 |
    |
| Early Intervention | ||
At six months, he started at the Parent/Infant-Toddler program. There was a woman there who would sign for him and would read him a story. The whole day while we were there he was in a sign language program. Everybody in the room signed, even the parents. You should see him now he's so professional at signing! We took him through early intervention, to a parent-infant group where he was around deaf children, as well as deaf adults. We really immersed not only him but also ourselves into the Deaf community because we wanted to communicate with him. At that point we tried hearing aids and he wasn't getting any benefit from them. As soon as he was diagnosed, we started through early intervention, and we started right away. We were given a worker who had some signing skills. She would come out to the house once a week. I believe we started sign class the day after he was diagnosed. We got him into speech and language therapy right away. When he got his implant all those services continued until he transitioned into public school at three. He showed great language growth right away! He was just like a sponge with the sign, so I mean right away he could communicate his basic needs, what he wanted. He got early intervention up until the age of three. It was called speech and language help, but it was really laying the building blocks for early reading because it is so well-known that people who are hard of hearing often have trouble reading. A lot of emphasis was placed from when he was three on knowing his letters and phonics. I have to give credit to the early intervention, but I also have to say that he's just one of those kids. He had a strong drive and it just came naturally to him. I also know it would have been harder if he hadn't had the help. There are certain sounds that sound so similar to him that there's no reason why he would understand how to differentiate it except that he had very good therapists. He gets three times a week for a half an hour in a group setting. There are two to three other children. They do games and describe things working with one speech pathologist. She has been terrific. That is outside of school. I have to pick him up from his school ten minutes early and bring him to the public school. He takes the bus to school, goes throughout his day, and I pick him up at the end and take him there. |
||
Top of Page 
 |
Copyright © 2007, Children's
Hospital Boston Department of Psychiatry. All Rights Reserved. The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice, which can only be given to you by your personal health care professional. Updated: December 23, 2007 |
 |