It is always nice to hear people talk about how well Chance is doing. It is a topic we don't tire of:)
During the last few weeks, several people have commented on how well Chance is doing. One is a neighbor that lives on the corner. She sees Chance's brother a lot but has not seen Chance in a while. She was amazed at how well he is doing. Her son who does not know Chance(he is visiting after being wounded in Iraq), said he could hardly tell he was deaf he talked to him so well.
Chance's teacher at school(the school for the deaf teacher) said that Chance is continually saying things that amaze her. Yesterday, he explained to the rest of the kids how air dried up a marker that the lid had been left off of. Then he told the kids that air is all around us. His teacher also said sometimes when she hears Chance talking his phrases etc. sound like things any other 6 year old would say. She enjoys watching Chance's language grow and unfold.
Chance is reading at a middle 1st grade level and continues to progress. This is a child who went two years with out language...and now he is reading at the level that his peers are. When we started, Chance would balk when I asked him to read a book he had not read before. Now I regularly introduce books that Chance has not seen before and he reads them. Tonight when I brought out a new book for him to read he looked at it and responded,"I think I can read that book." And indeed he did. I can get Chance to read for 20 to 30 minutes every night. When we started, it was a challenge to get Chance to feel that he could indeed do that.(thanks a heap to his reading teacher:).
We have noticed that Chance has been progressing by leaps and bounds, but it is nice to hear other people say that they are noticing too. Chance has started saying 'Uh huh. " When you ask him a question which is a new development.
Chance has also started phrasing things the exact way that his brother does which means he is catching those little language differences.
We really could not have asked for more when Chance got the second implant. Having the two implants really gives him a boost.
One thing that I really love is being able to explain things to Chance and feel that he is understanding what I say. Chance has always been inquisitive about things around him, but before the implants, he did not grasp what was being said many times. It was frustrating to both of us as he wanted to know something, and I would try to figure out a way to explain it so he would understand. It was heartbreaking to see that Chance just did not get what I was saying. He would sometimes ask me the same question over and over and I would try to come up with an answer that he could understand.
I explained to him what air was just the other day. He was absolutely amazed as his face attested. He had never realized that air was all around us before and that air made his hands dry and was what we blew up balloons with. He got the concept so well, that he transferred air drying things up to markers and told the other kids at school about it. I love that. I love being able to share things with him and to see his face light up or his eyes shoot up in surprise as he starts to contemplate things that he hasn't before.
Chance's ability to progress so fast is nothing short of a miracle. He is truly blowing all of us out of the water with his progress.
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