An Update on Junior

It's hard to believe that Junior's surgery was almost a year ago. We'll be celebrating his first hearing birthday in just a few weeks, and I can't believe how far any of us have come over the course of that year. More on the journey in a future post, but I wanted to update you on Junior's progress. It is beyond exciting for me to see him respond to a command to say a new word, as I realize that hearing is a miracle.

Junior is 20 months now. We've been working hard on his speech and listening, with therapy a few times a week. Auditory Verbal Therapy is more like a way of life than it is an hour long therapy session. The point is to completely immerse the child in speech, narrating his entire day in words and songs. I'm sure I've gotten a fair amount of stares at the grocery store by talking about each food we walk past, and singing songs about carrots. (Thank you Veggie Tales, for bringing such things mainstream.)

Junior's favorite word (and person) is "Daddy." He gets so excited to see Daddy when he gets home, calls to him when he needs something in the middle of the night (Good job, Junior! :)), and even recognizes his voice on the phone! How amazing is that...my profoundly deaf son can recognize voices on the phone!??

He also says things like "more," "out," and "hi". When I ask him to go get his shoes, he walks over and picks them up. When I tell him we're going for a ride, he walks to the door. It's so heartwarming, and I realize how blessed we are to have such amazing technology available for our boy. At his most recent hearing test, he could hear 15 decibels with his implants. A whisper is 15 decibels!

I appreciate all the support and questions I get about Junior's progress, and hope this filled everyone in. I can't wait to share more speech and listening milestones, as the learning curve is exponential!

Read more about Junior's Story

Join our Facebook Community