Chance was tested this past week on his speech abilities. He is progressing so well!!
He could repeat back 8 word sentences. He could tell the difference between words like bat and boot and point to the pictures of these items. (So you can tell he was not just guessing). He could repeat back 4 numbers given in random order (3,6,9,2). He could hear whispering and differentiate between words such as hotdog, baseball and bathtub. (These words have the same beats.) We have seen Chance make great strides in his vocabulary and speech and now we have a professional telling us the same things!! When Chance had his hearing aids, sometimes he would guess what words were simply because he could tell the difference in the beats or he could guess the context. That still happens of course, but Chance is now able to take sentences that are arbitrary, where there is no context to guess what they might mean. The results of this test made my whole month! Chance is doing so well. He still does not hear everything of course. Nothing can restore natural hearing. But I am continually amazed at what Chance can hear. I can call down the stairs now to the family room and Chance will hear me even when the television is on down there!!
One of the biggest differences that I have noticed with the implant, is Chance's ability to really hear unknown words and repeat them back. When Chance had his hearing aids, giving him new vocabulary was difficult many times. He would ask what something was and we would tell him, but it was such a new strange word to him and he would not be able to hear it right. We would tell him the word, he would try to say it back and get frustrated when we kept saying the word again because he wasn't repeating it back right. With his implant, giving Chance new vocabulary is much less painful for all of us. First of all, Chance hears the words when you tell them to him. Second, he can focus more on the meaning of the words instead of trying so hard to say them right. Chance is ready for more advanced vocabulary too. Part of it is his age. But much has to be attributed to the fact that he just hears better. AND Chance has a great desire to hear and applies his force of will to do so.
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