At first I though she could continue on this one, but I decided I want to keep the blog as it is, and Lotte can make her own. In fact, I wasn't ready for the total overhaul of my blog by my wonderful, determined daughter..
So, Please follow Lotte's blog here and share it.
This blog will be available as a resource for us, and anyone else that want to pick our brain. :-)
This came up on a Facebook group..
People with CI experiencing loud noise when turning on the CI in the morning, after a long period of inactivity.
Lotte never had this problem.. (See this post from 2007.. Jeezz.. has it been that long....)
But for those who have this experience.. Here is a possible explanation..
Not that I really understand... out of my league.
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Milestones....
They happen all the time, and like I have said on the blog.. sometimes they fly by, and sometimes they stand up in your face... (well, I said something to that effect..)
Last Thursday was the yearly checkup for Lotte. A great day out since we (actually, this was the first time I couldn't be there..) have to fly to Oslo, then take a train & tram to the hospital where the center for the check-up is located. One of Lotte's teachers joined Lotte and her mum.
This time, for the first time, it was Lotte who was in charge. She has grown so much lately, that my wife had no problem just sitting back and let Lotte do all the talking. And the specialists were excellent at directing everything to Lotte.
It must have been a wonderful day for Lotte because she was 100% focused the hole time. While adjusting the settings on the CI/BTE's, when finding the noises that she doesn't like (flushing the toilet) and trying to do something with that, she got it, and gave excellent feedback.. While doing speech tests in noisy environments and while doing comprehension tests. she did great. Her teacher was very impressed with Lotte..
But it's a great day out. She loves to go there and thrives on the attention, but this time, at the same time she realises the importance of the day.
In all, this day marks a beginning of Lotte taking over the "CI business" from us. She can accurately give feedback about how and what she hears. She understands the tests they are doing. She understands that there are different programs on her BTE she can use, because she was mentally there when they made them.
Of course life goes back to normal for her as soon as she was back at school, and she won't be playing with the different proframs, but she knows they are there.
Also, with one of her teachers being there, there is someone at school that will recognise difficult situations and can tell Lotte to switch to another program.. or, she might identify that Lotte forgot to switch back to the default setting.
Having Lotte chatting away all day, and of course, us replying to her, and getting her attention by calling out "Lotte"...
Suddenly one realises that the latter was a complete new experience once Lotte began to hear, allmost 3 years ago... (Is it really that long ago - has time passed by that quickly..??)
The sign for her was used of course, but using her sign (Twice the "L" in fingerspelling.) is not used in the same context. Saying "Lotte" is now a way to get her attention. This was not the case with the sign "L - Lotte". When Lotte was deaf, you either had her attention or you had not. One wouldn't "call" her with a sign... Getting her attention would be by waving our hand in her field of vision, or tapping her shoulder.
