Did you hear that New YorK?

We have been working with Chance on certain sounds that he needs to work on. He is doing really well, but there are just some times when he speaks and I think, "Ok, I know what he said, and most people would understand what he said too. But there is just something about the way it sounds. What is it?" Usually it is
just something subtle like Chance is saying his g's too soft or the emphasis is on the wrong syllable in a word.

We go over these little speech errors and practice on a regular basis. Chance is really good about going over words that end in g or have a th in them.

It is a balance that you try to find as a parent. You want to help them have the best speech possible, but you don't want them to feel like all you do is correct them.

You also don't want your child's memories of childhood all tied into their deafness. We want Chance to feel like any other kid with his deafness being a part of him but not the main and only part of him. So it is a delicate balance of working with Chance on speech errors and letting him just be a kid.

Apparently, Chance also has a desire to improve his speech. It is always a plus when the desire comes from within as opposed to just being forced on you. Chance made the point of telling me the other day that he was saying the k sound correctly. He was playing with friends and New York was an important part of what they were playing. Suddenly all of the kids rushed to the front door to go outside. Chance stopped though and turned to me and said, "Did you hear that New York? He said pronouncing a perfect k sound.
"That was so good!" I told him.

Chance beamed at me and then ran outside to join his friends.

He is getting it! I loved that he was aware of it on his own and self monitored. Nothing motivates you to work on something better than if you want to do it:)