Category: Deafness

23 Aug

Li-Li goes bilateral!

Li-Li is happy, healthy, and ready for stereo: activation is in less than 3 weeks!
01 Jun

Big tech week for Li-Li: new map, plans for the summer

A day at Children’s Hospital: new map, plans for going bilateral this summer, audiology news
01 May

More, more, more (hey, it’s blogging against disablism day!)

So, does Li-Li have a ‘disability’ or a ‘difference’? My dear friend Brooke says it’s something very special: a ‘diffability.’
11 Apr

Faces of ASL-CI Users

I don’t yet know who made this amazing video found at the ASL-Cochlear Implant Community site, but I adore it!!
28 Mar

Better than the Wiggles

First, a gratuitous shot of Li-Li and Tess. Then a “Beautiful” video and finally, a very cool interpretation of a song I normally wouldn’t be all that into follows.
19 Mar

Bilateral Dilemma: To bi or not to bi?

Do we schedule a second implant now and reap the near term benefits of localization and better hearing in classrooms? Or wait 5, 7, or possibly 10 years until medical technology offers less invasive surgery, better approaches to stimulating or even regrowing the nerve?
12 Mar

Li-Li and Christine, hard at work at TLC

She was very interactive and engaged with me. She imitated 5 out of 6 of the Ling sounds while playing with the toys (not “oo,” but she let me squeeze her little cheeks to help her round her lips, and she enjoyed squeezing mine while I modeled the “oo” sound) …
10 Mar

My little ‘terp

Behavioral issue or job skill?  For a couple of weeks, we found that Li-Li would clam up her usually chatty self and selectively use ASL in her speech classes with Christine and Laurie. And then, with Anna, her ASL teacher, she would only use spoken words instead of her familiar signs! Anna [...]
05 Mar

Li-Li’s first “big girl” Map

More unprompted words from the little one (she mimics word sounds frequently, but we’re distinguishing between those and words that she says on her own and in the right context)! I’ll have to find a way to keep a running list of things she now says regularly, such as “mama,” “papa,” “meow,” and “uh [...]
04 Mar

I love our social services programs!

Some of Li-Li’s many Massachusetts-provided programs: parent-infant program at TLC (PIP), early intervention speech class 4X a week (2 SLPs), family sign, a Deaf advocate, and more…