you use your voice to repeat "see." When they ask you what word it was, you shrug.

4. Someone says "see," and you sign or voice "see," and you know that it means to look at something.

Jumping from level 1 to 2 isn't bad. From 2 to 3 is a bigger jump, and from 3 to 4 is a huge jump.

Before the testing, the TOD had Laynie fill out a short checklist using a Likert scale: 1 for almost never, 2 for rarely, 5 for practically always.. you get the picture. It focused on understanding language through listening without the person signing, and it had items like, "I have difficulty communicating in small groups," and "I become upset with my hearing skills." The TOD had me fill one out, too. I gave Laynie all 5s (as in, practically always difficult) except for the ones about becoming upset and it preventing her from making friends. We didn't look at each other's forms, but later we compared notes, and I think we answered pretty much the same.

The TOD asked questions about sounds Laynie doesn't like to hear, music she likes and why, etc. It seemed like she was mostly interested in Laynie's enjoyment of sound and making sure that if Laynie didn't like something or got frustrated, she was thinking about why that happened. She was surprised that Laynie reported being able to understand a few words and phrases over the telephone. Actually, she was surprised that Laynie understood anything without lipreading. She doesn't understand much, but occasionally she gets something. The TOD explained that she would do some closed set (given choices of answers) tasks and some open set (no answer choices--could be anything) tasks, and that Laynie should just roll with it and not worry if she couldn't do something. There were six tasks: one closed set detection task, three closed set discrimination tasks, and two open set identification/comprehension tasks.

All of the tests were done with the TOD's mouth obscured by an acoustic screen. It's just speaker fabric stretched over an embroidery hoop, but it does double duty: blocking all visuals but letting all sounds through without distortion (if you cover your mouth with your hand, you distort the sounds).

1. First was the Ling test. Laynie was already familiar with the Lings, because we've done them. There are six Ling sounds: ss, sh, mm, oo, ee, and ah. They are used as hearing checks, because they cover all of the speech frequencies from low (mm) to high (ss). Laynie correctly identified ss and sh. She got mm and mixed up the vowels. But the task was really just detection, so she got 100%--she just needed to hear them. I think identification was hard, because the TOD used a very quiet voice for all of the sounds. Much quieter than conversation level.

2. Laynie was given a page with three columns of words: single syllable, two-syllable, and four/five-syllable. For example, hot, table, qualification. The TOD would say a word from each row, and Laynie would have to tell which word she heard. She had to have one item repeated several times, but she got the rest correctly pretty quickly. There were about 20 items.

3. Laynie was given a page with sets of four sentences, such as:

A. She is ten years old.

B. Close the back door when you leave.

C. The man was eating a salad.

D. He went to work at nine o'clock.

So all of the sentences were pretty different. Laynie had the woman repeat the sentences several times and used process of elimination, which the TOD thought was a good strategy. Laynie missed one of the ten sentences.

4. For the fourth task, Laynie was given a page with 15 or 20 sentences. Each sentence had a "missing" word with two choices, such as:

His wife said he was all take/talk.

Laynie would have to tell which word was said. It was really hard, because the word choices had the same sounds at the beginning and end, with only the vowel being different (the spelling doesn't matter, just the sounds in the word). She got all of them right except one! I was shocked. We had worked on vowels last year, but we ended up skipping it and focusing on other things, because she just wasn't getting it. We haven't worked on it since then, but she has obviously made progress just from listening experience.

5. The fifth task was the first open-set task, and it certainly was harder. The TOD read simple sentences and questions, and Laynie was to say what she thought she heard. They were really common sentences, such as Turn on the TV and What time is it? I think Laynie was pretty nervous about that one. She got a couple of word right; she got "are you" in one of the sentences. I can't remember the rest of that sentence. But even when she missed all of the words, she was able to identify some sounds, and she always knew how many words and syllables were in the sentences. I was impressed that she recognized that Turn on the TV had five syllables but only four words. And she thought on was are. Pretty close.

6. The last task was one that the TOD thought would be harder than the fifth one, but as soon as she explained it, I knew Laynie would do better on it. It was imitation of what you hear. You would think that would be harder, but Laynie has become pretty good at imitating simple sounds/syllables. She doesn't know what they are, but she can parrot them. The TOD wanted Laynie not only to make the right sounds (or try to) but to try to get the suprasegmentals right: pitch, duration, number of repetitions, etc. So it might be a long, "Mmmmmmmm." Or a high and low alternating, "OOooOOooOOoo." Or just "bee." Laynie was able to get almost all of them with repetition. The Mmmmm was the first one, and Laynie shook an M handshape in front of her. Up until now, Laynie had not used her voice. She had signed back all of the responses. The TOD said, "Can you use your voice and try to say what I said?" So Laynie said a perfect, "Mmmmmmm." And the TOD's face lit up. She was shocked and amazed that Laynie could use her voice, and she commented on what a nice voice quality Laynie had. That was when she started to get excited. And she got more excited when Laynie imitated the high and low pitches on the OOooOOooOOoo. And when Laynie could make consonant sounds, like the S in see and the SH in shoe. The TOD exclaimed, "You have really good speech!"

She had been cheerful and giving off positive vibes the whole time, but after seeing how well Laynie did on the testing and the fact that she was able to make most speech sounds (Laynie can say everything except R, but she's not good at sequencing the sounds when there are more than two syllables--she'll start to omit sounds and substitute sounds), her demeanor changed. The only way I can describe it was excited. I know exactly how she feels: when you can tell a student has great potential, you become excited that you will be able to witness the progress. And Laynie looked so proud of herself. I knew that she was embarrassed to use her voice with the interpreter there, but she did a great job. The TOD thinks Laynie has great foundational skills and just needs some more practice. And confidence! And time. Laynie is able to identify many sounds (with repetition--but she'll get quicker at it with practice and time). The comprehension piece isn't really there yet, but it's starting to emerge. One weakness the TOD identified was auditory memory. Laynie might remember one sound from the word but forget what else she heard and need repetition. So of course there were weaknesses but so many strengths and positive indicators. The TOD thinks Laynie has the potential not just to enjoy what she hears but to understand what she hears.

Of course, I left the consult with a very happy girl. And I was happy for her. The TOD said that Laynie could continue to practice at home or come in weekly for therapy at The Listening Center. I am hoping Laynie will go weekly to The Listening Center (and I'm hoping she can see this particular person, because she seemed pretty realistic), because using her voice with someone who is not me or her mother will build her confidence. And I think it will keep her motivated to practice, knowing that someone will ask, "So how was practice this week?"

I am so glad Laynie went for this evaluation, and I am so proud of her for being willing to do everything the woman asked her to do. And I'm proud of her for the progress she has made!

Zoku

What's a Zoku, you ask? Oh, you are such an unfortunate person.

Zoku is like an ice cream machine bowl, the kind that you put in the freezer overnight and then use in the machine. Except this "bowl" has three slots for making pops. Yes, it's as amazing as it sounds. McConn got one for Christmas, and we were making apple, orange, and grape juice pops while I was in New York.

When I got one myself, we really got to the business of making pops. Fancy ones! There are recipes you can make, such as Bananaberry, and Strawberry Banana, and Orange Creamsicle, which are what we made the first time we tried it out. Soooo good. You throw some fruit in the blender, with either sugar or agave nectar (like sugar but lower glycemic index), along with lemon juice or yogurt or vanilla or whatever. Then pour it in the molds. Well, you do have to strain the seeds out first if you're using berries.

Katie and I love Zoku pops!

Heck, we all do!

Later we made mint pops with chocolate magic shell. I thought they weren't too bad, but Laynie thought they were bitter from the peppermint oil. So I modified the recipe, and it worked out much better. Here is what I made up:

1/2 c half and half

1 c whole milk

3 Tb agave nectar (try the natural/organic area of the supermarket)

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp mint extract

1/4 tsp peppermint

pinch of salt

3 drops of green food coloring

I also added a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk, but I'm not sure it needed that. It was maybe too creamy, kind of hard to get out of the mold. Next time I'll make it without that.

Skiing

Katie, Laynie, and I went skiing yesterday. I recorded my girls!

And Laynie recorded Katie and me... plus some.

So it's an easy hill... Who's going to videotape on a steep one? ;)

Sick Day = Ski Day

I've had a sore throat since Tuesday, and yesterday morning I woke up with palms that were funkifying and ready to peel. In my family, this is a sure sign of strep, so I went to the doctor. The rapid strep test was negative, but she was confident that I have it or at least something communicable, so I was ordered not to be in close contact with people for 24 or preferably 48 hours after starting antibiotics. At first I was upset, knowing that I would miss a Thursday, which is my insanely busy day, and that particular day happened to include a planned observation by the head of sped and an IEP meeting. Then I realized... I have to take a sick day, but (aside from a sore throat) I feel fine. Score!

So I went skiing. Wouldn't you?

It was a beautiful opening day at Whitetail Resort, in PA.

Not all the runs were open yet. Fake snow, natch.

So ready to ski!

Of course I dragged my bug with me.

It started snowing... from the ground up?

Yeah, it was just the cannons.

The place was dead. It was so nice having the mountain pretty much to yourself!

Laynie got a helmet this year. The chances of getting hit on an implant site is low, but it's not worth the risk. the helmet fits with her processors on (hooray for small Med-El processors), which is nice. She doesn't have to worry about them falling off and getting skied on. The goggles are also new. They are meant to fit over glasses, which means she can see where she is going. Bonus.

After two runs down the hill, Laynie was dead.

Hehe, she can't smile with her goggles on.

Better!

More ski! More ski!

Budding Pianists

Since rearranging the living and dining rooms last week, we're using our stuff more. The piano is now in the dining room, and Laynie and I have both played it several times over the past week. Yup, Laynie plays the piano. She's learning.

Practicing...

Katie (my sister) was over on Sunday, and I had Laynie teach Katie while I cooked dinner. Teaching is the best way to cement your skills, right?

Laynie explains note values to Kate.

Good teacher! Good student!

Similarly to Phyllis Nefler...

...I've lost my will to blog!

Maybe not exactly lost my will... I want to write things, but sometimes I'm lazy, sometimes I'm busy, and sometimes I just can't say that "in public." The internet is as public as it gets, right? So that means I can't say much about work.

But I can say some things about work. I went back two weeks ago, and the kids started last week. Yippee. I didn't really get a summer break, because I was working. Not full time, but still.. working. Blah. I'm happy to have my deaf kiddos back, though. One child has been SO on the ball since coming back. Our fingers are crossed that it continues. They're all doing at least as well as they were in the spring, which is a relief.

I haven't begun working with my Pals children yet. Pals is an itinerant position where my county has me visit children in private preschools and daycares to work with them there, rather than bringing the children into special education preschools. It's wonderful for children whose disabilities are not severe, and it's wonderful for parents who are uncomfortable with the idea of special education. This week, Pals team members will meet with parents and settings to get an agreement signed so that we can work with the children again this school year. Hopefully we can start seeing the kids next week.

Speaking of Pals... my Pals "home base" has been one school, Dayton Oaks Elementary, while the deaf program is in another school, Waverly Elementary. Dayton is not close to any of the preschools and daycares where I have Pals students, so I didn't really make it out there much last year. I guess it was my home base because I worked with preschool students in the Dayton Oaks special education preschools two years ago, so it made sense. It no longer makes sense, so I asked the powers that be to have my basehood transferred to Waverly. A couple of hours later, I was officially a full-time Waverly person! Not that I'll spend more time there than I already did, because it is just as far from the Pals preschools/daycares... but it will be easier to decide what to do on days when preschool has no services, professional days, etc. Mainly, it will decrease my guilt at only hitting up Dayton Oaks once a quarter. They had even started sending my mail to Waverly by the end of last school year. Yeah. I was "that" person.

This year, I get to work with little guys and gals who have hearing loss, language disabilities, autism, selective mutism, speech disabilities, cognitive impairment, and autism. And my caseload is still small. It will grow, as it always does. But it looks like a have a bit of variety to begin with, and I'm really looking forward to the challenge of selective mutism. It means the child understands everything (or at least as well as others the same age) but refuses to speak to most people. Typically, they will speak in their home, without strangers present, or they will speak to other children at school but not to any adults. Fun times, right? When you can help them feel secure enough to communicate with more people, it's the best.

So, there is already drama in one of my programs. I won't go into it, but I'm just mentioning it because it brings me to one of the highlights of my work week. I had the opportunity to sit down with some professionals while they worked out issues, and I tried to be a neutral party. It wasn't hard, because I could see both of their perspectives. I was also trying to defend one person I know has a tendency to freeze and lose her train of thought when under pressure--but I tried to do so without offending another person, who is someone I respect and who, frankly, has a great deal of power. Afterward, two people higher up on the food chain told me that they were pleased that I was on the team at this school, that I was a good communicator, had a level head... just saying nice things. One of them is a person I never thought particularly cared for me, so it was nice to hear that from her. Hope she tells my boss!

Aside from work... let's see...

I got to babysit the twins again! Oh my, I haven't blogged in so long, I probably haven't mentioned the first time I babysat them. A couple from church has twin baby girls, who are about 8 months old now; last month, while Laynie was at her family reunion, I babysat them. First non-family babysitter, which was probably because their very young mom respects me as a former nanny. Whatever, I got to play with babies!!!!! They are so cute, and their personalities are already so different. One is adventurous and independent (backward-crawling into corners and under furniture), and the other is a bit clingier but likes to be up high and see everything. And she has an infectious giggle. Of course, they are both delightful. Well, last week, Laynie got to go with me and babysit them again. It was much easier with two people! Naturally, I got the fun jobs like booger-extracting (both had colds) and diarrhea-diaper-changing, but it was so nice to have company and an extra set of hands. One (Miss Independent) was HILARIOUS when I fed her. Even after having her nose suctioned, she couldn't breathe and eat at the same time, so she would greedily slurp for as long as I left the bottle in her mouth. The formula would run down into her neck folds... oh gosh. She would noisily suck on the bottle until I pulled it from her mouth, which would about every 10 seconds. I was afraid she'd drown herself! Then she'd gasp for air, milk running right out of her mouth. Laynie was cracking up. Miss Independent's sister, Miss Giggles, is going with "starve a cold." I know, 8-month-olds don't make very good decisions. Anyway, I had a great time with the girls, and I'm about ready to call their mom and ask if she doesn't have something she needs to do outside the home... child-free.

Ah, church. Church is great. My class is great. I never know who's going to be there, because apparently some families take loooooong vacations... and some take many vacations. But I love, love, love my kiddos. They are professional tangent-inducers. And I am always good for a digression, so we're a great team. Yesterday, a lesson on Rehoboam and the impact of peer pressure devolved into a 10-minute discussion on who Jews are and what the deal is with Hanukkah, which they now want to celebrate. Oy vey.

On to my next topic: Bug. Laynie is still a happily-implanted girl. I laugh when one of her batteries dies and she has to take off the other one, because hearing with one ear is just not pleasant. What a Picky Patricia! I guess I can't knock it, because I haven't been there. It IS pretty annoying if I lie down to watch TV and a pillow blocks one of my ears. I guess having NO hearing in one ear would be worse. But she had no hearing in *both* ears for so long! Anyway, she can still understand some simple words in context. She understood something recently that surprised me.. I'm trying to remember what it was. Oh, yeah. I was in the bathroom, and Laynie yelled through the door, "What do you want for dinner?" I understood her (yay!) and called back, "I don't know!" She understood me (a billion yays!) and said, "You don't know??" It was a really productive conversation. The other day when I stayed late--very late--at work, I guess Laynie got worried, because she called my cell phone. I showed it to my friend, Cindy, teacher of the deaf, who got all excited. She got to hear a scintillating call, which went something like this:

Me: Hello?

Laynie: Hi, Annie.

Me: Hi.

Laynie: Are you coming home?

Me: Yes.

Laynie: OK.

Me: OK.

Laynie: Bye.

Me: Bye.

Cindy got all misty-eyed, saying how she would have loved to have had even that simple a conversation with her deaf mother over the phone. Cindy's such a good egg. I can always count on her for a cheer when little listening triumphs happen. I'm sure there have been more of those little triumphs lately, but I just can't think of any. It's going to take a long time for Laynie to learn to listen--especially if I continue to sign voice-off! After a couple of tough years learning not only to turn off my voice when I sign but not even to mouth English words (ASL grammar!), it's really hard to use my voice at home. It's hard to remember, and it feels awkward when I do. Usually, I only use my voice when I'm mad. Not that I get mad... Anyway, I always notice the quietness of my home after my sister has been around. We get pretty noisy together, and the difference is glaring. Laynie always comments on how LOUD we are, and Katie tosses back, "Quit being so hearing then!"

Laynie is getting very good at identifying environmental sounds. She can describe a sound (with classifiers, which turn out to be far superior for describing sounds than any English words) and predict what probably made that sound. Next stop, speech? I guess time will tell.

Well, isn't this just like me? Once I get going, there's no stopping me! I guess I'll call it quits for today. I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the school year, fall, and whatever other transitions are going on in your lives.

Watery Weekend

Laynie and I went up to New York last weekend to babysit the Honor kids while Maureen and Eric went away. We had a great time, especially taking pictures in the pool. Water-proof camera!

Me and my favorite kids: Carson, age 7, Morgan, age 10, and McConn, age 6.

The pool area. You can see a little Laynie in the top right corner, ready to go down the slide.

The slide went pretty fast... surprisingly fast, apparently.

Morgie on the slide.

Heehee, what a geek.

McConn is so light, she practically flies up the side!

Laynie and her getting-less-little-all-the-time boy (too bad Laynie's face is blocked by bubbles). It is a well-known fact that Carson adores Laynie and is the only one who does not need my help to communicate with her. He doesn't sign either. I think they might use telepathy.

McConn smells like teen spirit... oh, nevermind.

Me and Mor. Everybody had fun taking underwater pictures.

The kids showed off their personalities...

McConn's personality is a model/singer/actress/princess.

I don't know why I like this pictures so much.. Carson is just stinking cute.

Me and my favorite boy!

Can you believe these children have a pool and did not know about chicken fighting? We were able to educate them. (Videography by Morgan)

I still can't believe Laynie let Morgie get on her shoulders. I told her no!

Poor Laynie.

McConn wasn't really good at the whole "using your muscles" thing.

But she was very good at carrying her older brother!

We threw the little kids around for a while.

They showed off their awesome jumps.

"Save me from these insane people?"

The next day, the kids went to a friend's house and we had the pool to ourselves. Yay! Time to play with the camera...

It's hard to take a good underwater picture.

Very hard...

Got one!

Little devil Laynie.

Scary girl!

See? Crazy eyes.

I love swimming!

We had a good time in New York, and I want to go back again before the end of the summer. Next time, Katie, you are coming with! Two musketeers need the third!