Summer 2012

Been a while, we are so busy, especially with me in school! Aidan has been making huge strides recently, especially in the last month. He finished up preschool at the end of May and at that time was unable to rhyme words of his own choosing, such as asking him what rhymed with hat, he couldn't tell you. However, now he is rhyming like crazy. His sentences were good before but now he is getting almost all parts to the sentences and really expanding on what he says at one time. Louisiana Tech(where he has his speech) was able to get the Quota Club to pay for an FM system for him and that came in last week. We aren't sure if we are going to use it in kindergarten or not, We had his IEP about a month ago to transition him to kindergarten and right now the plan is to go in with a lightspeed that will amplify the teachers voice for everyone, not just him. If he needs more, then we will use the FM system. I don't know which is the right decision, to just start off with the FM or to progress to it if needed. He does so well in a loud environment, had no trouble in the preschool setting with 20 kids, so I just don't see him having trouble in the kindergarten environment. On a side note, a very happy one, Aidan and Alex both got accepted into Glenview Elementary! We are coming up on Aidan's first and second surgery date, he had his first implant done around July 13,2008 right after his 1st birthday, and his second around June 20, 2009, right before his 2nd birthday! Our goal at that time was that he would be fully caught up by his 5th birthday, or by the time he entered Kindergarten. We haven't quite met that goal, but he is close. I think he is probably still a few months behind, and that mainly is from not quite being able to enunciate all letter sounds that is age appropriate for his actual age. Based on his hearing age(which is 4 yrs), he is doing perfectly! I haven't been taking much video lately since it is hard to actually get a video with him talking without getting shy about the camera being on, but I will share a video from before Easter. It doesn't encompass how well he is doing today, but you can see the improvements.

Lost controller

well it happened. Aidan lost his controller to his right implant at school on 1/23. It has not turned up. We called Cochlear that very day and reported it and they are working with his Medicaid to get him a new one. Medicaid should pay for it but it could be up to 6 weeks before we get it. Hoping it isn't that long. It is scary knowing he has to rely on his backup and that if something happens to it-then we won't have anything and he could very well not have sound to that ear until everything is mailed to us.

In other news-Aidan is doing very well at school. Learning lots. Playing around with saying words differently(on purpose which can be annoying lol) and has also started the "why?" phase.