The ball is rolling now on E's early intervention team. He has been assigned someone to come to our home once a week. She will work with E almost like a private preschool teacher geared specifically for his needs. I was thrilled to learn that she had read this blog prior to our first meeting and was already very familiar with E and with my husband and me. We were able to skip the Q and A and get right down to business mapping out our goals as a family. E also had an evaluation meeting today to assess his needs. The evaluation involved a light medical screen, questions about milestones, and play observation. The results were that E is a beautiful, healthy baby that is right on target across the board. He is 50% percentile for growth and meeting all of his developmental milestones. We were given much praise and encouragement as parents for being so very proactive and involved. It felt wonderful to feel like I got a gold star as a mommy :-)
You know how those pats on the back go. It seems like for every one pat on the back, you get at least a dozen kicks in the butt. Well, I did something stupid. I was trying to clean E's hearing aids tonight and had been told to wash the ear molds with a mild soap and warm water. I knew that I shouldn't get moisture near the hearing aid, so I detached it from the ear mold so I could wash the ear mold without getting anything else wet. Doofus me detached the tubing from the ear mold end rather than the hearing aid end. Well, if you don't know, the tubing slides tightly through a tunnel that goes all the way through the silicone ear mold. I couldn't get the little tube back in! I got it pushed half way, but cannot for the life of me get it to push the rest of the way into the silicone tube! I gave up after a while in fear that I might damage the tube or somehow stretch or distort the ear mold. The good news is that E has another appointment with the audiologist Monday, so if he cannot wear that hearing aid, he will at least only be without it for two days. I was TRYING to be a good mommy and keep my son's hearing aids all nice and clean, but I ended up rendering one of them unwearable. Yay me. Well, lesson learned – do NOT disconnect the tube from THAT part.
E has now worn his hearing aids for almost a week. He doesn't like having them put in, but once they are secured in place, he is a happy camper and doesn't mess with them. He goes about his merry little way completely unconcerned with his new ear accessories. Are they helping? Who knows. There is no indication that he is hearing anything. I have been told that it is a very good sign that he leaves them alone. Supposedly, if a baby seems not to mind the hearing aids or doesn't constantly try to remove them, it can indicate that the child has perceived a value in wearing them. I am hoping that we will get some information from his appointment Monday. He has to wear them for a trial period of at least three months before it can be definitively determined that they are of no use to him. I would like to believe they are doing something because I am not at all happy about the idea that I have to keep maneuvering these silicone blobs into his little ears everyday if they are not benefitting him in any way. I'm so very proud of my little guy though for putting up with it all!
Our daughter's hearing loss was 95 dB and her hearing aids brought her hearing down to 80 dB. Still not good enough, but something. Some kiddos get a lot more benefit from the hearing aids even with a profound hearing loss. It was hard for us to keep the hearing aids on Lily when we knew they weren't of much benefit to her. However, we kept putting them in every morning so that her auditory nerves would be stimulated and therefore wouldn't atrophy. We wanted her auditory nerves to be ready to accept sound once she received her cochlear implants. So regardless of your results at the audiology appointment next week, keep putting those hearing aids on your little guy. Our son is wearing hearing aids now and it can be tough to keep them on him. We know they are helping him hear because he only has a moderate hearing loss and he always performs well in the sound booth. He just likes to put everything in his mouth. I hope E continues to leave his alone. However, if he doesn't you can look into pilot caps for SilkaWear caps to help keep the hearing aids on. You can see pics of my daughter wearing SilkaWear bonnets at http://thewaywehear.blogspot.com/2009/07/crawling-and-silka-wear-bonnets.html and pics of her wearing Hanna Andersson pilot caps at http://thewaywehear.blogspot.com/2009/03/pilot-caps.html. I hope the appointment goes well Monday. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry about the tube part! I think I was the one who told you about how I clean my ear mold (using warm water and mild soap). I forgot to mention the tube part.
ReplyDeleteThe audiologist should be able to help you.
It is tricky at first, but you will get the hang of it the more you fiddle with the thing. And it makes it harder that it is so tiny and the thing is not yours. It is way easier when it is your own.
But, I like how you are jumping in, learning and being hands on with everything. You will be an expert soon, before you know it.
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I re-read the post, I thought you said that you detached the tube from the hearing aid.
ReplyDeleteYou did the right thing detaching the tube from the ear mold--if you are planning on getting the ear mold wet through cleaning. You definitely do not want to get the tube part wet--by leaving it in the ear mold--it may be harder to dry or moisture can be trapped in the tube, which would not be good.
I guess getting the tube back into the ear mold can be tricky, but it seems as if the audiologist was able to help you with this. :)
So, you were not being a 'doofus'.
Using wipes might be easier for you to use, rather than washing the ear molds.
ReplyDelete