Im now convinced...

Savannah can hear! We had her Aided hearing test today & i was pleasantly surprised at her results...in both ears!
I am now convinced that her left ear is getting everything she needs in terms of speech. Her right is probably getting some not all but enough to help the left ear.

Here's the Audiogram

First Exposure to Sign Language

So when we found out Savannah had a hearing loss, we made a decision to bring her up to learn oral language. To listen & to speak. ASL never even crossed my mind to be honest. I don't have anything against it, but being an hearing family our decision was made easy for us.

We had always thought about taking family Sign Language classes so that we could all communicate when Savannah had her "ears" off, but we decided against it when we found out the cost.

So today i took my eldest two boys to the park for a play. The park is new & it was really cool.
My eldest Hayden kept walking over to these small signs & was really intrigued by them.
I walked over to notice that they where sign language signs. Every letter of the alphabet was around this children's park. It was awesome!
Being that we have never used ASL or spoken about it, i found it really lovely that my boys where interested & where trying out all the signs. The excitement when we spoke about them & they tried to master it with their fingers was VERY CUTE :)

So maybe its time to introduce some sign language to our family. After today i think it ll be really great for my boys & myself & hubby to have a special bond as a family to communicate with Savannah when she is unable to hear us.


here is a video i took & a picture of the boys

What we have so far....

Finally I sat down the other night & wrote down everything i heard Savannah say & do. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Her comprehension is most definitely age equivalent, & I'm pretty sure so far we have some age appropriate language.
This is what she is saying :

Mama & Mum
Dada
Nana
More
Up
Bye Bye
Hi
No
Ta
Baby (but more like Aye-be)
Stop (she isn't saying stop but understands it & puts her hand up)

we are also getting these:

gagaga
Bubba
Kakaka
Naaann
Hhhehehe

Animal sounds are:

Moo
Woof woof
Fish (popping sounds)
Duck ( we are getting ack ack)


I'm sure there is more, i was only watching her for a short time. Her attention span is terrible! lol
Today at one of the programs at her school, one of the mothers who's son is older than Savannah, commented that her speech was very clear. I was quite chuffed to be honest. I guess being around her all the time i don't see how much she is doing.
Maybe There was reason all along to hold her off the CI. I think mostly i have forgotten what a 14mth old should be saying...i tend to think she should be talking like my 2 & 3 yr old..lol
I am happy where we are at. But still worried that she she may not be accessing all sounds. But i guess its a waiting game for that. She is still so young.

The decision is final....

I spoke with the Implant clinic today in regards to the final decision for the CI for Savannah. They had a Medical Board to discuss the results from her day at the clinic last week. Basically they said what i knew already.
She is definitely not a candidate for a Cochlear Implant.
They will however review her in 12mths time to make sure her speech & language are coming along.
The main reason for their decision was that they do not think implanting the right ear will make any difference what so ever to what she will hear. hmmmm not sure if that sounds right to me..??
Did i tell you i LOVE Australia for free health care BUT i HATE HATE HATE that i have no decision in this & even if i wanted to implant her they will not do it.
Makes my decision to want to move back to America that big more incisive...

She is having an aided audio gram next Tuesday & now that she is older im hoping for much more reliable results. I will post the audio gram once i get a copy.

I have also been quiet slack on keeping a record of "new words" & things she is saying. I don't have a video camera i only have my iPhone & that's quiet hard to capture when its just me trying to video & talk to her..lol
I do plan on being a little more pro-active with recording results now though. No more excuses! lol

Yesterday was our 6mthly CI review appt. It was a tough 5 hours of tests not only for Savannah but for me! I had to bring Ryder as i was feeding & of course the appt was right in the middle of her normal day sleep. So trying to keep her happy & attentive was a job in itself!
I'm starting to really not like going to the implant clinic, i come out of there every time more upset, emotional & really confused as to where we need to be with Savannah.
Everyone seems to have a different opinion as to what we should/shouldn't do. At current her hearing loss has had no change which is a good thing. Here was her Audiogram unaided.
The Audiologist explained to me that he isnt sure whether or not she will be getting all the speech sounds. She is too young to really know. We definitely know that she might get some things from the right aide but generally nothing more than directional. But at present he is not recommending an Implant for the right ear!!??
My question to him was basically, why would she not be recommended for the right ear (profound ear) if you think she isn't getting everything she needs for speech from the left? With today's technology why could my daughter be left behind in another 6mths time if in fact she isn't receiving everything she needs?
I really did feel like i was talking to a recorded voice machine. His response was the same over & over.....
What i couldn't understand (and please shed some light on me if u know anything about this) but they said even if they did implant her right ear she would only hear as well as her left aided????? hmmmmm no please correct me if i am wrong...BUT i have read many a blogs or posts about children with implants that had profound hearing loss that are now hearing at 20db or even less! So why would my daughter be different???
I would honestly think if she had the hearing aide & an implant she would have 2 ears that could hear all speech...is this not better than only having 1 ear to get speech from?
Am i asking too much from this technology? Am i selfish for wanting the absolute BEST for my daughter & if that means an implant to give her 2 ears that give her sound & speech from?
Maybe i am still trying to grasp alot of things about this subject, or maybe i am in la la land thinking that with the latest technology my daughter should have perfect speech, of course i don't expect the aides or implant to give her "perfect hearing" but i do know that we can expect perfect speech.
I have meet many children that you would not even realize that they where deaf or had implants until you saw the processor. that's what i want for my daughter. Is that not realistic?
The Audiologist thinks that Savannah will most likely not have perfect speech & that she will sound somewhat "deaf" if that makes sense. What annoys me the most is that her review letter 6mths ago recommended she be considered for the implant as it would help her gain more sounds & be able to identify where they are coming from & allow her more access to speech.
Little did i know i actually have ZERO input into my daughters well being in this matter. I apparently am not a ENT dr nor do i have a degree to recommend her for the implant. So basically they are playing black jack with my daughters hearing!
Yes she is talking, yes she says quite alot of words & understands alot. But i don't know if she is where a normal hearing child would be.
When we saw the ENT surgeon he was actually no better than the Audiologist! He actually said she isn't a candidate for the implant at all! And that her hearing loss isn't clean cut? lol i really don't know how much more "Clean cut" you can get when the results are sitting in front of you! My daughter is profound in her right ear...that's pretty deaf if u ask me! And her mod/sev ear isn't a small loss its quite a sev loss!
I'm starting to think that our "free" medical services are starting to pull the reins in on the kids they don't think really need the implant..
They will not implant her untill there is evidence that the hearing aides are not enough for her. And even then they cannot guarantee her the implant! So i now have to wait another long 6mths to see whether Savannah will start talking or whether she will start regressing because she isnt hearing enough. Then if she isnt i have to wait untill some overpaid surgeon decides its necessary! At this point, im not happy where we are at. As i said, maybe i expect too much & maybe im being a tad over the top. But this is my daughter & i want the absolute best for her. That may not be the implant right now but i want it to be open to her in 6mths time.

So only time will tell. The Intervention Co-ordinator believes am Implant will help her dramatically so what do u do? They dont have much say unfortunately when it comes to this. I was really positive about her future & knew she would be ok, but now i am not so sure. I am seriously worried that she wont get what she needs & that she wont hear everything nor talk normally. Feels like im back at day 1 again. Not a fun thing :(