Thirty Million Words

Thirty Million Words is a book I just bought about a month ago. I read a Facebook post about it and it looked interesting. It is written by cochlear implant surgeon. It is an amazing book! I have only ready the first few chapters and can't wait to read more. It is not about cochlear implants, but more about how very young children learn language. It does discuss cochlear implants and I am telling many parents about this book. These are parents of not just deaf children, but also hearing children.

I look back at all of the hard work that went in to making sure that Elijah would speak and have language. His articulation is still iffy on a few sounds, but overall he is an oral communicator with a huge vocabulary. Just yesterday, while helping his brother take out the trash he used the word PHOBIA. He freaked out when he saw a dead bug in the garage. His brother told him to get over it and just bring out the trash bag. I then hear Elijah yell, "I have a PHOBIA!!!" I later asked him what a phobia was and he said it was when a person is scared of something. He got most of the definition correct. He then told me he has a phobia of bugs. He then told me that arachnophobia is when you are scared of spiders. WOW! You would think I would stop being amazed by him, but he still amazes me on a daily basis. All of the hard work that we put in at the beginning of this journey has paid off. It has not been an easy journey, and it still isn't over yet, but we are definitely on the right path.

Thirty Million Words is being sold on Amazon and it is less than $20. Parents should be giving their children the gift of language....hearing or deaf, please talk to your kids. I learned to narrate my life when Elijah was in auditory-verbal therapy and I still do it to this day. It doesn't cost anything to talk to your kids!

Igneous Rock

One things that amazes me about Elijah is how well he learns new vocabulary words. He is a deaf child, who does wear cochlear implants, who has a strong vocabulary. Many of the words he uses, I have not taught him. He has learned them at school or incidentally through experiences in everyday life.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about him telling me about obsidian rocks. Well, the other day we were out driving and I asked him again about studying rocks. I asked him what his favorite rock was and he told me obsidian rock. He then added, "It is an ignus rock." I then said, "An igneous rock?" and he replied with "YES!" All I can say is WOW! His pronunciations aren't always great, but he does know what he is talking about. I wasn't sure if obsidian rock was an igneous rock so I looked it up and of course, Elijah was correct!

Elijah is so very smart, and I am hoping that he will show it more in school and in his life. He loves science, so of course, he has soaked in this vocabulary. However, he hates doing homework, so he doesn't want to work on any school work. ARGH! Not good for someone who wants to study rocks and go to college!

We will be visiting his junior high school in a little over a week. Due to some rezoning of the school district, he will be attending a different school than we had planned on at his ARD. I am going to be sure to tell them about his love for science!

A Converstaion with Elijah

Elijah and I were on our way to a doctor's appointment yesterday and below is a conversation we had:

Mom: Elijah, what is your favorite subject in school?
Elijah: Science
Mom: Oh really, well what do you want to be when you grow up?
Elijah: study rocks
Mom: You want to study rocks?
Elijah: yea, there is black rock....ossisian(approximation of what he said)
Mom: what kind of rock?
Elijah: Ossisan
Mom: Obsidian rock
Elijah: yea, the rock made from lava and cool water.
Mom: oh, well how do you get that kind of job?
Elijah: go to college.
                                                           
We then practiced how to say obsidian several time, using visual phonics. However, during all of this I was just amazed at his vocabulary. I even looked up obsidian rock and we were correct....meaning I was able to guess what he said from his speech approximation. Finally, teaching high school science paid off for me!! He picks up new vocabulary so easily. We do have to work on articulation, but he gives me enough information to work with.

"Houston, We Have a Problem!"

Elijah's cousin, Tabbie, is over today for a few hours so they can play. They played some Wii games and now they each sit on the couch with an electronic device. They are chatting and comparing games. I just heard Elijah laugh and say to Tabbie, "Houston, we have a problem!" I now sit here wondering where HE heard that phrase and amazed that he then used it himself and most likely appropriately.

I have written several times about my amazement of hearing Elijah speak and use the vocabulary and grammar structures that he does. I work with hearing impaired kids every day don't hear them use the vocabulary that Elijah does. Just the other day, Elijah was in the bath when he YELLS for me. It sounds like he is in terrible danger! I go in and he says to me, while pointing to some blisters on his heels...."MY SKIN IS DISSOLVING!" He has no processors on so I motion/gesture to him to finish his bath and BLAH basically, don't worry about it. I then turn around and GRIN from ear to ear thinking..."DISSOLVING!" WOW, what a word for him to use!

DEAF children can learn and pick up language incidentally. Even children who rely on sign language can IF their parents sign with them and use language around them all the time. I don't dumb down the language for Elijah. I speak to him like he is a 13 year old, and if I see he doesn't understand I change the way I say it and then say it the original way I said it again. I have done this since he was a baby. THIS IS WORK and it is a LOT OF WORK, but it has paid off!

I look  and listen to Elijah in amazement sometimes, and wonder HOW did we get here, but I know it was all the work we did in the past. We still have work ahead of us, but it is worth it when I hear...."Houston, we have a problem."

Mansions Have Ghosts!

Elijah and I have the house to ourselves this weekend. Jacob is away for two nights on an ROTC field trip and my honey is out of town until Monday! I had a dinner mystery shop, so Elijah and I set off for a 20 minute drive to eat dinner! We had a pretty interesting conversation driving there and then driving back!

Most of the drive is on a two lane road that has a lot of nice homes on it. You can even see a large lake! We discussed some of the homes and other things we saw as we drove there. We had a nice dinner and much of the conversation on the way home was on what we saw. We had seen a three story house and Elijah was looking for it again, because he had never seen a three story house. We saw it again and then we came upon a LARGE house up on a hill. There is even a gated entrance to this house. I pointed it out to Elijah and he said, "that's a mansion!" I was quite impressed he knew that word! I wouldn't say this was a HUGE mansion, but just calling it a house was not appropriate. Plus it sits on top of a hill and has a gated entrance. I told him he was correct, that was a mansion! He then said, "mansions have ghosts!" He laughed as he said it. I asked him why mansions have ghosts and he said, "because they are OLD!" I started laughing at that one! He told me the house was one thousand years old, so then I told him how old I thought the house was and we talked more about houses! I wondered where he might have heard the word mansion and realized it was probably from "Scooby Doo" cartoons and of course, in that cartoon mansions usually did have ghosts!

I still marvel at my son and how well he has done with learning language and using his cochlear implants. Today was a day that I realized how lucky I am that there is this technology out there and good therapists to work with us! I wish parents would realize that implants do work, but there is a LOT of time and effort that must be put in. It is not an easy fix. I look back at all of the therapy sessions we attended when he was first "turned on " and wonder how we did it all. How we drove back and forth to Dallas once a week for me and then David too him once a week. Jacob went with me when I took Elijah and we were after 6:30 getting home most days, after sitting in traffic for at least 90 minutes. All of those sacrifices were worth it though and as I watch Elijah today, I am thankful that we did put all of that time in with him. He is a joy to me, as is Jacob.

Things are not as hard these days. Tourettes, OCD and ADHD seem to get in the way some days, but for the most part things are going well there. He has had good days at school, with some minor issues, but nothing serious. I am glad he and I have had this time and still have time until Jacob comes home tomorrow afternoon/evening!

My Memories!

I am taking Elijah to the audiologist tomorrow for a new MAPPING. I am hoping we can figure out why his right ear "bugs" him. Now he hasn't complained about it lately, but he is at school most of the day so I am not around him for him to complain too. I would just rather go in and check it to be on the safe side!

I started thinking about how far Elijah has come since he was first implanted and how far technology has come. When Elijah was implanted in September of 2001, there was no behind the ear(BTE) CI processors. Everyone use the Sprint(pictured in this blog). He wore the processor in a harness and I used toupee tape to keep the mic on his ear. He received his second implant in December 2004 and by that time there was a BTE called the 3G, but we stuck with the Sprint. One reason was because we had heard about a 4th generation(Freedom) processor that would be coming out some time in 2005 and also because Elijah was only four and a half years old and we didn't think he was ready for the BTE. We did have a 3G in the box but wanted to hold on to it, IN THE BOX, so we got more for a trade in.

I also started thinking about how far Elijah has come in language development. A cochlear implant is only a tool. The therapy and the work by the parents is what makes the difference for a child learning language. We did work hard, very hard, and now Elijah does very well, but he still has some catching up to do. He got his Freedom processors in Oct. of 2006 and hopefully one day he will get the Nucleus 5! I am thankful for this technology every day and for all of the people who have helped us along this journey!

IEP Meeting and Update

We had Elijah's annual IEP(we call it an ARD meeting here in Texas) and it went fairly well. We are going to change his schedule around and have him in a resource Science and Social Studies class. He needs the smaller class size due to his behavior and due to his academics. He is reading at a 3.5 grade level and is progressing with his deaf ed. teacher. She has been with him for several years.

There are concerns about behavior. He has been yelling a lot lately and that is something everyone is working on. He and I even talked about it today. We are hoping that by changing his schedule that his frustration level will lower and that will lead to better choices in behavior. He starts his new schedule on Monday and we shall see how it goes.

Jacob is doing well in school. He still loves ROTC. He has learned to shave with a regular razor. His grandpa helped him with that! He is so handsome! He can be quite nice at times, and other times a grumpy teenager, but sometimes I am grumpy so I guess we all have those times.

We are gearing up for the holidays. Each of the boys has a short list of things they want. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break! School is going well for me, but I am so busy!

Keeping my fingers crossed that we see improvement with Elijah and I'll keep y'all posted.

Vocabulary, Ipads and Cartoons

Elijah still amazes me daily with the vocabulary he uses. I have got to be a better recorder and start writing down some of what he says. He loves POKEMON right now(drives Jacob and I crazy with it) and is always wanting us to watch it. He will say things like, "look mom, that pokemon is EVOLVING!" He then tells me all the names of the Pokemon animals...is that what they are? He also tells me about the story. He will then tell me that the people are evacuating. I am just amazed that he can relate all of this to me in a coherent way that I understand, or think I understand. I am not a big Pokemon fan.




Elijah also loves my IPad. I use it as a reward for good behavior at school. His teachers do email me if he had a rough day, and he doesn't like losing his time with the Ipad. He likes watching videos on youtube or playing angry birds. He will bring me the Ipad and tell me all kinds of things about what he is doing. He told me today about some "creepers" in a game he was playing. He is also very good with the Ipad and doesn't get frustrated with it like he does the computer.

I almost forgot to tell y'all this cute story. Elijah called me on my cell phone the other day and I could not answer. He then called me again and left me a message. It went something like this, "mom are you there........mom are you there...I so worried, I call you back in a minute." Isn't that the cutest thing?!

I know it may not seem like a big deal, but the fact that he learns new vocabulary daily, with little intervention from me is amazing to me. I work with so many deaf students who just aren't at this level. Elijah's speech may not always be great, but the words he uses astound me. I'll have to start keeping a list of his words and update y'all later.

Language Development--Question Stage

It is a lot of fun to listen to Elijah these days and see what he comes up with when he is talking. He hit the question stage of language development about a year ago. I noticed it when he started it with the WHY questions!! He was like a 3 year old asking WHY WHY WHY about everything. He now listens to conversations and will chime in with a question. A friend of ours had a birthday the other night and we had cake! He asked her, "What year born you?" I corrected his question to, "What year were you born?" He repeated it and she answered. He then asked me the same question and his brother. Later that night he asked about his dad's birthday.

He seems more inquisitive these days and really wanting to know more about what happens around him. He doesn't mind repeating when I correct his grammar. I am glad to see that he is in this stage. I marvel daily at his vocabulary and his grammar skills. He has come a long way.

Quick update to on behavior...HE had a GREAT week at school!!!

Vocabulary!

Elijah's behavior has improved some, but today I wanted to post about his vocabulary. He still amazes me at times. Just this morning, we saw a very pretty FULL moon. It was HUGE in the sky!

Elijah says, "the moon orbits the earth. The earth orbits the sun. Mars has two moons. Jupiter has 63(I don't remember what he said) moons." We talked about it and how maybe when he gets older he can be an astronomer!

I was amazed at the vocabulary though...moon, ORBIT, Mars and Jupiter. He also remembered his /s/ at the end of plural words. Orbit was the huge one today. Last week it was the word NEVERMIND. He called for me and I replied with just a minute. As I began to walk in, he said "Nevermind mom. I got it." WOW, what a huge word for him.

As far as has deafness and language development I am continuously amazed at how much he learns and uses. Now we just have to keep working on behavior!

Minions!

Last week as we were shopping at Walmart I heard Elijah use the word "minions". Now I have heard this word, but I was wondering where he had heard this word. He was repeating the sentence over and over again. I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying but it was something like, "....and his minions."

Well, today when we went to see Shrek and there was a preview for "Dispicable Me" and the announcer says..."...and leads his minions..." meaning the main character was leading his minions. The minions are the little wierd looking followers. So I came home and looked up minion and it is....

- assistant: a servile or slavish follower of somebody generally regarded as important
- servant: a servant or slave
- favorite: a favored person

Now, I don't really think Elijah understands this word, but he has heard it. If he reads it or comes across it later in life, hopefully he can use context to know the definition or he may have to look it up. Here is a Disney movie though using this, in my opinion, large vocabulary word. It amazes me the words that children are exposed to everyday, and yes I know, some of them are words we would like our kids to avoid.

This made me remember the time I was teaching at the high school and one of our vocabulary words was indignant. Just a few days later, as Jacob was watching Thomas the Tank Engine, I hear the narrator say..."Thomas was indignant that...." and again I was in amazaement that a kid's show was using such higher level vocabulary.

All of this makes me realize what a sign dependent child misses on a daily basis, especially if the parents are not fluent signers. There is just so much vocabulary out there. I feel fortuante that this technology was and still is available. It was and still is a lot of work, but so well worth it! I wonder what new word he will use next!!

Elijah's and the Sinking Titanic

Elijah surprises me more and more each day with what he knows. Before I tell this story I have to explaing the game we play on the way to school. My mother was spending the night one night with us and teased Elijah saying he would have to sleep in the attic. He then came back with,"grandma has to sleep in the fireplace." They went on and on for a while coming up with strange places to sleep. Elijah loves this game and I use it as a tool to teach vocabulary and also to ask WHY a place may not be a good place to sleep.

About a week ago, he started this game with me in the car on the way to school. We went back and forth a few times and then he told me, "MOM you will sleep in the sinking Titanic." I was impressed he knew what the Titanic was. He then said, "You will sleep in the bow." Ok now I am really impressed and said, "THE bow, really?" He came back with, "No you sleep in the stern." Well I knew one of these was the front of the boat and the other the back, not sure which was which(I looked it up later), but I was impressed he just new the terms. I emailed his teacher later and she wrote back taht he loved to read a book about the Titanic that she had and that he loved looking at a picture of the ship with the different parts labeled.

So today, he starts with the game again and tells me again I will sleep in the sinking Titanic. He then tells me I will sleep in the cabin in the birge. I said, "The birge, don't you mean the bilge(his /l/ is not always the greatest." He argued with me about how to say it and I just said whatever, because I wasn't sure I was even right. I did look it up later though, and it is the bilge! Again, quite impressed. He then said, "Mom, the first class has a lot of money. The second class has a little money and the third class is at the bottom." I am sure he meant at the bottom of the ship, where the third class cabins were. WOW! All of this from reading a book.

He is a smart little guy, who isn't so little anymore. Today was his last day as a third grader! He is now officially a fourth grader and summer has begun!

Another Update!

The week started off rough for Elijah, but slowly got better. He has had an increase in tics and a change in meds. I think that has affected him, but hopefully we are on the right track now. His stomach troubles have improved. I think he has about cleared out his system! He amazes me with his academic knowledge and his ever increaseing vocabulary. Just crossing my fingers that things continue to go well. He is playing soccer and had one of his better games last night. He actually kicked the ball!

Jacob is out of his room more and playing with friends. Now that the weather is nicer he is out playing with friends most evenings. He and two friends came in when the sun went down and have been playing back in his room. I'll have to send them home in about 45 min! I am glad to see him get out more and off the computer!

I am doing well. Work keeps me very busy. I will travel to Austin for a meeting at the beginning of May. I have a three day workshop in Fort Worth in July. Thankfully, I'll be off most of the summer!

We head to the beach in June with my mom, sister, and my nephew. It will be fun. My grandmother has been ill and I cannot wait to see her. Please keep her in your prayers.

It's Just Not Fair

OK, I just need to vent for a minute and let off some steam. I am not aggravated at Elijah, more at the situation.

For whatever reason tonight, he brings up our cat Ridgeway, who died in November 2008. This is over a year ago. He has been going to sleep with no problems since I can't even remember, but not tonight. Tonight I can hear him crying in his room. He mentions Ridgeway and how he misses him. Now you must realize, at this point he cannot hear me. I sign to him that I miss the cat too and it is time to go to sleep. He says YES and I leave after a few hugs and kisses. About ten minutes later I hear him sobbing in his room and so I go back in. He says I LOVE YOU MOM....I miss Ridgeway. I took him a melatonin pill and I put his processor back on. I am stern and tell him he must go to sleep or no computer for tomorrow. I tell him that Ridgeway did die and is in heaven, but NOW it is time to go to sleep. I hate to be so stern, but he doesn't GET IT when I am nice about going to sleep.

It just isn't fair that on top of having Tourettes with OCD, ADHD and anxeity that he has to be DEAF. With his implants he can hear, but there are SOME situations that he cannot....bathtime, swimming, and bedtime are the main times that I can think of. He does know some sign so I can sign to him, and he does talk back to me, but NOT enough sign for us to have a REALLY good conversation. It just isn't fair that he is deaf AND Tourettes, OCD, ADHD and anxiety. I consider that second grouping ONE neurological condition.

I am thankful that he does have such a good language set. His language skills are good, don't get me wrong, but there are times when it is NOT good enough.

OK, my vent is done and I feel better!

Forecast!

I have been meaning to share this story for a few days, but keep forgetting so here goes. Elijah still amazes me daily with the vocabulary he learns and picks up. His newest word is forecast! He was turning on the wii and I asked him what game he was going to play. I was in another room and he said "Mom, I am looking for the forecast." I walked into the den and sure enough, he had the weather up on the Wii looking to see what the weather for the week would be like. He wanted to see about the snow I think....that we didn't get!

Of course, this was a great moment for me and for him, although he didn't know it! I have no idea how he learned that work, but I am assuming from watching the news with me. After several hard weeks with his tourettes it was nice to be able to smile about this!

Five Cool Things about Having a Cochlear Implant

This is a picture of Elijah with his cochlear implant processors and his cat Tiger. Tiger was a kitten when this was taken. I just looked for a picture that would show Elijah's processors. For those who don't know, the coil(round thing attached to his head) is a magnet. When surgery is performed a magnet is put under the scalp and its only purpose is to hold the coil in place to send the signal to the internal part of the implant.

These are five cool things about having a cochlear implant. Please add to it if you like in the comment section:

1. You can turn off your "hearing" whenever you like. My mom was getting onto Elijah one time when he was much younger and Elijah knocked his coil off(he only had one at the time) and shot my mom a look of "I can't hear you!".

2. You can attach magnetic darts to the side of your head, or any other magnet that will stick. We have found that refrigerator magnets don't generally hold.

3. You can demagnetize a credit card by swiping it near your magnet.

4. Your parents never really know if you heard them or if you just have "selective listening" like most other kids have.

5. Your parents are so excited about the things you say, that they don't really mind when you say your first cuss word. They are just excited you learned a new word incidentally. You can get by with this a few times with each new cuss word!

A Little Brag

Now that Elijah is on Level 4 in the behavior program he is having a little homework at night. Mostly studying spelling words and also reading a book. This past week he hada book about a little boy who only had one arm. His other arm was missing at birth and he had a stump for an upper arm. No elbow or anything past that. I apologize if I am not politically correct.

In the book it discusses how he got a prosthetic arm and hand. It also showed how he made friends and that people asked about his prosthetic arm. I compared it to Elijah's cochlear implants and how they are prosthetic ears! It took 3 nights to read the entire book and he did a great job. His fluency is amazing. He never quite pronounced prosthetic correclty, but he did try several times when I corrected him.

Well, we always watch the news at night and of course Haiti is covered nightly. Elijah watches while he plays and sometimes he makes comments or I make comments. He was very interested when they showed a little boy what had to have his arm amputated due to a crush injury. The news showed him with a bandaged stump. Elijah looked right at me and said, "mom he needs a prottettic." Now he didn't say prosthetic correclty but HE USED THE WORD and used it correctly. He didn't say fake arm or a new arm. He used the word prosthetic!

Elijah amazes me daily with the words he uses and clauses....mom WHEN we are done shopping, can I play the Wii?

Now we still have some behaivior to work on, but I take pride in whatever I can!

Language

I am amazed daily at Elijah and how much language he has acquired. As many of you know I work with hearing impaired students in my school district. Many of them are sign dependent kids. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a strong supporter of sign, but I am also a strong supporter of parental support at home in learning signs. The students I have who have parents who sign do so much better than those that just learn enough to get by.

I don't think many people really realize how children learn language. It all starts at the moment of birth. Babies listen to all the sounds around them for almost 12 months before they really begin trying to put words together. It may even take 18 months. Babies babble, of course, and parents respond and that is how it all starts. For a deaf baby, they don't get that. Sometimes parents don't even know their child is deaf until the child is 12, 18 or 24 months old and then they are playing catch up. I work with so many children who do sign, but still don't really have the language appropriate age. I also work with children with cochlear implants who have not progressed as well as other kids. Sometimes it is that appropriate therapy was not done, or the child just has their own rate of progress, or there is a secondary condition. I also work with deaf ed. teachers who are very inflexible and think their way is the only way. HOW HOW HOW are we to make any progress with these kids if we can't see eye to eye or at least work together.

Anyway, I am off of my soapbox! I went to a workshop at Calliers Center for Communication Disorders in Dallas. It was titled Learning through the years and started with babies through college years on development and not just language development....social and emotional issues for deaf children. Now I have always known vocabulary was important but I couldn't put it in words to explain it well enough to parents. However I learned something in those two days about vocabulary.

There are three tiers of vocabulary. Tier 1 is basic vocabulary that every six year old should know...chair, table, bed, bath etc. Tier 3 vocabulary is academic vocabulary. These are words we don't use every day like isotope, quadrilateral, inclined plane, etc. Tier 2 words are words the "meat" of our vocabulary and where we should focus when teaching children. These are words that can be USED to teach Tier 3 vocabulary. This really got me thinking about how to teach kids. ALSO, that parents need to understand that it doesn't matter HOW WELL a child can sound out words if he doesn't have the vocabulary to understand WHAT is being read.

We have got to UP the ante when working with these kids. We can't just take what they give us, but must demand that they give us more. I'll give you an example of how Elijah used Tier 3 vocabulary. it is that inclined plane story I told a while back. Elijah asked me what something was. I answered it was a RAMP(Tier 2 vocab) and he said NO mom it is an inclined plane. HE had the Tier 3 vocabulary word and used it while I had chosen a Tier 2 word. However, Elijah had known the Tier 2 word...ramp...and at school when taught inclined plane with a definition of ramp he had known it and learned it. SO many of these kids don't have the tier 2 vocabulary to understand the tier 3 academic vocabulary they are being taught.

The other thing we have to do is expect more from them in regards to speaking and using sentences. Don't accept pointing when they want something or accept ONE word. Great they used the word, but "feed" them the sentence and help them practice and expect it every time. I did this with Elijah and didn't even KNOW I was doing it. Now when he asks things like "what is the number today?" I say "What is the date?". He repeats it and we move on. I don't have to spend a LONG time teaching him to repeat what I say and he learns it. It may take several weeks, but he always does. I do this with my students, but they need their parents to do it too!

I am glad to say that even after 19 years of teaching hearing impaired students and almost 10 years of being a parent of a hearing impaired child that I have learned something NEW. I am hoping that when I talk to parents I can turn them on to these ideas. We have to set high expectations and we have to HELP these kids meet these expectations. Elijah uses words like inclined plane, natural resources, chewbacca, darth vader, studs(from the game), character, remote, obstacle course and so on. He still needs me to "teach" him but I don't have to set up a lesson, I just have to be on the look out for those vocabulary words he needs. The newest one has been VILLAN. I heard it the other day and though, wow, we always use the words "bad guys" to explain the bad guys. Lets up the ante and use the words villan. It came up during a Star Wars Wii game and I just started talking about Darth Vader being a villan...a bad guy...like the joker is a villan on Batman and so on. I then used the word over several days. He has not used it, but he has heard it and if he reads it hopefully he will relate it to those Tier 2 words...."bad guys".