Jack's language boom

I've been meaning to write an entry on Jack's progress with his cochlear implants for awhile now, but just haven't gotten around to it. One reason being that I used to keep a running list of the words he understood, and the words he said....and now he knows so many and learns so quickly that the list has gone out the window! Let's see, the last time I posted about Jack's progress was months ago, I think in January; at that time he understood about 5 words plus varying sounds that animals make, and was starting to say a few words like 'bye' and 'up.' Fast forward to September, and it's becoming really difficult for me to quantify how much he understands & says! If I had to estimate I'd say he understands at least 100+ words, and probably more like 150-200. He says around 50+ words, which doesn't include his imitation of speech that's modeled to him.

To keep this in proper perspective, I have to constantly remind myself of his hearing age, which is currently 9.5 months. It's hard to judge where his current language level would place him, but we know it's somewhere between the language of an 18 month old- 24 mos. His speech therapist said that about 2 months ago, so I would say Jack is approaching the language level of a two year old now. I was told that one of the hallmarks of a 2 year old's language skill is putting two words together and using sentences, so I'm looking forward to that.

One of the biggest changes I've noticed is in my trust that Jack hears and understands me. I used to have to repeat myself, while pointing emphatically at things to get him to understand what I wanted. And now, I trust that he understands so much more of what I'm saying to him, minus any visual cues. It's awesome! Just the other day while riding bikes with friends, I told Jack to share the bike with his friend, and he did it when I asked. A few months ago, I would have had to get in Jack's face and explain to him to share, and *hope* that he understood why the bike was going to the other kid and not flip out over it, because he thought I was just taking the bike away from him. Now he has the language to understand the situation and it is so much easier. While riding bikes that same day, Jack was riding down the street and getting too far away- about 5 houses too far- and when I yelled his name, he turned around. I literally thought, what a miracle, my child heard me....my deaf child heard me from such a distance.

Jack loves learning new words, and pays attention to things we point out to him. We can now teach him a word in a single conversation, instead of repeating it over and over again for days. For example, at dinner he pointed to the honey mustard sauce on the table, and I told him "sauce." He loved that word so much that he wouldn't stop saying it during dinner that night. He kept saying "sau...(long pause)....ssss." It was hilarious and very cute.

Jack's favorite toy as of late has been a set of puzzles, and when he finishes one Jon and I exlaim "yay, Jack, yay!" So now Jack eagerly completes his puzzles so he can praise himself as he says, "yay, Jah, yay!" He's learned all of his colors, can count to 10, and names everyone in our family including himself. He usually either leaves the beginning or ending off of his words, but says the vowel sounds correctly. He loves to say the 'sss' and 'shh' sounds. When he pays attention to me and concentrates, he will say the entire word back to me correctly. But typically, he copies the vowels in the words. He doesn't quite understand yet about us asking him questions. For example, we'll be in the kitchen looking for a snack, and I'll ask him "what do you want?," while throwing my arms up in the air and cocking my head to the side. Jack's response? He cocks his head to the side, throws his arms up, and says "wha you wan?" It's really funny and maddening at the same time. Because, then I'm thinking- 'no, really, what do you want?!' So we're working on understanding questions.

Well, I could go on forever about Jack's progress with his CI's, but it's enough to say that he is learning at an exponential rate the longer he has them. To think, just a year ago, Jack was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss, unable to hear or understand a word we said to him. And earlier today, while playing a game of chase at the park, he called out "Mommy!" while looking for me. It's literally my dreams come true.