Today we had an appointment with Maria at CASTLE, which is the speech and language group of UNC, and Maria had a speech and language evaluation. They strongly believe Maria was born hearing and she lost her hearing around one year old (probably due to Waardenburg Syndrome which is being confirmed through Genetics as I type this). They said they believe this is so because Maria does not have the typical Deaf speech, her voice sounds like a hearing child, just more like infant sounds. She has tone and inflection. So, the plan is that I will begin parent therapy classes with her where they will teach me how to teach her to speak. We are going to use the auditory-verbal method and see how she progresses. They believe she will be speaking naturally within two years. And they gave us some things to start with her at home until we have our first therapy session, and she is already responding! They are also determining whether or not an FM system at home is a good idea. They will let us know.
So, we are on our way and very excited... please keep us in your prayers.
I sit here tonite, melancholy... this will be the last post on this blog. Our walk by faith to our adoption is over, but our walk by faith in life's journey continues....and we will continue this walk in our family blog...I am still praying about a name, so i guess there will be one more post in the next week with the name of that blog should you wish to follow us there. I will have a link to this adoption blog there as well.
Your comments and encouragement and support are always welcome! God Bless.
I am so glad to see this update! I can't wait to follow your new blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Michele! Your blog has been so wonderful for me. My husband and I are in the process of adopting Mina through RR and she is in the same orphanage your daughter was in. It was awesome to get to read and see pics of where we will be going. Did you possibly see Mina at all while you were there? If you have any helpful information please email me at sweetraeoflove@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for being such a blessing!
I am SO happy that you went to CASTLE. We were there 2 weeks ago and start the parent therapy next week. They too gave Laurel a glowing report and think that by the age of 5 she'll be talking normally. I could never even dream of something so wonderful for her. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to follow you on your family blog. I have been so eager to hear how she is doing with the hearing aid. We still must get together. I'd love to compare notes.
ReplyDeleteHi, our oldest daugther (adopted from China) is deaf and wears bi-lateral cochlear implants. She is doing great.
ReplyDeleteYour children are beautiful!
Michele,
ReplyDeleteI hadn't been on your blog in a while (I thought you had stopped blogging)-- please e-mail me so we can keep in touch since we are on a similar path -- us with Max and you with Marie -- I'm at sclisciandro@att.net --
Many blessings,
Stephanie Lisciandro