Scary stories

Chance has entered that childhood milestone of being part of groups of kids as they tell each other ghost stories. The thing about these stories is, they always scare the wits out of the kids it's just that the kids are all too proud to say so.

This summer through a sleepover at grandmas with cousins and late nighters due to summer break, Chance has been introduced to the phenomenon of ghost stories. The set up is almost always the same.....a group of kids sitting around trying to tell the story that will scare the others(all the while giving themselves a good scare in the process).

It appears that Chance is hearing the details of these stories just fine. He asked me while we were at his grandparents house if I thought someone was going to try to kill them while they slept. Apparently, the stories were a little too grizzley so the next time the kids were telling ghost stories Chance's dad sat close to the hut reading so that he could hear exactly what stories were being told.

Not only can Chance hear what is going on around him, he is getting the details of stories that other kids tell him as well. Now, if we can just get on another theme besides death and carnage.....

Chance is on the map

Chance had his implants mapped this week. This has become a family affair as Chance's audiologist moved about 2 and a half hours from our house and since we would be lost with out him, we drive the distance. The whole family comes and we make it a day.

We learned on this trip that none of us should leave our clothes in the hotel bathroom, as Chance does not hear anything when he takes his implants off to shower. His sister had left her clothes to change into on the counter in the bathroom and Chance went into shower. We banged on the door, and rattled the doorknob, but Chance blissfully spent his time in the bathroom in peace and quiet. His sister just had to wait until Chance was good and done and had put his implants back on.

This mapping, our audiologist said that the sentences he usually gives to test what Chance has been hearing have become too easy so he gave Chance the test he usually gives to adults with cochlear implants.

The adult test did test Chance's abilities and made him work for it. He did really well though I think he may have gotten a little bit of an education with some of the sentences he was supposed to repeat. Things like, "How long has this been going on?" Chance heard, "I wonder what's going on."

Then there was also a sentence that said,"You should be used to taking money from women." Chance could repeat that one, though I think it is a good thing that he looked confused as to the exact meaning of this particular sentence.

Chance did really well in the audiological booth. On the word test where adults usually score in the 50 to 60% correct range, Chance scored 56% in his right ear and 54% in his left ear. The audiologist was very excited about this. With both implants, Chance scored 80%. We just love 80% on an adult test!

Chance even scored in the 10db range a few times. This means he is hearing really well. We are excited with the results of the tests and find that they match what we are finding at home. Chance is hearing very well with his bilateral implants and continues to astound us with his abilities.