Monday, January 11, 2010

Houston, We Have a "Yes"

Up until last week, if you asked Nolan if he wanted to go outside, his answer would be:

"You go outside."

Or if you asked him if he wanted to have a snack, he would say,

"You want snack."

He didn't nod his head, never said the word "yes" unless it was in direct imitation, and would parrot whatever you said, word for word.

We have worked for months to get a spontaneous "yes" out of Nolan. It literally took months of modeling, practicing, and therapy to eliminate the echolalia and get the concept of "yes" into Nolan's head.

Here it is, in all its glory:



I never knew such a simple word could make me feel so happy!

In other news, we are heading up to Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center tomorrow for a third attempt at getting accurate hearing levels. Our audiologist called on Friday to cancel the appointment (we have had nearly every appointment since June cancelled or moved at the last minute- it's getting a little old). I told the staff I wanted to keep the appointment, so we're going to try the testing with a different audiologist. If we wait any longer, Nolan will have had the sleep study and ENT/GI doctor appointments and will be wary of the sound booth again. Plus, we have already arranged for Dennis's time off from work and for the prescription to get faxed up from the pediatrician's office.

Wish us luck- I hope Nolan cooperates this time around. Maybe a different audiologist will be a good thing, since he doesn't have as much familiarity with her. On the other hand, he could flip out and refuse to cooperate at all, which would mean that we have to schedule a fourth hearing test. Since I really hope to avoid that scenario, I am praying for a compliant and cooperative two year old tomorrow morning. Though I'm pretty sure that "two" and "cooperative" is an oxymoron, there's always hope that he'll be in good form tomorrow!

11 comments:

Ericka said...

what a cute video!
We have ENT appointments coming up and audiology appointments. And I scheduled both children on the same day, ugh. We will be there for hours!
Wishing you luck tomorrow!

Kimmy K said...

A compliant and cooperative two-year-old? What's that? Good luck! And congrats on the yes!

AimeeTheSuperMom said...

Yay!!! He's clearly very proud of his new word.

xraevision said...

Super cute video! 'Yes' is a pretty powerful word for a two year old, especially when it produces cookies. And I know how frustrating it is to get unclear or unreliable hearing test results, so good luck tomorrow!

Jujube said...

Hi! I stumbled upon your blog (I think I was Googling something), and have been following it for a few weeks now. I have a 15 month old with bilateral hearing loss, as well, and we just went for his 3rd booth test today. Fortunately, it went pretty well and we got good results for his left ear (he needs LESS amplification, yay!), but we do have to go back to test his right ear and do the real ear test for his left. (We got new ear molds today.)
Your blog has been so inspirational and informative to me. I too have boys who are close in age: Jacob is the 15 month old with hearing loss, and Liam is 3 months old. I don't know how you are able to care for both your kids and still have time to blog. Just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the time you put into it. Congrats on Nolan's "yes" and good luck on the hearing test tomorrow!!

Rena said...

YES!!!!!!!!!! Good luck with the appointment.

Apraxia Mom said...

YES! Go Nolan, Go! What one little word can do to a Mama is amazing!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Adorable!!!

So how many cookies did he end up getting?! ;D

Praying about the sound-booth test...

Julie

leah said...

He ended up getting several teddy-graham style cookies. He was quite pleased with himself! Now we have to restrain ourselves from constantly asking him yes/no questions, because we love hearing that little, "Yeah!"

Julia said...

Yeehaw!!! As Jeremy in the Yellow Submarine movie says, "'Yes' is a most euphonious thing!" Way to go, Nolan!

rouchi6 said...

One of the happy moments for all....each milestone for them and us is a result of days of hard work, and happiness is unmeasurable , something difficult to explain.