Monthly Archives: April 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Global, April 27, 2012

A Call for Help Gets Answered

CochlearImplantHELP.com, a new and comprehensive website aimed at helping current and future users of cochlear implants and their families, announces the website launch today. A need was identified to help others better navigate their journey to receiving a cochlear implant, whether for themselves or for a family member such as their child. And cochlearimplantHELP has been created to help them wherever they are on their cochlear implant journey. Whether just starting to learn about cochlear implants or a seasoned cochlear implant user looking for ways to connect to a favorite piece of electronic equipment, cochlearimplantHELP has what you need. Please take a few moments to peruse the site, and feel free to link to it or share it freely. CochlearImplantHELP.com can be found on the World Wide Web at

http://www.cochlearimplantHELP.com

Press Release 04 27 2012

This week Harry had an appointment with the Physio. This is the 3rd session he has attended and he was referred by our paediatrician 6 months ago when she noticed his upper body muscle tone was slightly under-developed for his age. 

I haven’t really mentioned his physical development much in the Blog, as our primary focus is his hearing.  But it has been an underlying concern for us that there definitely seems to be a link with Harry’s lack of sound and his gross motor skill development. Gross motor skills are the sitting up, crawling, walking milestones that every baby has to go through to develop “normally”.  As part of our process to dot all the “i’s” and cross all the “t’s” we took Harry to see a Developmental Paediatrician in the beginning to assure us he was going to hit all his major developmental stages. So far all tests and diagnosis have been extremely positive and indicate that the deafness is isolated and with that we remain positive that it will always be such. 

The Paediatrician referred us to a Physio however, having picked up at 6 months that he could use some assistance with building his torso muscle tone. It was a simple case of the fact that he was not twisting the top half of his body to find sounds, so he was not building the necessary muscles in this area to allow him to sit up. Ultimately it was leading him to be reliant on lying flat on his back to play.

So back to the Physio.  I was excited to see her again as the last time we visited was prior to Harry’s operation. I really felt that his physical progress had been enormous since this time and she would be thrilled. One major milestone was his sitting up which took place 2 days after Switch On. There is no scientific evidence that the brain receiving sound and vestibular system have a connection but in our book it was amazing to see Harry finally sit up on his own so soon after he had the CI’s switched on.  

We walked away today with 4 main strategies to work on over a month. The goal now is to get him crawling on all 4’s (rather than Slug- like as he is now) and to teach him to get from crawling to sitting and vice versa.  This will then lead nicely into him pulling himself up to standing and then progressing to walking. The physiotherapist was very clear to point out that he would end up doing all of these things eventually but perhaps not in the most succinct fashion.  As I had laboured the fact that I need him upright to allow for a better grip on the magnets, she agreed we would fast track this stage of development so we could get him less reliant on lying on the floor.

I will be spending a great deal of time on the floor with Harry over the next 4 weeks pinning back his hips to force him to thrust his arms forward and push on them. This will lead to him realising that crawling can be more efficient by being on all fours and no longer dragging his tummy along with him.  Based on the amount he eats I would have thought it will be immeasurably easier!

The Physiotherapist also left me with some thoughts on Play.  Play patterns are all linked to brain development and specifically I need to focus on teaching Harry about cause and effect.  All those toys you see broken and scummy in the waiting rooms of doctor’s surgeries and crèches now needed to be on my shopping list. Posting a ball through a ball run to see it move from the top to the bottom. Banging on the pop up toys to see them appear from their hiding spot are all foreign games to me and I realised that at this age with both my girls I was already back at work and their development was in the hands of the childcare workers.

http://www.physioforkids.com.au/

There are no more mapping sessions for 3 weeks now but we are still trouping into the Cochlear Implant Clinic weekly for observation appointments with Denise who is our speech therapist and case worker.  During last week’s appointment we spoke about setting weekly goals for Harry so I had some concrete milestones directly relating to his listening skills.

We are going to focus on “learning to listen sounds” which are the ones we naturally associate with a toy or an object. They are repetitive sounds and ones that are interesting for a baby to listen to.

Sounds such as brrm, brmm for car, ee or for police car, and the obvious animal sounds such as quack , quack for duck and woof, woof for dog.  It is important to not overwhelm your child with too many sounds so I was asked to pick 2-3 sounds that were from the same environment or group but had different pitches.   

I was also instructed to find varying examples of these animals to show him around the house.  Naturally the girls suggested this was the perfect time to get the dog that we have said they can’t have, or perhaps a rabbit like their friends.  All in a good cause of teaching Harry to hear his immediate environment.  Poor ol’ Harry will have to stick to regular books and puzzles like other babies.

It is really noticeable now that Harry is turning to sound. Most sounds of a substantial volume get his attention. He has already learnt that my voice is not that interesting, so I can’t say he is answering when I call him ( or that he is any different to Tess and Alice or even Dan)… but that will come with time.  A hearing baby would start to respond to their name around about now at 10 months. But that is after 10 months of hearing it repeated a thousand times a day. Harry is only 5 weeks in.

On Friday last week the HearingHenry headband arrived in the post. I mentioned this in my last blog as a Sydney mum of a profoundly deaf boy started a company selling these Online after needing to find a solution for her own young son. Her son Henry received his bilateral implants at 11 months so very similar to Harry.  How I hoped they would be the solution to keep the equipment on his head.

They are good. Probably more comfortable for Harry than the Joyband, which is quite tight on his head all day. This is a softer fabric with more stretch.  And the processors sit on the outside secured by what looks like the elastics you used to have on your braces. I am questioning their strength and whether chewing through steak and chips all day is comparable to Harry wrenching at them whenever I am not watching. I have been through 3 since Friday….

It is not the ultimate solution but on Sunday he spent over 4 hours happily rolling and crawling around our backroom chasing a balloon in peals of laughter.  With the addition of some double sided sticky tape to assist the inside of the magnet to stay on his head, the CI’s stayed on the entire time.

 Yes I did pull off most of his fluffy baby hair when I removed the magnets at 6pm that night, but he had a long time of hearing himself laugh and us along with him.

password remains harry2011