The Best Language Toy Ever

A crucial element to the success in using cochlear implants is receiving auditory verbal therapy. Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) teaches deaf children how to utilize what ever usable hearing they have to acquire speech and language. It teaches the children how to listen. Ava receives AVT once per week. What is the best way to teach a child how to listen? Why through fun and play!

While you are playing with your child, you can help her/him increase his language skills and you can have fun together at the same time. It is amazing how an an incredible amount of language can be drawn from the simplest toy. After all, children learn best when they are having fun. A toy that not only promotes language but also maintains your child's interest.

I have been wanting to blog about a really great toy that Ava plays with constantly. It so happens that I think it is probably one of the best (if not the best) toy to use for auditory verbal therapy for toddlers. The toy is the ubiquitous MR. POTATO HEAD. Below are my reasons why Mr. Potato Head is so fantastic:

*BODY parts - Ava learned the names of the common body parts this way. First she learned body parts receptively by pointing when asked "where's the eyes?" Now, when I ask, "what's this?" she can respond orally and name the correct part.


*COLOURS - Ava learned her colours from this toy.

*AUDITORY MEMORY - "Give me the shoes and the eyes"....or "get the red shoes and the orange nose"

*WHAT'S MISSING? - leave the nose off and ask your child "What's missing?" or you can be silly and put the parts in the wrong spot and ask "Do the eyes go here?"

*CHOICE - do you want the ears or the feet?

*LEARNING PREPOSITIONS - "put the ears in", "take it off", put the hat "on" his head, "lay the feet beside the arms", "his hat is behind him"

*LEARNING PRONOUNS - "give the eyes to me", "those are his shoes", "where are your ears"

*SAME AND DIFFERENT" - put on a red ear and and orange ear and ask "is this the same?"

*TURN TAKING

*FUN FACTOR - Ava first received her Potato Head at around 12 months. She is now 21 months and still plays with it every single day.

Ava's AV therapist recommended a really great book called "The New Language of Toys"by Sue Schwartz. It is all about how to use toys to stimulate your child's language skills. It recommends age appropriate toys to use for different age groups as well as how to make some homemade toys. It also has a guide and checklist to follow as to what language goals are reasonable for their age and development. I am constantly referring to the book for new language game ideas. It retails for about $22US.

I bought a used one on Amazon for much less than that.

Happy Playing!

Long Overdue!

It has been more than three months since I posted. Why? Well, other than being a super busy mom running a household of husband and six kids, I really did not have much new to report. I like to use this blog to update all as to Ava's progress. However, I had found that she had plateaued somewhat. Did this worry me? A little, since she was making huge language leaps at 4 to 8 months post activation. Then, after her auditory testing last December, which indicated how remarkably well she is doing, her progress slowed somewhat. But this is not because of her CI's or her deafness. It is normal toddler development. Like in the beginning of her CI activation, she spent most of her time learning to listen and taking in her environment, before producing any words. Toddlers go through this process from time to time, where development is more likely to come in bunches, with plateaus in between. But even during the plateaus, they are always sponging everything in! And the proof is when one day Ava would drop something on the floor and exclaim, "WHAT HAPPENED?" completely out of the blue. Or, "I want TV"..... little two to three words sentences......out of the blue. That kid never ceases to whip out little surprises. Or how she completely emptied her drawers and came out of her room having pulled on pants and a shirt all by herself. She now must decide what clothes she wears along with the shoes. She surprised us by singing the entire alphabet (some pronunciation correctly and some using approximations but the right intonation) as well as the part you sing at the end.."now I know my ABC's"....She loves to dance to music, knowing how to manipulate the CD player. And she loves it when we hide a wind-up noise making toy, and she has to find where it is by only listening to where it is coming from.

Ava also continues to have occasional temper tantrums. When she does this, she pulls her CI's off (along with huge clumps of hair due to the wigtape we use to keep the CI's on). We simply put her in her crib until she calms down, which is about a minute or two later. Then she is all happy and smiling. The tantrums occur about once a day and more so when she is tired. I guess she pulls of her CI's to try to spite us? But we leave them off until she calms down.

When Ava wakes up in the morning, she entertains herself in her crib while waiting for us to get her up by singing and talking to herself. The language is quite clear, even though she can't hear herself. Our AV therapist indicated that this is like when we get up in the middle of the night and make our way to the bathroom in the dark, even though we can't see anything, we automatically know where to go because our brains remember. Just like Ava can speak and sing with her CI's off, even though she can't hear herself. It really is quite amazing.

Ava also FINALLY received the compact rechargeable batteries for her N5's. It is much shorter than the regular length battery container. It looks great on her-you can hardly see that she is wearing anything from the front, other than the earhook. They sent me the wrong colour, hence why the bottom half is beige. I received the dark brown a short time later.

Winter Fun?.....and Ava's Progress

Winter is here in Toronto, much to Ava's chagrin. She is not thrilled with the snow, refuses to walk on the stuff and throws off her mittens in protest with a resounding NO! She also refuses to have anything to do with Santa; having brutally endured not one but two Santa photos. The first of which she would only participate if I was in the picture holding her and the second time she screamed her head off even as I held her. Funny thing is she would really admire Santa from a distance...pointing to him, smiling, saying "ta ta" and even watch older sister Lauren practically tackle the man with excitement.

Ava just completed both hearing testing as well as testing of auditory comprehension and expressive communication. On the hearing testing, she is hearing around the 20 to 25 decibel range with her CI's! This range covers pretty much all of the speech sounds. With respect to the auditory comprehension, she scored in the 97th percentile and equivalent to a one year 9 month old HEARING child. With respect to expressive communication, she scored again in the 97th percentile and equivalent to a one year eleven month old HEARING child. Ava has only heard sound for seven short months and is one year 5 months old. She has SURPASSED what the average hearing child of her age would be expected to score on these tests! This is proof that early intervention, an excellent implant team (thanks to Sick Kids hospital and Dr.Papsin), an experienced audi with superb mapping skills (thank you Susan Drukker) and an amazing auditory-verbal therapist (thank you Mila DeMelo) whom we follow her activities at home faithfully and God Himself = an incredible little girl who is excelling beyond belief.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

FINALLY! Ava has her new processors!

Ava picked up her new Nucleus 5 processors yesterday. They are very sleek and much thinner than the Freedoms. The reason Ava was able to get the upgrade was because she was implanted with the Nucleus 5 back in March as part of the study. Now that the N5 processors have been released, she was able to upgrade so that her internal implant now matches the external processor. Here are a few pictures to show the comparison of Freedom vs. Nucleus 5 processors:

In addition to being much smaller/thinner, the new processor has:

-improved water resistancy - IP44 and IP57 ratings

-auto-telecoil

-remote control - the screen on the Freedom processor which was used for programming and troubleshooting, etc has been replaced by a remote control which has a much larger screen and is also in colour - this is a fantastic feature as it also features a trouble shooting program and takes you through a step by step list of how to troubleshoot-the remote is also used to adjust volume and sensitivity levels- the remote is also used to test the processors to make sure they are working properly

-the coil headpiece is now detachable from its cable

-two batteries instead of three

However, the processor is only using disposable batteries for the time being as the rechargeable battery has not received FDA approval - it is unknown as to when the rechargeable battery will be approved - we have been using the rechargeables with the Freedoms and have never used the disposables - it was so much more convenient. The disposables apparently have a life of 38 hours. So for Ava, the batteries will last just over three days as she wears her processors about 10 hours/day.

For some people, this upgrade may cost thousands of dollars. Do I think it is worth it? Depends on what the cosmetic difference is worth to you. All in all, the technology of the N5 processor as a hearing device to my knowledge is probably not much different then that of the Freedom. If it were us, we probably wouldn't pay to upgrade at this time. Ava was doing remarkably well with her Freedoms, having met or exceeded her targets for 6 months post activation.

HAPPY TRICK OR TREATING!!!!

A Sunny Farm Day, Language Explosion and Walking!

A Sunny Farm Day

Today we took the girls to Downy's Farm during its annual pumpkin festival. I took my older children there every year when they were small. The farm is fantastic. They have a giant corn maze, huge pumpkin patch, petting zoo, farm animals, hay rides, fresh pies, haunted house, make your own scarecrows, to name a few things. Can you imagine Ava's surprise at meeting the farm animals up close for the first time! She was awestruck and speechless. It was hilarious. She met two cows, sheep, goats and geese.

Explosion

Ava's implants have been activated for nearly 6 months. Not only has Ava started walking this month, but there has been an explosion in her expressive language and receptive language. Month by month she has added a word or two to her vocabulary. This month, not only has she amassed another 8-10 words, she also can speak those new words much more clearly. She has also put two words together for the first time "don't touch" (but does not say this clearly) and she wags her arm and shakes her head no when she says it. Today she said "sock".....(pronounced as "saw") and she said this with the "s" sound. I was so shocked! I understood that many hearing children don't use the "s" until they are nearly 3 years old. I could almost swear I heard the "ck" sound at the end one time but it was pretty darn close. Her receptive language has really taken off too......she seems to understand everything....."go get the ball" , "do you want a book?", "give the cow to mommy", "kiss the baby", "gimmee five", "where's the ______ . Her favourite book is "Brown Bear" by Bill Martin Jr. She wants us to read this book over and over and over! At the end of that book, there is a compilation of all the animals in the book on one page. Tonight, when I asked her "where's the white dog", she pointed to it as well as correctly pointing to every single animal on that page. There is one other book she really enjoys and that is "Where's Spot" by Eric Hill. She doesn't have the patience for any other books yet except a couple counting books (one cat, two babies, three dogs, etc).

At the same time, we have noticed a change in her personality. Let's just say she is well on her way to entering the "terrible twos". She is starting to throw little tantrums if I have to take something away from her or if she doesn't get what she wants when she wants. And she is into EVERYTHING. She loves emptying and dumping things....her clothes out of her drawers, the pots and pans, the pantry. She is like that cartoon character-the tasmanian devil - causing a whirling mess everywhere she goes. So I allow her one cupboard in the kitchen that she is allowed to rummage in. She enjoys singing and doing the actions to the "head and shoulders, knees and toes" song.

In comparison to my 4 older hearing children, I can see how Ava is making huge strides in all aspects of her development. Being a deaf child with cochlear implants has not in any shape or form limited Ava's development or potential. She really is just a regular kid but special in her own lovable ways. Who could ask for anything more than that?

Unexpected Surprise!

AVA SAYS "APPLE"!!!!!!!!

Please let me tell you the story of our unexpected surprise at about 5:30pm tonight. I was cooking dinner. As usual, Ava was impatient because by 5pm she is a starving green eyed monster who MUST EAT at 5pm (like her daddy lol!) Well, as usual, dinner is not ready at 5pm, so poor little Ava has to WAIT and wait and wait......So, she starts to whine a little. The pasta is boiling away. I decide to pick up my hungry child and bounce her on my hip while I stir the pasta. I move over to the kitchen window and stare outside, watching the leaves fall from the trees and thinking how autumn has arrived and we should close the pool soon. And out of nowhere, without warning, Ava leans over from my hip, points to the apple on the window sill and says "a-pple" just. like.that. "a-pple". As clear as it could ever be. As clear as if I had said it. Two concise clear syllables; pronouncing each vowel and consonant "a-pple" just. like. that. I pause and just stare.....totally disbeliving....what.I.just.heard. I scream for my husband...."DID YOU HEAR THAT? SHE SAID APPLE!!!!!" Ava has never, ever said apple. Ava has never even had a word approximation for apple. Nada, never,zilch. HOLY CRAP i just about fainted. It was the most unexpected yet sweet surprise I have ever had IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! It was beautiful and insane at the same time. I said to my husband, "do you think she will say it again?" I grab the apple out of Ava's hands (already half devoured by her!). My husband positions the video button on his i-Phone......and here is the precious video....


So, I dedicate this video for all my friends who have precious children who are blessed to have (or are about to receive) cochlear implants. Ava is 14 months old and has been hearing for just under five months. And today, without warning or expectation, she said apple. Just.Like.That. I am so HAPPY! She is the "ap-ple" of my eye.

Ava's Song

Ever since I started writing this blog, it really has been all about...well, Ava of course. But just as important are the members of Ava's family who all play a fundamental role in her journey. Ava is very fortunate to have Markus as her daddy (and I as his wife). Markus is a children's singer/songwriter. He has appeared on Treehouse Tv and wrote and performed the live stage show for Bob the Builder , which has toured all across Canada. Markus also wrote a live stage show for Toopy and Binoo, which is currently touring across Canada. Ava's daddy wrote her a song, which was performed for the first time at Union Hearing Aid Centre's annual "Hear Here" fundraiser. I am proud to post the "unplugged" version of the song, along with the lyrics. To hear the song, click on "Ava's Song" on the sidebar to hear the song OR scroll down to the very bottom of the page and there's a music player with a video montage of the song. The song is currently being mastered at the studio and the mastered version will be posted in time. So grab some tissues, hold your beautiful child and enjoy......

Ava's Song - Words and Music by Markus 2009 all rights reserved

I listen to the wind in the trees
I understand when you talk to me
All the sounds that are part of me
I hear the love of my family

My life is filled with sounds to enjoy
I sing with Daddy when we play with toys
I laugh with Mommy and the girls and boys
All I hear brings me love and joy

It's the words I hear when you talk to me
It's the songs I sing when you sing with me
All the world is opening up for me
When I listen and I hear

I listen to the wind in the trees
I understand when you talk to me
All the sounds that are part of me
I hear the love of my family