In one of Chance's classes, the kids made anti-bullying skits. The kids were divided into groups and came up with their own ideas on an anti-bullying message.
We heard about this assignment not from Chance, but from a teacher, after the fact. She said that as the kids assessed who would play the bully and who would play the victim, Chance was chosen as the bully.
She was using this to demonstrate that Chance isn't held back by his implants, and his peers just seem to take it in stride that he wears them.
Chance would have been an easy person to choose as the victim because in real life, the kids who are different in any way, are prime victims for other kids to bully.
But Chance's peers didn't see Chance as the victim. They just saw him as another kid in the group and chose him to be the bully.
I don't think that Chance will be able to avoid all rude kids who may take aim at the fact that he wears implants, but his situation right now in school is very good. He has many friends. He knows kids from all different grades and when I walk down the hall with him at school, I hear many,"Hey Chance!" or "Hi!"
This does a lot of good for a mother's heart. Chance feels safe and valued at school and I am grateful.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Sunday, March 03, 2013
Loud is relative
Many moons ago, Chance went swimming in a kiddy pool with a deaf friend. When the two of them took off their implants to swim......the noise was incredible.
They squealed and giggled at decibels that could have been hazardous to hearing people's health.
It was amazing to witness. Two deaf kids running around without abandon punctuating their glee with noise. Lots of noise.
That they could not hear.
Flash forward many years, and tonight at 10:45, Chance and a deaf friend again took off their implants to play in a backyard. This time it was our backyard and it wasn't a kiddy pool, but a trampoline that caused the two kids to call out in glee.
We got a trampoline for Christmas but have not been able to set it up due to the cold and snowy conditions here in our state.
Today, the weather flirted with us, displaying a touch of spring like weather. We took the bait and set up the trampoline. We reasoned that spring is closer now than winter, so it is alright to start preparing to play outside.
Although it is Saturday, Chance and his brother attended an all day sing off at school ending in a concert this evening. More about what a sing off is later.
Chance had a friend over for what we call a "late night". In lieu of a sleep over, sometimes our kids have late nights where they have friends over to play, watch movies, or play games with the family until the later hours.
Chance had no idea that we had set up the trampoline in his absence, and when he got home, it beckoned him to come and jump.
The jumping was going very well. I had dozed off on a bed with Chance's young sister and was awakened to giggles and shouts of glee.
Chance and his friend were LOUD.
Perhaps at 3:00 in the afternoon it would not have been noticeable or even worthy of discussion. But at 10:45 at night, with neighbors who go to bed early, the noise came with an exclamation mark.
Chance's dad went out and told the boys that they needed to come in and engage in a less audible activity, to which Chance and his friend replied that,"We were not being loud!"
Uh huh. Two deaf kids, minus implants are not convincing witnesses of how loud an activity is or is not.
It was pretty amusing to both see their joy and unabandoned expression, and the level of noise they produced when they could not hear themselves or anything else.
Now, all that is left is to apologize to the neighbors tomorrow for exceeding normal decibel levels late at night.
Chance is just going to have to take our word for it that it was loud:)
They squealed and giggled at decibels that could have been hazardous to hearing people's health.
It was amazing to witness. Two deaf kids running around without abandon punctuating their glee with noise. Lots of noise.
That they could not hear.
Flash forward many years, and tonight at 10:45, Chance and a deaf friend again took off their implants to play in a backyard. This time it was our backyard and it wasn't a kiddy pool, but a trampoline that caused the two kids to call out in glee.
 |
| Chance's Mom and younger siblings enjoy the new trampoline, seconds after assembly was completed. |
Today, the weather flirted with us, displaying a touch of spring like weather. We took the bait and set up the trampoline. We reasoned that spring is closer now than winter, so it is alright to start preparing to play outside.
Although it is Saturday, Chance and his brother attended an all day sing off at school ending in a concert this evening. More about what a sing off is later.
Chance had a friend over for what we call a "late night". In lieu of a sleep over, sometimes our kids have late nights where they have friends over to play, watch movies, or play games with the family until the later hours.
Chance had no idea that we had set up the trampoline in his absence, and when he got home, it beckoned him to come and jump.
The jumping was going very well. I had dozed off on a bed with Chance's young sister and was awakened to giggles and shouts of glee.
Chance and his friend were LOUD.
Perhaps at 3:00 in the afternoon it would not have been noticeable or even worthy of discussion. But at 10:45 at night, with neighbors who go to bed early, the noise came with an exclamation mark.
Chance's dad went out and told the boys that they needed to come in and engage in a less audible activity, to which Chance and his friend replied that,"We were not being loud!"
Uh huh. Two deaf kids, minus implants are not convincing witnesses of how loud an activity is or is not.
It was pretty amusing to both see their joy and unabandoned expression, and the level of noise they produced when they could not hear themselves or anything else.
Now, all that is left is to apologize to the neighbors tomorrow for exceeding normal decibel levels late at night.
Chance is just going to have to take our word for it that it was loud:)
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Zion National Park
Our family got to experience the great outdoors over the weekend.....the great outdoors in another part of the state that is much warmer than our part of the state.
We went hiking, ran over and through giant red rocks and played with cousins. We finally took the trip to Zions National Park that we have been saying we should take. And we got to wear short sleeve shirts for the first time in months.
At least I did.
We have young men in the family and apparently, they don't need to stay warm during the winter months and can wear short sleeve shirts and even shorts when it is snowing.
In Zions, they wore their short sleeves when it was actually sunny outside with critters grazing peacefully in wild meadows as opposed to critters who are grazing in neighborhoods by our house because they are tired of rooting for food in the snow capped mountains.
On one of our hikes, Chance and his cousin who were ahead of the group, decided to bypass the" trail closed", sign and continue on to explore up the path.
I don't know that the boys realized the path was closed as there was room off to the side of the sign to go on ahead and several people were coming up from the forbidden domain when Chance and his cousin arrived.
The long and the short of it is, Chance and his cousin casually continued past the path closed sign and I could see Chance looking around at the colorful rock walls that were weeping little paths of water down their faces.
As is the case with my deaf boy, once he gets past a certain distance, he can not hear us. With implants that distance is quite remarkable, but when you are out in the wilderness, you can quickly get out of ear shot.
With young bodies and youthful energy, Chance and his cousin made fast work of covering the path. One minute they were just off in the distance, and the next second they were scaling ever higher elevations on a hill opposite us separated by a large gulf.
We could see Chance's head pop up through the underbrush every once in a while, though he was now at a distance where a child with normal hearing would have a difficult time hearing us call their name.
We called to Chance to come back while waving our arms to get his attention.
He waved back cheerfully and then continued on his way.
Funny thing with parenting a deaf child.....at what point is it disobedience, and when is it just not being able to hear? Sometimes it is just hard to know.
Chance's cousins parents said they knew their son heard them. He just decided to pretend he didn't and continue on with Chance.
We were waving like we were trying to land a small aircraft and Chance thought we were just waving hello?
We'll never know exactly what the boys did and did not hear.
Eventually, we sent their two older brothers out to get them.
If you are going to have one boy on a forbidden trail, perhaps fraught with danger, the only logical thing to do is send up another son to see if death awaits around the next corner.
The older brothers made fast work of that trail and soon returned with their younger brothers in toe.
We went hiking, ran over and through giant red rocks and played with cousins. We finally took the trip to Zions National Park that we have been saying we should take. And we got to wear short sleeve shirts for the first time in months.At least I did.
We have young men in the family and apparently, they don't need to stay warm during the winter months and can wear short sleeve shirts and even shorts when it is snowing.
In Zions, they wore their short sleeves when it was actually sunny outside with critters grazing peacefully in wild meadows as opposed to critters who are grazing in neighborhoods by our house because they are tired of rooting for food in the snow capped mountains.
On one of our hikes, Chance and his cousin who were ahead of the group, decided to bypass the" trail closed", sign and continue on to explore up the path.
I don't know that the boys realized the path was closed as there was room off to the side of the sign to go on ahead and several people were coming up from the forbidden domain when Chance and his cousin arrived.
The long and the short of it is, Chance and his cousin casually continued past the path closed sign and I could see Chance looking around at the colorful rock walls that were weeping little paths of water down their faces.As is the case with my deaf boy, once he gets past a certain distance, he can not hear us. With implants that distance is quite remarkable, but when you are out in the wilderness, you can quickly get out of ear shot.
With young bodies and youthful energy, Chance and his cousin made fast work of covering the path. One minute they were just off in the distance, and the next second they were scaling ever higher elevations on a hill opposite us separated by a large gulf.
We could see Chance's head pop up through the underbrush every once in a while, though he was now at a distance where a child with normal hearing would have a difficult time hearing us call their name.
We called to Chance to come back while waving our arms to get his attention.
He waved back cheerfully and then continued on his way.
Funny thing with parenting a deaf child.....at what point is it disobedience, and when is it just not being able to hear? Sometimes it is just hard to know.
Chance's cousins parents said they knew their son heard them. He just decided to pretend he didn't and continue on with Chance.
We were waving like we were trying to land a small aircraft and Chance thought we were just waving hello?
We'll never know exactly what the boys did and did not hear.
Eventually, we sent their two older brothers out to get them.
If you are going to have one boy on a forbidden trail, perhaps fraught with danger, the only logical thing to do is send up another son to see if death awaits around the next corner.
The older brothers made fast work of that trail and soon returned with their younger brothers in toe.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Chance works the drive-thru
Chance has found his future vocation....working the drive-thru window at Wendy's. The restaurant chain donated part of each sale to the Boy Scouts of America this evening so Chance and his troop helped serve the masses looking all spiffy in their scout shirts.
This drive-thru experience was much less painful than the one Chance created a few years ago. He decided that one of the windows in our kitchen was the drive through window and he served his siblings food out of it.
Unfortunately it was the same window we had warned the kids about since the mechanism that moves it up and down was breaking. After several "customers" were served, the window slammed down on Chance's fingers. I knew he needed stitches when I found myself looking through layers of flesh one can't normally see on his finger.
Tonight's drive-thru episode was much less violent.
Chance came home and cheerfully said," I want to work at the drive-thru at Wendy's when I am old enough to get a job!"
I was impressed that Chance could hear enough to produce orders in the mayhem that is a busy drive-thru restaurant. The flow of people was steady, and the scouts were kept busy cleaning pans and handing food out to customers.
Who knows, maybe a few years from now, Chance will be a regular at the Wendy's drive-thru window handing out food to customers just like he dreams about:)
This drive-thru experience was much less painful than the one Chance created a few years ago. He decided that one of the windows in our kitchen was the drive through window and he served his siblings food out of it.
 |
| Chance and his Scoutmaster and co-scout as he is about to receive his Star Scout Rank in May, 2012 |
Tonight's drive-thru episode was much less violent.
Chance came home and cheerfully said," I want to work at the drive-thru at Wendy's when I am old enough to get a job!"
I was impressed that Chance could hear enough to produce orders in the mayhem that is a busy drive-thru restaurant. The flow of people was steady, and the scouts were kept busy cleaning pans and handing food out to customers.
Who knows, maybe a few years from now, Chance will be a regular at the Wendy's drive-thru window handing out food to customers just like he dreams about:)
Sunday, February 03, 2013
The Remote is Back!
Since it is Superbowl Sunday today, I am sure that many households are giving top priority to their remote controls. These little rectangular gadgets full of the buttons that make our television sets perform are a hot commodity on a day such as today.
At our house, we also have a love for our remote.......the remote that controls the cochlear implant. If we had to choose between our remotes, we would ditch the television remote without even saying goodbye.
THE REMOTE IS BACK!
Chance has never been so excited to get a package before. We could even use it as a disciplinary tool if we wanted. Some parents take away Wii time if their kids don't get their jobs done, we take away Chance's remote.
Just kidding. We are not that cruel and heartless. The point is, Chance is attached to that remote enough that we could use it as a control measure if we were those kinds of people.
This remote is one that we let Chance have full time. It is the one piece of technology that parents don't have to worry about wasting their kids time or being mishandled.
I probably have never said this before, but I really love cochlear implants.
I really love the remote that came with the implants and am so very grateful that we have it in our lives again. Thank you to all of those who support us in our journey to help our son hear.
We will always remember you and your big hearts.
You are a blessing in our lives.
\
 |
| See - isn't that stylish ?! |
THE REMOTE IS BACK!
Chance has never been so excited to get a package before. We could even use it as a disciplinary tool if we wanted. Some parents take away Wii time if their kids don't get their jobs done, we take away Chance's remote.
Just kidding. We are not that cruel and heartless. The point is, Chance is attached to that remote enough that we could use it as a control measure if we were those kinds of people.
This remote is one that we let Chance have full time. It is the one piece of technology that parents don't have to worry about wasting their kids time or being mishandled.
I probably have never said this before, but I really love cochlear implants.
I really love the remote that came with the implants and am so very grateful that we have it in our lives again. Thank you to all of those who support us in our journey to help our son hear.
We will always remember you and your big hearts.
You are a blessing in our lives.
\
Monday, January 28, 2013
Singing over kicks??
As is well known by now, Chance is taking choir at school. It is also common knowledge that Chance loves soccer. Chance loves soccer. Did I mention that? In case I didn't: Chance loves soccer!
This 3rd term schedule has created a conflict of interest between these two classes. Chance took both classes last term, but the way the schedule is this term, he has to choose only one. That is because his schedule is crowded with mandatory classes and the only one left to drop for futsal is choir.
When I told Chance, he did that gesture he does when he is inner conflict. He hangs his head and goes into deep introspection, a look of consternation on his face.
I was glad to see that his first response was not to just kick up his heels and gleefully announce that he could just drop his choir class.
He had to give it some thought. And then he did the unthinkable. HE CHOSE CHOIR OVER FUTSOL.
For this term anyways. Next term it will be spring and time to try out for the school soccer team. Chance is already planning on making that team. (In fact, the soccer coaches are begging him to try out.)
Fourth term may bring more angst for the same reason third term did, but I think Chance already knows he is playing soccer come spring.
He is just holding onto choir as long as he can.
I am impressed. He likes to sing. And with the girl to boy ratio in that class, they need him:)
Chance has also been going to a voluntary youth choir at church for a special meeting coming up in a few weeks. And, he still regularly attends our ward choir which sings for our congregation about every other month.
My boy likes to sing. My boy can sing. He can sing with other kids his age, and with our church group.
I didn't know I could dream of all this singing for him when he was first diagnosed as being deaf.
I wanted Chance to be able to sing and enjoy music, I just just didn't know if it was going to be physically possible for him.
None of the professionals working with us dared answer me when I asked if Chance would ever be able to enjoy music when he was diagnosed as being deaf.
God knew though. You can't go wrong if God knows you can do something. Chance had a special blessing when he was diagnosed as being deaf that said he would be able to enjoy and play music.
And God helped us get Chance his implants. I can not pretend that we did it alone. God has had a hand in Chance's life and been very aware of his deafness and helped us to get what Chance needed when he needed it. Sometimes in ways we never could have imagined.
Chance has been so blessed to have his cochlear implants and the possibilities they help bring into his life.
With God and his implants, anything is possible for Chance. Right now Chance is enjoying music, just like God knew he could.
This 3rd term schedule has created a conflict of interest between these two classes. Chance took both classes last term, but the way the schedule is this term, he has to choose only one. That is because his schedule is crowded with mandatory classes and the only one left to drop for futsal is choir.
When I told Chance, he did that gesture he does when he is inner conflict. He hangs his head and goes into deep introspection, a look of consternation on his face.
I was glad to see that his first response was not to just kick up his heels and gleefully announce that he could just drop his choir class.
He had to give it some thought. And then he did the unthinkable. HE CHOSE CHOIR OVER FUTSOL.
For this term anyways. Next term it will be spring and time to try out for the school soccer team. Chance is already planning on making that team. (In fact, the soccer coaches are begging him to try out.)
Fourth term may bring more angst for the same reason third term did, but I think Chance already knows he is playing soccer come spring.
He is just holding onto choir as long as he can.
I am impressed. He likes to sing. And with the girl to boy ratio in that class, they need him:)
Chance has also been going to a voluntary youth choir at church for a special meeting coming up in a few weeks. And, he still regularly attends our ward choir which sings for our congregation about every other month.
My boy likes to sing. My boy can sing. He can sing with other kids his age, and with our church group.
I didn't know I could dream of all this singing for him when he was first diagnosed as being deaf.
I wanted Chance to be able to sing and enjoy music, I just just didn't know if it was going to be physically possible for him.
None of the professionals working with us dared answer me when I asked if Chance would ever be able to enjoy music when he was diagnosed as being deaf.
God knew though. You can't go wrong if God knows you can do something. Chance had a special blessing when he was diagnosed as being deaf that said he would be able to enjoy and play music.
And God helped us get Chance his implants. I can not pretend that we did it alone. God has had a hand in Chance's life and been very aware of his deafness and helped us to get what Chance needed when he needed it. Sometimes in ways we never could have imagined.
Chance has been so blessed to have his cochlear implants and the possibilities they help bring into his life.
With God and his implants, anything is possible for Chance. Right now Chance is enjoying music, just like God knew he could.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Chance listens with his heart
Chance's siblings were delighted to discover while reading a book about the body, that if they cut the end off of a cup and then put it up to someone's chest, they would be able to hear their heart beating.
They were all excitedly practicing on each other when Chance walked in the door. They ran up to him ready to have him join in the fun.
They implored him with,"If you let me listen to yours, I'll let you listen to mine!"
Chance seemed pretty neutral about the whole thing which surprised me. He usually enjoys these sorts of activities with his siblings .
Then he said,"OK, just a minute...You can hear my heart, but this stuff doesn't work good for me because my ears don't work like yours do."
It made so much sense once he said that, but it had not occurred to me that the experience would be any different for Chance.
Being the awesome brother that he is, Chance let his siblings listen to his heart even though it would not be the same for him to listen to theirs.
Thanks Chance for listening with your heart to your siblings and playing along with them when listening with your ears was not going to give you the same experience.
They were all excitedly practicing on each other when Chance walked in the door. They ran up to him ready to have him join in the fun.
They implored him with,"If you let me listen to yours, I'll let you listen to mine!"
Chance seemed pretty neutral about the whole thing which surprised me. He usually enjoys these sorts of activities with his siblings .
Then he said,"OK, just a minute...You can hear my heart, but this stuff doesn't work good for me because my ears don't work like yours do."
It made so much sense once he said that, but it had not occurred to me that the experience would be any different for Chance.
Being the awesome brother that he is, Chance let his siblings listen to his heart even though it would not be the same for him to listen to theirs.
Thanks Chance for listening with your heart to your siblings and playing along with them when listening with your ears was not going to give you the same experience.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Would that be the girl loo or the boy loo?
Like many church meetings, ours is usually a time for those attending to be quiet and attentive. This is usually a format that we highly encourage our children to practice while we all sit on the pew.
And that is the way everyone in the family was behaving yesterday until Chance's brother took Chance's baby sister out to the bathroom. She just can't wait for the meeting to end sometimes.
When they returned, I was informed by my youngest child that they had gone into the girls bathroom. My mind conjured up her dress dipping into the toilet etc. so that her brother had to go in and save her.
I was surprised that he would send her into the girls bathroom alone. She needs help with her dresses and she insisted that her brother be the one to take her to the loo.
So while sitting on the bench in the quiet chapel, I mouthed to Chance's brother,"You went into the girls bathroom?"
Chance was sitting just beyond his brother and while the original target of the question did not get what I was saying, Chance, lip reader extraordinaire did.
"HE WENT INTO THE GIRLS BATHROOM?!" Yes, Chance can mouth phrases with great emphasis while still being silent. Then Chance started laughing hysterically. Belly laughing while covering his mouth to try to stay quiet.
Then I started laughing because of Chance's response and had to quietly shake with laughter on the bench while Chance's brother sat mouthing,"What??"
I shortly thereafter was slipped a note informing me that no, they did not go into the girls bathroom, they had been in the boys bathroom.
The moral of this story is, never mouth anything to anyone where Chance can see you unless you want Chance in on the conversation. He WILL know what you are saying:)
And that is the way everyone in the family was behaving yesterday until Chance's brother took Chance's baby sister out to the bathroom. She just can't wait for the meeting to end sometimes.
When they returned, I was informed by my youngest child that they had gone into the girls bathroom. My mind conjured up her dress dipping into the toilet etc. so that her brother had to go in and save her.
I was surprised that he would send her into the girls bathroom alone. She needs help with her dresses and she insisted that her brother be the one to take her to the loo.
So while sitting on the bench in the quiet chapel, I mouthed to Chance's brother,"You went into the girls bathroom?"
Chance was sitting just beyond his brother and while the original target of the question did not get what I was saying, Chance, lip reader extraordinaire did.
 |
| Chance and his brother climbing a waterfall last summer. |
Then I started laughing because of Chance's response and had to quietly shake with laughter on the bench while Chance's brother sat mouthing,"What??"
I shortly thereafter was slipped a note informing me that no, they did not go into the girls bathroom, they had been in the boys bathroom.
The moral of this story is, never mouth anything to anyone where Chance can see you unless you want Chance in on the conversation. He WILL know what you are saying:)
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
All I want for Christmas is a caption phone
Chance didn't actually ask for a caption phone to be installed New Year's Eve, but he also didn't even know those kinds of phones existed. If he had been aware of them, he just may have asked Santa for a caption phone judging by his reaction when he realized we were getting one.
I made arrangements for the technician to come install the phone, and then in the excitement of the holidays, I forgot to tell Chance for a few days.
We were all sitting in the living room one night and I thought it might be a good idea to share with Chance that a man was coming Monday morning to install his phone.
I explained what a caption phone was and Chance, who was perched on the arm of his dads chair sat silent for a moment just looking at me.
Then in a quiet voice he said," I really need one of those."
So it is, that now a caption phone is sitting on the desk in our kitchen just waiting to help Chance have better quality phone calls.
A good friend of ours who is deaf and uses implants had posted a link to the caption phone on her Facebook page and I had clicked on it just because I was curious.
The link said that we could get a caption phone for free if we qualified. This kind of qualifying didn't have anything to do with how much money you make, but if you had a hearing loss.
Chance definitely qualified.
I was really skeptical about that free part though. We all know what free means. Nothing is free. If someone is offering something for free, they are either trying to take your money by deceit or send a salesmen over to your house who will introduce you to the "free" service that ends up costing $1000.00 when all is said and done.
But I trusted enough to call because I trusted my friend. If she had one, then she must have found these people to be legitimate.
The phones are provided by CaptionCall to all CaptionCall users for free to those who are eligible for captioning so they can access the service.
The captiontioning is funded through the telephone companies, usually passed on through a surcharge. Funds go into the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service(TRS) which pays for multiple relay services and is supervised by the Federal Communications Commission(The FCC).
The phone works because when you pick up the special phone, a person who types the captioning picks up too and types out what is being said. You can turn off the captioning so if Chance picks up the phone, but then hands it to someone else, the captioning does not have to continue.
We have made it clear to the kids that this is CHANCE"S PHONE and none of them are to use it, even though it is tempting to play with it because it is so cool. None of our other phones type out what your friends are saying.
This should give Chance a measure of freedom he has not had before. He could always talk on the phone, but the quality of the conversation has been dictated by the phones being used and how the voice of the person he is talking to comes through. Some people talk quietly, sometimes they are hard to understand because of accents or background noise or any number of things.
Chance is 12. He needs the freedom to access phone calls on his own terms here at home. He does not usually ask us for help. Many times he just does not catch all that is being said. Although, it does mean it won't be as entertaining for his dad and I since we won't end up having to be middle men as he asks girls out on dates years from now:)
I made arrangements for the technician to come install the phone, and then in the excitement of the holidays, I forgot to tell Chance for a few days.
We were all sitting in the living room one night and I thought it might be a good idea to share with Chance that a man was coming Monday morning to install his phone.
I explained what a caption phone was and Chance, who was perched on the arm of his dads chair sat silent for a moment just looking at me.
Then in a quiet voice he said," I really need one of those."
So it is, that now a caption phone is sitting on the desk in our kitchen just waiting to help Chance have better quality phone calls.
A good friend of ours who is deaf and uses implants had posted a link to the caption phone on her Facebook page and I had clicked on it just because I was curious.
The link said that we could get a caption phone for free if we qualified. This kind of qualifying didn't have anything to do with how much money you make, but if you had a hearing loss.
Chance definitely qualified.
I was really skeptical about that free part though. We all know what free means. Nothing is free. If someone is offering something for free, they are either trying to take your money by deceit or send a salesmen over to your house who will introduce you to the "free" service that ends up costing $1000.00 when all is said and done.
But I trusted enough to call because I trusted my friend. If she had one, then she must have found these people to be legitimate.
The phones are provided by CaptionCall to all CaptionCall users for free to those who are eligible for captioning so they can access the service.
The captiontioning is funded through the telephone companies, usually passed on through a surcharge. Funds go into the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service(TRS) which pays for multiple relay services and is supervised by the Federal Communications Commission(The FCC).
The phone works because when you pick up the special phone, a person who types the captioning picks up too and types out what is being said. You can turn off the captioning so if Chance picks up the phone, but then hands it to someone else, the captioning does not have to continue.
We have made it clear to the kids that this is CHANCE"S PHONE and none of them are to use it, even though it is tempting to play with it because it is so cool. None of our other phones type out what your friends are saying.
This should give Chance a measure of freedom he has not had before. He could always talk on the phone, but the quality of the conversation has been dictated by the phones being used and how the voice of the person he is talking to comes through. Some people talk quietly, sometimes they are hard to understand because of accents or background noise or any number of things.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
How do you win an arguement with a brother that can take his ears off?
Chance got into a friendly argument with his brother this morning over who should be able to shoot Chance's air soft gun.
This sounds like a no-brainer on the surface since the gun is Chance's Christmas present.
The plot thickens however, when you take into consideration that Chance's brother is the one that loaded the 72 pellets into the gun.
But that was after he shot the pellets Chance put in to begin with.
As you can see, it gets complicated.
So Chance's dad and I were holding a sort of informal court in our living room listening to the boys give their side to the story.
It was a friendly banter with Chance and his brother frequently laughing in between pleading their cases.
At one point, when a fact was in dispute, Chance turned to his brother laughing and gingerly lifted the magnets of his implants off of his head so he could no longer hear.
Chance had already made his point, after all; who needed to hear the opposition?
It was about at this point in our hearing that Chance's dad was explaining that in order to accomplish anything, the boys needed to not just talk but listen to each other.
Chance's brother said tapping Chance and grinning,"Ya Chance, put your ears back on!"
It is a unique opportunity that our kids have to argue with a sibling who can turn their ears off. This particular disagreement was all happening in good humor.
I can imagine that if any of my siblings had the ability to basically turn off their ears during a serious dispute, I would have been highly annoyed.
Ahhh the memories our kids will have of disputes with their deaf brother growing up:)
This sounds like a no-brainer on the surface since the gun is Chance's Christmas present.
The plot thickens however, when you take into consideration that Chance's brother is the one that loaded the 72 pellets into the gun.
But that was after he shot the pellets Chance put in to begin with.As you can see, it gets complicated.
So Chance's dad and I were holding a sort of informal court in our living room listening to the boys give their side to the story.
It was a friendly banter with Chance and his brother frequently laughing in between pleading their cases.
At one point, when a fact was in dispute, Chance turned to his brother laughing and gingerly lifted the magnets of his implants off of his head so he could no longer hear.
Chance had already made his point, after all; who needed to hear the opposition?
It was about at this point in our hearing that Chance's dad was explaining that in order to accomplish anything, the boys needed to not just talk but listen to each other.
Chance's brother said tapping Chance and grinning,"Ya Chance, put your ears back on!"
It is a unique opportunity that our kids have to argue with a sibling who can turn their ears off. This particular disagreement was all happening in good humor.
I can imagine that if any of my siblings had the ability to basically turn off their ears during a serious dispute, I would have been highly annoyed.
Ahhh the memories our kids will have of disputes with their deaf brother growing up:)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)