CI Moments

Keanusmom, you just cracked me up laughing hysterically. I know the songs from Outkast and listened to DMX in my hearing aid days, so I can imagine how you were like dang, my song is rapping LOL!! The only one I had an issue with listening to is B.O.B by Outkast. His mouth just flaps way to fast for my ears hehe. That is just wonderful though that he has came a long way. I can't wait to hear about more moments :)
 
My CI moment!!!!!!

My husband gave me the best gift - my own video ipod. I decided to download a free Magic Tree House audiobook. I use these fantastic books in my classroom. I'm sure I know all the books by heart! Well I am listening without a book in front of me, I am so enjoying it!!! I'm understanding around 80%-95% of the words. So I am off in my own world - the words are so crisps and clear. :ugh3:

So the treehouse started to spin, it spun faster and faster until everything was still perfectly still.
 
R2D2 said:
Glad that the new direction in education is working well for you both and it sounds like you wish you had the confidence to do it sooner.
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That is SOOO true. Its like, I knew it all along, but I was listening to "experts". I was intimidated because I had not had time to do my own research (and there really wasn't much available) before he was implanted. Did I tell y'all that it wasn't my decision to implant him? I was "convinced" that this would be the best thing for him and that he would be hearing and talking. I personally accepted that I had a deaf child as soon as he was diagnosed, but, as I said, I was listening to "them" and they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. :(

I think that with your son being implanted at the age of four and having no spoken language before that, he was always going to struggle in an oral only program and it would have been prudent for the professionals to have recommended a program with ASL in a Bi Bi or TC approach at that age.
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I agree, now that I know what it all entails and the possibility of it not going the way we planned. I wasn't given the option of Bi Bi, only Oral and TC. NO ASL at all. It makes me sick sometimes to know that my son was part of an experiment (you know Black people are sensitive to that mess! LOL) yet, no one took any data from me. No one asked for MY feedback in these studies I am reading about daily. I have yet to read a story where a child is like mine. All success stories were available in the beginning.
Only in HERE have I heard the REAL on how the implant feels inside your heads, how sounds sound, how it feels to hear for the first time. My son wasn't able to tell me all of that when he got his. So, hank you all again for keeping it real!

By the way, your son has a lovely smile :)
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:ty: He get's it from his Mama! :D


contradica said:
Keanusmom, you just cracked me up laughing hysterically. I know the songs from Outkast and listened to DMX in my hearing aid days, so I can imagine how you were like dang, my son is rapping LOL!! The only one I had an issue with listening to is B.O.B by Outkast. His mouth just flaps way to fast for my ears hehe. That is just wonderful though that he has came a long way. I can't wait to hear about more moments
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LOL My son is a true card! Now, he was only singing the chorus (There is no way he could keep up with Andre 3000!)

Man, at that graduation I spoke of earlier, his class had to sing a song, You've Got a Friend by James Taylor. For the final chorus, they said, "Everybody sing!" The audience sounded terrible because there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Knowing your child is deaf...
and seeing him up there singing a song (which is already a tear-jerker)...
and they sound like angels...
just makes your heart melt, man! :ily:
 
CI Moment!!

This morning I was at work passing through an office to get to the fax machine in what I call a walk in storage closet. Passing through, there is a woman I work with name Pat concentrating so I sprinted passed her because I did not want to bother her. Pat is a cool chick, she was one of the few that felt my magnet on my head. I'm half awake trying to remember whether the document goes face down or face up in this fax machine.

"Whose there?" I hear Pat say.

"It's me." I reply.

Mind you, there is a wall separating Pat and I.

"Abbie! You heard that?!" Pat said.

I peer around the corner and I see Pat sitting right in front of the doorway, with wide eyes just like a kid going to a candy store.

"Yeah Pat, I heard you." I replied nonchalantly.

"I can't believe that! Now before you would have never heard me before right?" Pat said.

BOOM! It hit me like an espresso shot. Talk about a super delayed reaction. These moments sure sneak up on you!
 
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contradica said:
This morning I was at work passing through an office to get to the fax machine in what I call a walk in storage closet. Passing through, there is a woman I work with name Pat concentrating so I sprinted passed her because I did not want to bother her. Pat is a cool chick, she was one of the few that felt my magnet on my head. I'm half awake trying to remember whether the document goes face down or face up in this fax machine.

"Whose there?" I hear Pat say.

"It's me." I reply.

Mind you, there is a wall separating Pat and I.

"Abbie! You heard that?!" Pat said.

I peer around the corner and I see Pat sitting right in front of the doorway, with wide eyes just like a kid going to a candy store.

"Yeah Pat, I heard you." I replied nonchalantly.

"I can't believe that! Now before you would have never heard me before right?" Pat said.

BOOM! It hit me like an espresso shot. Talk about a super delayed reaction. These moments sure sneak up on you!
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Ahhh, we have graduated to NONCHALANTLY, have we? Lol, j/k....a great moment!
 
contradica said:
This morning I was at work passing through an office to get to the fax machine in what I call a walk in storage closet. Passing through, there is a woman I work with name Pat concentrating so I sprinted passed her because I did not want to bother her. Pat is a cool chick, she was one of the few that felt my magnet on my head. I'm half awake trying to remember whether the document goes face down or face up in this fax machine.

"Whose there?" I hear Pat say.

"It's me." I reply.

Mind you, there is a wall separating Pat and I.

"Abbie! You heard that?!" Pat said.

I peer around the corner and I see Pat sitting right in front of the doorway, with wide eyes just like a kid going to a candy store.

"Yeah Pat, I heard you." I replied nonchalantly.

"I can't believe that! Now before you would have never heard me before right?" Pat said.

BOOM! It hit me like an espresso shot. Talk about a super delayed reaction. These moments sure sneak up on you!
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Cool. Glad it's going so well. My hubby was talking to one of my daughters on the phone and said something to her and I told him the answer cause it was something he was saying he didn't know. He goes you heard me? I said yeah. He says to my daughter 'she heard me from the other room' then laughing he says to her, 'that's scary' :D
 
contradica said:
This morning I was at work passing through an office to get to the fax machine in what I call a walk in storage closet. Passing through, there is a woman I work with name Pat concentrating so I sprinted passed her because I did not want to bother her. Pat is a cool chick, she was one of the few that felt my magnet on my head. I'm half awake trying to remember whether the document goes face down or face up in this fax machine.

"Whose there?" I hear Pat say.

"It's me." I reply.

Mind you, there is a wall separating Pat and I.

"Abbie! You heard that?!" Pat said.

I peer around the corner and I see Pat sitting right in front of the doorway, with wide eyes just like a kid going to a candy store.

"Yeah Pat, I heard you." I replied nonchalantly.

"I can't believe that! Now before you would have never heard me before right?" Pat said.

BOOM! It hit me like an espresso shot. Talk about a super delayed reaction. These moments sure sneak up on you!
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That brought tears to my eyes!! What a wonderful CI moment!! Its stories like these that make me smile!!!
 
contradica said:
This morning I was at work passing through an office to get to the fax machine in what I call a walk in storage closet. Passing through, there is a woman I work with name Pat concentrating so I sprinted passed her because I did not want to bother her. Pat is a cool chick, she was one of the few that felt my magnet on my head. I'm half awake trying to remember whether the document goes face down or face up in this fax machine.

"Whose there?" I hear Pat say.

"It's me." I reply.

Mind you, there is a wall separating Pat and I.

"Abbie! You heard that?!" Pat said.

I peer around the corner and I see Pat sitting right in front of the doorway, with wide eyes just like a kid going to a candy store.

"Yeah Pat, I heard you." I replied nonchalantly.

"I can't believe that! Now before you would have never heard me before right?" Pat said.

BOOM! It hit me like an espresso shot. Talk about a super delayed reaction. These moments sure sneak up on you!
Click to expand...

Wonderful! :)
 
Earlier this morning, I could hear what sounded like running water but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I realized that it was pouring outside and that I've heard it once before. I went out to my patio to check and yep its rain Where I live, we're in middle of an expectional drought. I'm like has it been really that long since I last heard rain? I hope it rains again soon even if the sound drives me crazy as we won't have to rationize water if it rains and ends the drought.
 
deafskeptic said:
Earlier this morning, I could hear what sounded like running water but I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I realized that it was pouring outside and that I've heard it once before. I went out to my patio to check and yep its rain Where I live, we're in middle of an expectional drought. I'm like has it been really that long since I last heard rain? I hope it rains again soon even if the sound drives me crazy as we won't have to rationize water if it rains and ends the drought.
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Woo hoo!! Thats great skeptic!! Doesn't rain sound so cool? I now know why people find it very soothing. What is next on your list to hear?
 
I am actually caught in a bit of dilemma myself. Before I go on explaining that, let me outline little of my CI history. I received the device at the age of 5, and now I am still using it as I am currently attending an university at the age of 18. So, it would be nearly 13 years since then. The dilemma here is a matter of definition on the deafness. Without the device, I am profoundly deaf... so deaf that I have to rely on sign language, which is my primary language. However, with the device, I much prefer to speak verbally, though not fluently. Truthfully, I am relatively inexperienced in using my voice because such opportunity like that happens rarely. For some reason, I cannot seem to generate the long sentence in proper grammar and all when I use the voice. I couldn't even pronounce a lot of words that contain several syllables. Despite these, I am still able to communicate with my parents effectively and clearly with my voice. I really think it's just a matter of confidence. Indeed, a few lessons from speech therapy might have made a big difference in my case, but for now, I am too busy worrying about bigger issues at hand.

Oh yeah... I forget to mention one more thing. I can hear sounds pretty damn clearly, though not totally clear when someone speaks to me. I think it's more of a communication problem rather than disability problem. I simply need to interact more using my voice instead of sign language.
 
contradica said:
Woo hoo!! Thats great skeptic!! Doesn't rain sound so cool? I now know why people find it very soothing. What is next on your list to hear?
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Yeah. I always could hear a downpour even with my hearing aid. It does sound different with my C.I. It's not smoothing for me because I keep thinking that I forgot to turn off the faucet. It sounds like running water when I wear my C.I. I've heard it rain only twice since I got my CI as we're in middle of the worst drought spell in 113 years where I live.
 
Igor said:
I am actually caught in a bit of dilemma myself. Before I go on explaining that, let me outline little of my CI history. I received the device at the age of 5, and now I am still using it as I am currently attending an university at the age of 18. So, it would be nearly 13 years since then. The dilemma here is a matter of definition on the deafness. Without the device, I am profoundly deaf... so deaf that I have to rely on sign language, which is my primary language. However, with the device, I much prefer to speak verbally, though not fluently. Truthfully, I am relatively inexperienced in using my voice because such opportunity like that happens rarely. For some reason, I cannot seem to generate the long sentence in proper grammar and all when I use the voice. I couldn't even pronounce a lot of words that contain several syllables. Despite these, I am still able to communicate with my parents effectively and clearly with my voice. I really think it's just a matter of confidence. Indeed, a few lessons from speech therapy might have made a big difference in my case, but for now, I am too busy worrying about bigger issues at hand.

Oh yeah... I forget to mention one more thing. I can hear sounds pretty damn clearly, though not totally clear when someone speaks to me. I think it's more of a communication problem rather than disability problem. I simply need to interact more using my voice instead of sign language.
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Welcome! :)

I've heard that one advantage of speech therapy (I never had any either!) is that they can teach you how to use speech with less effort. Maybe if you went along and said that you're not so much worried about clarity, since everyone understands you okay give or take but that you want to be able to use speech with more confidence and less effort they can give you some ideas?

That way you can continue using sign whenever it suits you and speech too. My friend uses speech and sign a lot as well, her speech isn't really clear but she speaks confidently as if she has self belief.

Also, maybe you are being really hard on your self about spoken grammar. Hearing people break it all the time and bend it this way and that way. As long as people understand what you are saying, then who cares if you break all the rules or if the words with lots of syllables are mispronounced? Just about every deaf person mispronounces something because English is such a funny language and very inconsistent, but people usually know what you mean. I agree, communication rather than correctness is more important.
 
deafskeptic said:
Yeah. I always could hear a downpour even with my hearing aid. It does sound different with my C.I. It's not smoothing for me because I keep thinking that I forgot to turn off the faucet. It sounds like running water when I wear my C.I. I've heard it rain only twice since I got my CI as we're in middle of the worst drought spell in 113 years where I live.
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Yes, we are in the middle of a terrible drought here in Australia too. It must be a worldwide thing. I'd love to hear more of the torrential rain that used to be common when I first arrived here 10 years ago :(
 
. I feel like such a bad parent for not realizing that was the issue for so many years. I was convinced that his "miracle ear" was gonna kick in one day and make him talk right!
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You are just human. You did what you believed it's best at the time.
And I for one believe it was, as difficult as it was for your son it was good for him to have such an extensive therapy at learning to hear and speak with CI, because now he will catch up with his deaf peers in no time, while he will never lose his so far acquired CI skills at the same time.
have you neglected the much needed oral therapy back then, your son might have not been able to sign along with Outkast, ever...

Fuzzy
 
Keanusmom said:
Kind of. This is a critical year for my son. He was implanted at age four and was made to function in the hearing world. So this year, I sent him to a school for the deaf and he realized that THIS is where he belongs. So along with puberty kicking in, his psyche going haywire, having to leave his friends from his last school (oral program in a public school), realizing that he is part of the DEAF society! At the school for the deaf, everyone MUST sign at all times, so he is learning ASL at a super rapid pace. I feel like such a bad parent for not realizing that was the issue for so many years. I was convinced that his "miracle ear" was gonna kick in one day and make him talk right! But, as I said. This year was a big reality check for the both of us (he will be 13 in December). Now I am in ASL classes every weekend just trying to keep up with him!

Thank God for things like ASLPro.com, Sorenson VRS and Jr. NAD! All big aids in getting us comfortable in our new society.
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You are in no way a bad parent. You are a wonderful parent, as evidenced my the fact that you are willing to admit that you followed the advise of the experts because you thought that was best for your son, but now realize that "sitting on your hands" was a big mistake. It is not you that is at fault, but the professionals who continue to tell parents that this is the best approach for children with CIs.

Just continue to do what you are doing.
 
,Jillio:
but now realize that "sitting on your hands" was a big mistake.
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But then again - seeying how age is critical, and since your son was already 4 y.o., the advice you got was very good - and now your son can enjoy song's lyric which may not have been possible without extensive therapy, AND deaf peers now :)

Nothing is lost.

Fuzzy
 
Igor said:
Oh yeah... I forget to mention one more thing. I can hear sounds pretty damn clearly, though not totally clear when someone speaks to me. I think it's more of a communication problem rather than disability problem. I simply need to interact more using my voice instead of sign language.
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One way to practice hearing speech would be to go to the library and get books on tape and the book that would go with it and read along. Many here have done so after activation. They start with kids books. Hearing something while reading it would at least be a cheap way to see if the speech you are hearing can be cleared up some.
 
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