Iann's hearing aids

Once again Iann has proved what an amazing little boy he is.

When I was told that he needed hearing aids my immediate thought was, "You are giving my perpetually-in-movement, change-resistant, autistic, nearly-3-yr-old boy hearing aids? And you think he'll keep them in?"

Um, right.

I harbored a secret hope that he would notice what a difference they make to his hearing and leave them in. His therapists shared their same hope, all the while warning me that we were most likely in for an almighty battle.

Sure enough, he threw a fit in the audiologists office the day we first introduced him to them. What child wouldn't though? All of a sudden he has this plastic thing being thrust into his ear and he's told not to touch it.

After pulling them out 3-4 times he tuned into me saying "Iann, no touch," whenever he raised his hands to yank them out. AND HE OBEYED!!!!!

The audiologist was blown away, telling me that he reacted better than 99% of kids she's fitted in her practice. He kept on weeping, but his hand stopped midway up to his hear when he heard me say "Iann, no touch."

His next trick was to rub his ear against his shoulder, dislodging the part that goes into his ear. (Pretty smart if you ask me!)  I stopped at least 5-6 times on the drive home from Grand Junction to put them back in correctly and he just got it. He realized that every time he dislodges them or pulls them out, an adult is going to put them straight back in.

Four days later he now doesn't even fuss when I put them on him ... apart from the fact that he has to stand still while I do it!!!!

I am so impressed with him. What a sweet, mummy-pleaser he is.

On another note, Jon, Brynn, my dad and I have all tried them on, to see what they do. Since we all have normal hearing everything was really loud!  It was sort of cool though: I was told that the type he has amplifies voices more that background noises so not everything is loud and, thus, overwhelming to him, and they really do that! Voices are louder than background noises, including my voice when I was wearing them.

As his old SLP said on facebook, "He is soooo gonna talk now!"

One day ....