There are approximately 3 weeks between the day that Nolan had his surgery and the day that his cochlear implant will be turned on. We are using these 3 weeks, and the week before he had surgery, to prepare him for hearing. We are making a major push towards teaching him some signs that are important that he still doesn't know, while still working towards some of our old goals. Knowing signs for important words will help him so that when he hears, he isn't starting completely fresh. He will be able to associate sounds with signs and will already have a form of language that we can spring off.
Colour and animal signs: I have been told that the most important signs that Nolan needs to know before his CIs are turned on are colours and animal signs. We have decided to focus on 6 colours: red, blue, green, yellow, black, and white, and 4 animals: dog, cat, bird, cow. After he is hearing, the animal signs will come into great use as teaching him animal noises (hearing/recognizing them and making the sounds himself) will be a great activity in his speech and language therapy. Colours are some of the first things that young toddlers recognize, however Nolan missed out on that developmental milestone not being able to hear the names of the different colours. In the photo to the side, I hid the blue and red crayons around the room. I would sign to him a colour, and then he would have to go look for a crayon in that colour and bring it to me. When they were all found, we coloured in the circles.
Currently, aside from the above signs that we are working on teaching him, these are the signs Nolan knows and uses: bath, help, eat, drink, pee, poop, school, go, play, sleep, pray, wait/stop, yes, no, A-G (letters), his name, Lily's name, Molly's name, walk, and Mom (me). When he came to us in July, he knew only eat and drink.
One of my favourite activities we have done has been the rainbow spaghetti game. Tori and I put a bunch of long noodles into hot water to soften it and separated it into 4 bowls. We set it out on the floor along with 4 packages of food colouring. We asked Nolan to find the red food colouring by doing the sign, and he would have to find the red and give it to us. Then, he would get to drop the food colouring into one bowl. We repeated this until each bowl was a different colour (red, blue, green, and yellow). This was the first time we introduced green to him. He had known red and blue for about 5 days and had been introduced to yellow that morning. Once all the bowls were coloured, we played different games with it, for example letting him pick up some of the noodles and mix it around or put it in a different bowl when he found the colour we were asking for. He was very motivated by this activity and so had great attention and got the colour signs correct almost every time! Once we were finished, he spent over an hour playing with the noodles, squishing them between his fingers, moving them from bowl to bowl, having a food fight with Lily, and then cleaning the bowls in the water. It was a fantastic activity that really engaged him!
We have had a lot of help from experts guiding us in the right direction with him. I have been reading several books that are giving me ideas on helping to guide him behaviourally. I have been emailing with teacher friends for creative ideas on appealing to his kinesthetic learning style. I have also been in contact with a woman "Borrowed Mum" who has CIs and whose son has CIs, and she has been explaining what is most important for Nolan to know before his cochlear implants get turned on. Here are some of the things we have been doing with him lately...
Currently, aside from the above signs that we are working on teaching him, these are the signs Nolan knows and uses: bath, help, eat, drink, pee, poop, school, go, play, sleep, pray, wait/stop, yes, no, A-G (letters), his name, Lily's name, Molly's name, walk, and Mom (me). When he came to us in July, he knew only eat and drink.
Tactile activities: As much as possible, I have been trying to incorporate sensory and tactile activities into Nolan's day. He learns better when he can touch and feel and do. We started out with a fun water game. I filled up two buckets of water and dyed one bucket of water blue and the other red. I gave him a selection of toys that were coloured either red or blue, and he had to do the sign and put it in the proper bucket. Once they were in, I then signed to him a particular colour and he would have to hand me an object in that colour. I included some clothes as well, as he loves "washing" clothes. So he worked on his colour signs, his sorting, and had some fun water sensory play too, as he splashed around and cleaned the clothes!
One of my favourite activities we have done has been the rainbow spaghetti game. Tori and I put a bunch of long noodles into hot water to soften it and separated it into 4 bowls. We set it out on the floor along with 4 packages of food colouring. We asked Nolan to find the red food colouring by doing the sign, and he would have to find the red and give it to us. Then, he would get to drop the food colouring into one bowl. We repeated this until each bowl was a different colour (red, blue, green, and yellow). This was the first time we introduced green to him. He had known red and blue for about 5 days and had been introduced to yellow that morning. Once all the bowls were coloured, we played different games with it, for example letting him pick up some of the noodles and mix it around or put it in a different bowl when he found the colour we were asking for. He was very motivated by this activity and so had great attention and got the colour signs correct almost every time! Once we were finished, he spent over an hour playing with the noodles, squishing them between his fingers, moving them from bowl to bowl, having a food fight with Lily, and then cleaning the bowls in the water. It was a fantastic activity that really engaged him!
Phys-ed and creative play: Kids learn by playing (this post is brilliant). Nolan had one game that he played over and over again; he would find a bag, fill it up with toys, and crawl around the balcony waving bye and blowing kisses to everyone pretending he was going on a trip. I recognized that Nolan needed to be challenged in his play and that he needed more physical activity, particularly in combination with his learning. We went to the store and bought a giant slide with a basketball hoop attached to the side. We also made a Wish List of even more toys to challenge the kids' imaginations, totaling $450- yikes! The kids were so excited when we showed them the slide/basketball hoop. After a little while of playing, I brought it into the living room and set up a school game for him.
Before he could climb up the steps on the slide, I put out some letter cards and would sign him a letter and he would have to hand me the corresponding letter card. Then he took the card, climbed up, slid down, brought it through the tunnel and to a bowl at the end of the tunnel. There were balls waiting for him there with various coloured paper taped to them. I would give him a colour sign, he would choose the corresponding ball, would crawl over to the basketball hoop, shoot it in, and then repeat until we had gone through all the letters and colours. I couldn't believe it, he got every single one correct on the first try! No games, no pouting, no refusing to participate. He loved it! We were chasing each other with the balls, racing to get to the slide, and having tickle fights through the tunnel. I didn't take many photos because I was just enjoying him so much, and the photos I took don't really capture his pure happiness and engagement. He did a great job!
Before he could climb up the steps on the slide, I put out some letter cards and would sign him a letter and he would have to hand me the corresponding letter card. Then he took the card, climbed up, slid down, brought it through the tunnel and to a bowl at the end of the tunnel. There were balls waiting for him there with various coloured paper taped to them. I would give him a colour sign, he would choose the corresponding ball, would crawl over to the basketball hoop, shoot it in, and then repeat until we had gone through all the letters and colours. I couldn't believe it, he got every single one correct on the first try! No games, no pouting, no refusing to participate. He loved it! We were chasing each other with the balls, racing to get to the slide, and having tickle fights through the tunnel. I didn't take many photos because I was just enjoying him so much, and the photos I took don't really capture his pure happiness and engagement. He did a great job!
We are also taking Nolan to Kidihou Children's Museum 2-3 times/week. He spends time playing with other kids, using his imagination, painting, role playing, and doing school type activities with me like puzzles and letter recognition using their letter magnets. He really thrives in this environment so we are treating this as his "school" for now.
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