We realized a long time ago, that Chance is deaf as a doorknob when he takes those implants off and if there were to be an emergency in the middle of the night, we would be saving one of our most treasured valuables....Chance. He won't hear anything and will not flee voluntarily of his own accord. We will be hauling him out, pulling him along as he snoozes on.
Chance's brother on the other hand, can hear a bit when you wake him up. He is disoriented, and has to get his bearings as to where he is and what is going on, but he can at least hear a smidge of what we say if he is looking at us. After he wakes up a bit, he can hear a little more simply because he is a little more alert.
So far, Chance's brother doesn't take his implant off to read like Chance does. Chance loves a good book, and has been known to take off his implants and totally get into his book therefore blocking the rest of us out of his world.
Chance's brother is on a city basketball team and he really likes it. He is in the phase where he is learning the basics of the game and last week he made a basket. He got high five's from all sorts of people and he won the best sportsmanship award for the game and got a prize from the referee.
Chance is getting ready to try out for the school soccer team this next week. He has been working out for weeks with the soccer coaches and other kids who are hoping to make the team. Tomorrow is the big day. He has also been running on his own and his work has paid off. Chance is buff.
The soccer coach said that he has never worked with someone who wears implants before. I don't think Chance's implants will affect him getting on the team at all. Chance will again, show that deaf kids can do anything they want to, and they are just as capable as anyone else.
Except knowing when to take headphones off in class. Apparently Chance has a problem with that sometimes. In one of Chance's classes, the teacher will let the kids listen to music while they write. Chance has not been hearing when the teacher tells the kids to take their headphones off and listen. He has just blissfully kept his headphones on. I have to confess that I think that if this class was one of Chance's favorite classes, he would be more in tune with when he should be listening. I don't think he purposely leaves his headphones on when his teacher starts talking, but I think he doesn't pay as much attention to when everyone else has their headphones off as he could. We talked to Chance about it and he is going to start paying more attention and also having his friend that sits next to him in class, nudge him when the headphones are coming off if Chance misses the cue.
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| Chance is kneeling to get down to his brother's level. |
Two deaf boys and two journeys in deafness.
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