Kaelen is currently in his room "reading" books. I just went to have a look at what he was reading, and he turned a page, pointed to a picture of a duck and said, "duck!"
(Imagine mouth hanging open, synapses dizzy with joy)
At 13 months old!
Maybe that's normal, but when J was 13 months old, all he could say was "aahhhh", and in hindsight he was completely deaf at this point. Kaelen is now saying/signing "please" when he wants something, has jsut told me there's a duck in his book, and the other night was trying to copy "ssssss" for the sound a snake makes (comes out "pfff", but not a bad try!). For a hearing impaired child, i think that's pretty darn good.
Why the difference?
Early intervention.
Jarrah's age when hearing aids first fitted: 18 months, following 4-6 months of total deafness due to fluid in the middle ear. Kaelen's age when hearing aids first fitted: 3 months, with constant monitoring and fortunately no fluid. My thoughts: the earlier you can get hearing aids into a hearing impaired child, and monitor their middle ear pathology, the better!
Anyway, nothing to do with appointments or anything, but jsut a quick note of joy that Kaelen's speech & language seems to be developing quite well thankyou very much!!
Next appt: J's Aus Hearing checkup, Wed 9th Sept
