Enlisting Chance

Chance's brother does not like wearing a hearing aid.  The situation just keeps getting better as it was discovered this week that not only does he need an aid in his left ear, but his right ear needs an aid now too.

This past week, I enlisted Chance to talk to his brother about the benefits of wearing your hearing aid/implant. The boys were sitting on bar stools at our kitchen island and the conversation went something like this:

Chance: "You need to wear your hearing aid because you need to hear."

His brother: "I can already hear."

Chance: "But you need to hear more."

His brother:" I don't like wearing it."

Chance:" Trust me, it is better to hear.  Do you see that I have my implants on everyday? That is so I can hear what is going on.  Trust me, you want to hear what is going on."

Chance's brother:" Ya, but you have implants not hearing aids!"

Chance:"I used to have hearing aids when I was younger. And I would wear them!"

Chance's brother is not fully convinced that he needs to wear his one hearing aid all the time, I don't know that he will be thrilled with wearing two.

On a funny note:  After his brother's last hearing test, I pulled Chance aside and told that his brother had lost more hearing and that if his hearing continued to fall, he would need an implant.

Chance went pale for a minute and sputtered out,"What?"

I said,'Your brother is losing more hearing and will need your support.  If he continues to lose hearing, he will need an implant.

Chance sighed with relief. "Oh, I thought you were saying that he would need one of my implants!"

What could be better than sharing one of your implants with a brother?  (Of course, with the price of implants, maybe that's not such a bad idea :> )

I think it is safe to say that Chance has built a relationship with both of his implants and does not want to part with either one of them:)

Chance holds a butterfly that his brother caught 

Below is part of the email that Chance's Chinese teacher sent me along with a video of Chance and another student talking in Chinese to each other.  I would show the video, but it takes place in the hall of the school and there is noise in the background.  Chance's dad and I were pretty excited to watch our boy talking in Chinese.  I would at least tell you what Chance said in the video, but.....I don't know any Chinese;)

Here is what his teacher had to say:

"On the last test, he and another student's video dialogue got chosen as the best of the class! Specifically, because his pronunciation, comprehension (unscripted!!!) and body language all showed he really knew what was going on."

Ya Chance! You go! 

The teacher also asked if there was anything she needed to know about the implants as she didn't have any experience working with students who have implants.  I love teachers like this.  She makes sure that Chance sits front and center in the classroom which he probably needs to focus on the sounds and have the least amount of distractions as he distinguishes between the subtle sound changes in the Chinese language.  


I would like to update the status of Chance's younger brother who is losing hearing.  He is on some medication right now to see if we can stop his hearing from falling any further.  We have a hearing test on Wednesday to help us see if the medication is working. 

Meanwhile, this boy does NOT like to wear his hearing aid.  He only has one right now, but that one is being underutilized.  I will ask him,"Do you have your hearing aid in?"  Or 'Are you wearing your hearing aid?"  He is pretty tricky and will remove his hearing aid during the course of the day.  Some of the responses I have received are:

"No, I am making macaroni and cheese."  Naturally, one can not wear a hearing aid while doing this.

"I am going outside and it might rain."  This could be used as an excuse every time it is cloudy.

"No,I am going to jump on the tramp."  This might be a valid excuse if the hearing aid fell out while he was on the trampoline, but I don't think he has ever tried jumping with the hearing aid in his ear to know.

This past week, right in the middle of choir practice, he decided to take his hearing aid out.  After all, who needs to hear while they learn to sing;)  There was a malfunction though, and before he could get it into his pocket, the thing started to squeal like hearing aids do when you take them out and they are still turned on.  I could see the panic on his face as kids started to turn and look to see where the noise was coming from and he was having a hard time opening the battery pack that turns the hearing aid off.   I ended up going up to help him.  I didn't make him put it back in right then, though I did suggest that he do so. His face was flush with embarrassment and I didn't want to draw any more attention to him and his hearing aid.  I took the aid and put it in my purse for the rest of the practice and then we talked after wards about the importance of being able to hear as best we can during choir practice.  He is really excited to be in choir so hopefully he won't try to ditch his hearing aid again while learning the songs.  Meanwhile, I am working to come up with incentives to help him keep his hearing aid in all day long.  Apparently being able to hear better, is not incentive enough right now:)

This is Chance bonding with a cow at the state fair. I think the cow likes him.

The World of Hearing Underwater

*NOTICE*

CHANCE PAXTON SPEAKING

I always wondered what it was like to hear underwater. Now I know because of the new waterproof cases that I have received. It is a miraculous sound beyond what I had imagined. Sometimes in movies they will have a sound affect when someone or something is underwater and it was kind of like that except better! I could hear myself swimming! It was AMAZING!!!!! I can hear my friends when they are talking to me when we go free swimming! It is awesome and exciting!!!!!!

I think that Chance likes the water proof Aqua+ covers we bought from Cochlear at the beginning of the summer:)

Chance standing in a natural spring area in the mountains near our house.

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