Crazy Cool Teacher Conference

Earlier today, Sean and I met with Thomas' oral preschool teacher and SLP for a mid-year conference and review of the updated CASLLS assessment. Before I say anything else, I have to admit my skepticism of public school offerings for our little man. I was apprehensive at the beginning of the year because this is the first time that the public school system in our area has offered a completely oral preK option for hearing impaired kiddos.

Today my skepticism is GONE! WAY, WAY GONE...a big shadow in my rearview mirror. The teachers and SLP have done some truly amazing work with Thomas and our conversation today was so comforting, reassuring and quite joyful. In fact, we were scheduled to talk for only 30 minutes but, these women allowed Sean and me to talk with them for almost an hour. Their fondness of our little man was apparent and it truly made my heart sing with delight.

So, here is the skinny:

CASLLS Assessment
Thomas has made some great strides to catch up with his hearing peers, children that have been able to hear from birth and that learn new things at a very early age. With Thomas' EVA, we don't truly have a hearing age for him other than his CI implantation, which was roughly two and a half years ago. While he still has some significant gaps in his expressive language and complexity of language, he has made HUGE (or as Thomas would say 'gigantic/enormous/immense/massive') strides in his language since August of last year. In fact, he has mastered or has generalized quite a bit since he started the public school program.

He still has lots and lots of work to do. However, I need to remind myself to focus on the positives such as:

He is asking 'why' questions and is answering these type of questions with 'because' responses.

His use of questions is continuing to grow, almost daily.

He is much more engaged in conversations and continues to negotiate things all.the.time.

He loves, loves, loves to learn almost to the point of it being a problem (for me). He wants to do things correctly and wants to take as much time as needed to figure things out. He wants to understand everything...that's his dad in him (smile).

He talks all.the.time...sometimes over people who are talking at the same time, sometimes missing things that I'm telling him because he already wants to move on to something else to talk about or to negotiate because he doesn't like my answer.

His speech is pretty great...we have a dedicated audiologist that reads him so well during audiological testing and can negotiate with him better than I can. Yea for a good map and an awesome audiologist! Also, a big high five for an SLP that helps him develop his auditory memory and and AVT that has trained me on how to correct him when something is not correct...yea team!

Some things that were suggested by his SLP for homework.

Hedbanz -- a game that makes children ask questions about a card that is on their foreheads. Then they guess what the item is. Here is a link to the game available at Target for only $10. Yahoo, a cheap game for us to play.
http://www.target.com/p/Hedbanz-Board-Game/-/A-12467466?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C12467466&CPNG=toys&ci_sku=12467466&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=

Barrier games -- using auditory memory skills to accurately place pieces in a correct sequence or situation. I'm researching some options to purchase for new therapy (I mean home) toys.

Continuous noise hide-and-seek -- use your iphone or something else that you can play a song or have a consistent noise going on. Hide the item and ask the child to locate the sound. We have a monkey that I can use a remote to go on and off to help him use his listening skills to locate. Lord knows that if I put my iphone someplace, he will want to find it and then sit down to play games on the phone for the remainder of the home therapy session.

I have to applaud these wonderful women and Thomas' school. I had TONS of questions regarding the CASLLS assessment. They are using true rigor when scoring Thomas on the assessment, not giving him any benefit unless they have written documentation of him using vocabulary. They asked me to continue to collect home samples of language so they can validate it through school work (as a former healthcare communications person, I love this idea! Using the home facilitator as a way to expand and validate in another environment...kudos to them!). Now to get my handy spiral notebook out so I can chronicle things...note to self here: put a notebook in the car so you can write down when Thomas says the Pledge of Allegiance...as he did this afternoon while driving to his grandmother's house (smile).

Academic Information
He is ready for kindergarden...what did I just say?...yep, his teacher said that he is academically ready for kindergarden even though he still has next year of PreK. His SLP agreed. Did I tell you that this kid loves to learn? He works so hard to grasp an idea or concept and they are so patient with him, allowing him time to figure things out. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

The most uplifting thing that I heard during the meeting...and I'm paraphrasing because I didn't write it down word-for-word..."Thomas is ready for kindergarden. I have to sometimes remind myself that he is just four years old. He will be in a mainstream class in a year and a half. I won't see him in my classroom at kindergarden," Thomas' preschool teacher said (or at least what my husband and I heard).

How crazy cool is that? Thomas is in the "right" place...he is learning tons...he is happy...which means that Sean and I are happy. It was a crazy cool parent-teacher-SLP conference.