Wow. I have begun to see some areas that we need to work on some more with Chance. Those years without hearing all that he needed to has left him with gaps to fill in his vocabulary.
We have been working on things such as: fridge and refrigerator mean the same thing. And T.V. and television are one and the same. These are things that non-deaf 7 year olds would know.
Chance is eager to learn and it is funny to see the amazement on his face when he realizes that certain words mean the same thing. For instance, large and big. Or shy and bashful.
Today we played a game in the car as we drove. We would all take turns calling out things that we saw, and then everyone else in the car would call out when they saw them too. When we saw 'cranes' we talked about them, to help solidify the word in his vocabulary.
We continually listen to Chance as he says things and try to give him the correct way things are said. For instance when his brother was hiding around the corner Chance said," He was hiding on the corner!" So we rephrased it for him: "He was hiding around the corner?" Chance nodded.
Chance amazes us with how far he has come since we found out that he was deaf. It will take effort for all of us to catch Chance up, but it is worth it! Chance picks up on things quite beautifully now that he has the implants. It is not perfect, but his language and communication skills are continually growing. I hear him talking with his friends and laying out the details of being bad guys or animal rescue workers. I find it fascinating to hear my deaf son explain with detail and vigor where the hideout is, or lay out what must be done to save an injured stuffed raccoon that lays with his wounds wrapped in masking tape on my stairs. He plays imaginative games for hours with other kids in the neighborhood. Just as a 7 year old boy should.
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