Pressing the little button and Yes .... Sound !!
Over the last two years, since the activation of Lotte's CI, Lotte has gradually realised that her working ears are on her shoulder... or at least, they need to be attatched above her ear.
This realisation has slowly grown.
In the beginning she would be happy to run around with her coils loose on her back . A BTE that stopped functioning (e.g. low batteries) would not be a problem. A soundless environment has never bothered her, and it still doesn't.
Later on, especially the last half year, the lack of sound, or perhaps better said, communication with her surroundings, does bother her, and we never see her with 2 loose coils. Sometimes one falls off and she won't notice, but normally she puts them on herself quickly.
IN the last month, in the morning (Lotte being awake before us... ), she will pluck them from the medicine-cabinet (which is steel, so the CI's stick on it due to the magnets in the coils) and comes to us to have them put on.
The way to do this was to switch them on, check the program, then the "volume" and then pin them on her shoulders (don't worry, by that time she wears some sort of clothing. :-) and finally attach the coil on her head. Only then sound would come in.
This weekend I changed that routine, and actually showed her for the first time that her CI gave her sound.
I first attatched the coil, and she realised that that did not help.... no sound.
Then I showed her how I pushed the button to turn the BTE on... and her face lit up..
The other BTE, I had her turn it on herself, and again it was great to see her face light up with excitement. The realisation that it was her, by pushing that little button, that gave her sound...
In a way this is a new era, where Lotte realises that sound is something that comes through a thing that needs to be turned on.
2 comments:
Cloggy, sorry i havent checked in on this thread in a while. I read the post about Lotte demanding to have everything in perfect order. Lilly is alos the same way. SHe also demands to do things herself. When she is demanding to do this herself, she says "My way" and you had beter let her do it or she will get very mad. So, she does it. Your description of the daily morning clothes battles is also Lilly. I agree that thes activities are common in some children. I also agree that why it seems to be stronger in the CI kids. It makes perfect sense.
Showing Lotte how to turn on her CI is a huge step. I bet she felt like such a big girl when she accomplished that. So now does she have to turn in on everyday? I know Lilly would.
Well, it's not that bad. It hasn't become a routine yet, so we are keeping a low profile with it. Not encouraging it too much.
But you should have seen the look on her face...
BTW, wait with it for Lilly. Like you said, you might burn yourself.
Lotte is 4, so she starts to understand...
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