I just want to take a quick moment to say thank you. The support that we received after sharing this post regarding Grayson’s hearing was overwhelming. Between the emails, messages, and comments, I almost couldn’t keep up. The outpouring of love and support that you’ve shown to us…I am forever grateful. It’s been challenging navigating through this entire process, but having a strong support system helps tremendously.
Last week, Grayson had his Ear Mold Fitting appointment, and I’m so proud of him! There were minimal tears, and the tears we did have were due largely in part to the fact that he had to sit with the mold in his ears until they dried. The audiologist was incredibly patient with him, and we even got to make tiny balls with the leftover mold material. We had lots of fun bouncing them around the room, and we got to take them home!
The overall mold making process was quick and painless. We were in and out in a matter of minutes. From what I was told, this is the last step before he gets his hearing aids. The molds take about 2 weeks to make, and then we schedule his dispensing appointment. That appointment is where he gets his hearing aids! I may be missing a step here, if any parents of deaf or hard of hearing children know differently and want to correct me, please feel free!
After his mold fitting, we went downstairs to the Speech Department for his evaluation. I love that everything is in the same building and only a few floors apart. The Speech Department is new for us, and this was our first time there. They have an outdoor playground attached to the waiting room, and it’s pretty amazing. It was a rainy day so we didn’t get to go, but I know we will have a chance to next time. It took a little coaxing to get him back into the room because he was over it, but once he saw that there were toys he was all about it!
This evaluation went great as well! Cognitively, he is on par (even a little ahead) with same aged hearing peers. His only weakness right now is communication. The audiologists and speech pathologists are quite confident that he will be an oral communicator with a mild hearing loss, that will be helped with hearing aids. They have recommended speech therapy, individual and group, which we will be starting once he has his hearing aids. Tentatively, within the next two weeks!
Hopefully, our next update will be his dispensing appointment, and he will finally be aided! We’re crossing our fingers that he will like the hearing aids, although we’ve been told to prepare for a bit of a struggle at first (keeping them in, etc).
Again, thank you to all of our family and friends, and all of you who come here every week to read all of my randomness. Thank you for your support, and for following us on this journey!
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