August 2005

Another update on our CI-borg.
In july my wife went with the kids to The Netherlands, I joined a week later - someone had to work - and we spend two weeks with good friends in a house in the south of Holland. (OK, not Holland, The Netherlands...)

For Lotte this meant 3 to 4 weeks with only Dutch language around her. Most people don't know sign, so she was submerged in language.
She did great. Learning to say all the names and much more.
I think she made a mental change as well. I really clicked now. She sees the connection between words and actions, objects etc. It's great to watch.

One thing to mention.. she whispers. It's so great that when we start whispering to her, she lowers her voice as well. And of course, being the skeptic engineer I put my hand in front of my mouth just to make sure she wouldn't read my lips, but no problem, she understood it all. It's such a "miracle" and we're with her on the stage witnessing it. WOW.

A couple of days ago, I thought that whispering might be something unknown to deaf people. How is that. Obviously, when becoming deaf at later age, whispering is known, but how is that for HOH or deaf people? Whispering to someone with a HA seems pointless to me.
(From AllDeaf messageboard)