I finally got my score report from the Praxis II that I had to take. I definitely passed for the state of Utah requirements, so I checked the passing requirements of all the other states that require this particular test as well. I've met the passing requirements for them too. *whew* That means I definitely will not ever have to take my Praxis I or my Praxis II content specific test. However, many of the other states do require an additional test, but after looking at some of the practice questions on it, I really think it'd be easy to do, so no worries there. I'll only take it if we end up moving to a place that requires it.
So basically, if I can pass my comprehensive presentation on the 12th of June, and pass both my student teaching and my class this semester. I'm done. Certified. Degreed. Licensed. Everything. Just. Simply. Done.
I so cannot wait for August 4th. The official ending date of this semester and my graduate career.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Cochlear Implant - Long post
So for a very long time now, I have wanted a cochlear implant. However, I was told for years by professionals and professors that I probably wouldn't be a candidate because I did so well with my hearing aids. I was able to understand speech and get along pretty well with my hearing aids. (To be a cochlear implant candidate, you basically have to have a hearing loss that's bad enough you can't understand speech that well with hearing aids, and you have to be close to the bottom of the audiogram...see below).
I was born with MUCH more hearing than I have now (again see the picture below), and am now definitely in the severe/profound range that is preferred for a cochlear implant candidate.
Decibels (dB) (the side numbers) are how loud things are. Frequencies are the pitches. If you start at the left side, that's the low pitches, and move to the right, those are the high pitches. All the pictures on there give you an idea of what sounds are that loud, and what pitches are in that frequency. For example if my loss was about where the airplane was, I could hear the airplane without hearing aids if I were close to it, but not anything above that airplane. Anything above the lines in the picture, I could/can NOT hear.
Basically, if you have 0 dB hearing, you have perfect hearing. If you have 120 dB hearing, that means you're basically completely and utterly deaf.
Now to explain the lines I've drawn onto the picture. The darkest black line is what I had when I was born (mind you, it's an approximate, not exactly what I had). This is without my hearing aids. As you can see it's pretty high up there, and having hearing aids would've brought that line up.
I've done the other lines as representations of different times in my life. The one right below the black line is from when I was about in middle school, right below that one was right after high school, and the final one is after having Kiernan (or basically what I am right now). As you can see...I've gotten worse over time. Wearing hearing aids now will only bring me up to somewhere in between the second and third line (basically the middle). That doesn't even really get me up to being able to hear speech sounds perfectly.
I have, over time, been able to tell a difference in my hearing losses over time. I can tell I'm missing more information, I rely much more on lip reading and cueing than ever, and require lots of repeating. This was made evident in the hearing test I did on Tuesday.
First he did the pure tone test (basically beeps of the different pitches, no speech sounds). The right ear alone, and the left ear alone. Together, my hearing loss is at about the last line that I drew on the audiogram.
Then he did a word test where he gave me five words over and over, and went quieter over time, first my right, then my left then both. I honestly don't remember how quiet he got before I couldn't hear him anymore (that is, with my hearing aids in). I believe it was around 60ish dB.
Third, he did a sentence test. I had NO idea what these sentences were going to be. I wore my hearing aids for them. The volume was presented at normal speaking volume, with the speaker in front of me about the same distance I would be from a person talking to me. First we did the right ear with the hearing aid, then the left ear with the hearing aid and then both ears with the hearing aids. The right ear, I got 22% correct. The left ear I got 12% correct. With both ears, I got 57% correct. This showed that I really utilize both ears to try to understand what I'm hearing. The typical cutoff point for comprehension of sentences for candidates is anything below 60% correct. I was just under it, but the audiologist said he would've recommended me anyway because of the scores I got on my word level, and because my hearing loss is progressive, and especially drops after having a child. I really have to wonder how my audiologist didn't bust up laughing during the sentences part (i had to repeat them back), because man on man, I knew I got a lot of them wrong when I was thinking the guy said "strawberry cheese squee." He held a straight face the entire time. I was very very impressed, especially since I laughed after a few sentences.
The next task was to identify words with the same speaker from the sentences. Same volume, same rate of speech, etc. Right ear, left ear, both ears with hearing aids. For the right ear, I got 10% correct, for the left ear, I got 2% correct and for both ears, I got 10% correct. This is very consistent with the sentence portion, as with sentences I have a better chance of "guessing" correctly because there are more words to help me make sense of a sentence...like I know there is no way strawberry cheese squee. was a sentence. However, He washed the dishes was definitely a sentence. However, with words, I have no way of using other words to help me guess it. These were random spontaneous words. It was extremely difficult. There were 50 words each time, so I was guessing on 150 words total. It was exhausting.
Finally, the final task was to see how much I depend on lipreading and how much I depend on my hearing. This was not to determine my candidacy for a cochlear implant, rather it was to do a comparison of before and after if I do get a cochlear implant (or two). The audiologist sat down in front of me, I had both aids in, he said ten sentences, and I had to repeat them back. I was able to use my hearing aids and lipread him. Then I had to take my hearing aids out, and he then said ten sentences (with is voice so that he wasn't doing any unnatural movements with his mouth), and since I didn't have my hearing aids in, I had to rely completely on lipreading. I got 100% with the hearing aids in, and 77% with the hearing aids out. This means I do lipread...quite well, but definitely do use my hearing to get information.
All in all...the entire testing took just over an hour. It was *exhausting*.
After all the testing, the audiologist told me that I was actually a candidate for both ears to be implanted, and in his own roundabout way, suggested I do a bilateral cochlear implants. For those who aren't familiar with cochlear implants, typically, people are only implanted on one side. So this was very surprising information for me. But he did bring up some good points: 1 - I'm gonna lose all my hearing anyway, period. No doubt about it, especially after I have another kid. 2 - it's cheaper to do them at the same time, less hospital bills (that is, if the insurance will preauthorize doing two cochlear implants and not just one) since doing them separately would cost more.
Admittedly, people who have bilateral implants (they also tend to implant at different times, instead of at the same time) get 80% of their functioning from the first implant, and only 20% from the second implant. But then again....they all implant at different times, not at the same time. SO I can't help but wonder if doing them at the same time, and training both sides at the same time would make them equal? I need to do some research on that.
He then showed ups the three different companies for cochlear implants, and gave very fair and unbiased information. The three companies are advanced bionics, cochlear and med-el. I'm leaning towards cochlear right now.
As for whether I'll get two or one, I'm not even thinking about choosing one or two until I find out if it's even an option through insurance. Fortunately, our insurance right now is in the open enrollment period. So we're trying to get real information from the insurances right now to see if we need to switch plans that would give better coverage for the cochlear implant(s). If there is a way to do two cochlear implants, then I'll start considering it. Right now, it's a lean towards yes for both, but man it really freaks me out.
After we left, on our way home, we called the secretary of the other doctor that I have to see for a consultation. She's already sent a package and appointment times for an MRI to check on the structure of my ear to make sure it's good for getting a cochlear implant, and for a consultation with the cochlear implant surgeon to go over all the information. It's on June 22nd.
SO there....there's the longest blog post every, and the start of this possible journey. Please feel free to ask any questions, I promise I won't take offense and understand why would not be happy with me getting an implant, and why some would be ecstatic. I also understand if you could care less :)
Oh yeah...basically getting a cochlear implant would mean I would be at this level, just you can understand why I would even consider having my head cut into, and my skull being drilled into it. And if you want more information on how cochlear implants work, there's a link to a fantastic video at the bottom of this post.
Cochlear Implant Hearing Level (approximately in between the two thick black lines):
And the link to the cochlear implant video:
I was born with MUCH more hearing than I have now (again see the picture below), and am now definitely in the severe/profound range that is preferred for a cochlear implant candidate.
Decibels (dB) (the side numbers) are how loud things are. Frequencies are the pitches. If you start at the left side, that's the low pitches, and move to the right, those are the high pitches. All the pictures on there give you an idea of what sounds are that loud, and what pitches are in that frequency. For example if my loss was about where the airplane was, I could hear the airplane without hearing aids if I were close to it, but not anything above that airplane. Anything above the lines in the picture, I could/can NOT hear.
Basically, if you have 0 dB hearing, you have perfect hearing. If you have 120 dB hearing, that means you're basically completely and utterly deaf.
Now to explain the lines I've drawn onto the picture. The darkest black line is what I had when I was born (mind you, it's an approximate, not exactly what I had). This is without my hearing aids. As you can see it's pretty high up there, and having hearing aids would've brought that line up.
I've done the other lines as representations of different times in my life. The one right below the black line is from when I was about in middle school, right below that one was right after high school, and the final one is after having Kiernan (or basically what I am right now). As you can see...I've gotten worse over time. Wearing hearing aids now will only bring me up to somewhere in between the second and third line (basically the middle). That doesn't even really get me up to being able to hear speech sounds perfectly.
I have, over time, been able to tell a difference in my hearing losses over time. I can tell I'm missing more information, I rely much more on lip reading and cueing than ever, and require lots of repeating. This was made evident in the hearing test I did on Tuesday.
First he did the pure tone test (basically beeps of the different pitches, no speech sounds). The right ear alone, and the left ear alone. Together, my hearing loss is at about the last line that I drew on the audiogram.
Then he did a word test where he gave me five words over and over, and went quieter over time, first my right, then my left then both. I honestly don't remember how quiet he got before I couldn't hear him anymore (that is, with my hearing aids in). I believe it was around 60ish dB.
Third, he did a sentence test. I had NO idea what these sentences were going to be. I wore my hearing aids for them. The volume was presented at normal speaking volume, with the speaker in front of me about the same distance I would be from a person talking to me. First we did the right ear with the hearing aid, then the left ear with the hearing aid and then both ears with the hearing aids. The right ear, I got 22% correct. The left ear I got 12% correct. With both ears, I got 57% correct. This showed that I really utilize both ears to try to understand what I'm hearing. The typical cutoff point for comprehension of sentences for candidates is anything below 60% correct. I was just under it, but the audiologist said he would've recommended me anyway because of the scores I got on my word level, and because my hearing loss is progressive, and especially drops after having a child. I really have to wonder how my audiologist didn't bust up laughing during the sentences part (i had to repeat them back), because man on man, I knew I got a lot of them wrong when I was thinking the guy said "strawberry cheese squee." He held a straight face the entire time. I was very very impressed, especially since I laughed after a few sentences.
The next task was to identify words with the same speaker from the sentences. Same volume, same rate of speech, etc. Right ear, left ear, both ears with hearing aids. For the right ear, I got 10% correct, for the left ear, I got 2% correct and for both ears, I got 10% correct. This is very consistent with the sentence portion, as with sentences I have a better chance of "guessing" correctly because there are more words to help me make sense of a sentence...like I know there is no way strawberry cheese squee. was a sentence. However, He washed the dishes was definitely a sentence. However, with words, I have no way of using other words to help me guess it. These were random spontaneous words. It was extremely difficult. There were 50 words each time, so I was guessing on 150 words total. It was exhausting.
Finally, the final task was to see how much I depend on lipreading and how much I depend on my hearing. This was not to determine my candidacy for a cochlear implant, rather it was to do a comparison of before and after if I do get a cochlear implant (or two). The audiologist sat down in front of me, I had both aids in, he said ten sentences, and I had to repeat them back. I was able to use my hearing aids and lipread him. Then I had to take my hearing aids out, and he then said ten sentences (with is voice so that he wasn't doing any unnatural movements with his mouth), and since I didn't have my hearing aids in, I had to rely completely on lipreading. I got 100% with the hearing aids in, and 77% with the hearing aids out. This means I do lipread...quite well, but definitely do use my hearing to get information.
All in all...the entire testing took just over an hour. It was *exhausting*.
After all the testing, the audiologist told me that I was actually a candidate for both ears to be implanted, and in his own roundabout way, suggested I do a bilateral cochlear implants. For those who aren't familiar with cochlear implants, typically, people are only implanted on one side. So this was very surprising information for me. But he did bring up some good points: 1 - I'm gonna lose all my hearing anyway, period. No doubt about it, especially after I have another kid. 2 - it's cheaper to do them at the same time, less hospital bills (that is, if the insurance will preauthorize doing two cochlear implants and not just one) since doing them separately would cost more.
Admittedly, people who have bilateral implants (they also tend to implant at different times, instead of at the same time) get 80% of their functioning from the first implant, and only 20% from the second implant. But then again....they all implant at different times, not at the same time. SO I can't help but wonder if doing them at the same time, and training both sides at the same time would make them equal? I need to do some research on that.
He then showed ups the three different companies for cochlear implants, and gave very fair and unbiased information. The three companies are advanced bionics, cochlear and med-el. I'm leaning towards cochlear right now.
As for whether I'll get two or one, I'm not even thinking about choosing one or two until I find out if it's even an option through insurance. Fortunately, our insurance right now is in the open enrollment period. So we're trying to get real information from the insurances right now to see if we need to switch plans that would give better coverage for the cochlear implant(s). If there is a way to do two cochlear implants, then I'll start considering it. Right now, it's a lean towards yes for both, but man it really freaks me out.
After we left, on our way home, we called the secretary of the other doctor that I have to see for a consultation. She's already sent a package and appointment times for an MRI to check on the structure of my ear to make sure it's good for getting a cochlear implant, and for a consultation with the cochlear implant surgeon to go over all the information. It's on June 22nd.
SO there....there's the longest blog post every, and the start of this possible journey. Please feel free to ask any questions, I promise I won't take offense and understand why would not be happy with me getting an implant, and why some would be ecstatic. I also understand if you could care less :)
Oh yeah...basically getting a cochlear implant would mean I would be at this level, just you can understand why I would even consider having my head cut into, and my skull being drilled into it. And if you want more information on how cochlear implants work, there's a link to a fantastic video at the bottom of this post.
Cochlear Implant Hearing Level (approximately in between the two thick black lines):
And the link to the cochlear implant video:
Friday, March 12, 2010
Family
Family: Bryan's been great at being a stay at home dad. I know he goes crazy, and that it's not exactly his cup of tea, but he's been doing a great job with Kiernan. I couldn't do a better job myself. I'm glad I married this man :) Bryan also speaks Brazilian Portuguese to Kiernan on a daily basis, so Kiernan knows some phrases in Portuguese better than English. That just shows me I need to spend more time with him! My time will come after this semester is over :) Kiernan has learned so much the past couple of months, it's crazy.
Bryan took him to his 15 month check up and an audiology appointment. Kiernan's hearing is perfect so far, and he did great in the sound booth. Kiernan is 98th percentile for weight, 92nd percentile for height and 90 something percentile for his head. The doctor said that we definitely need to measure his head again at the next check up to make sure it's not abnormal. We're not worried since Bryan and I both have...VERY big heads (though I'm pretty sure mine is bigger than Bryan's).
Kiernan has also recently fallen in love with steering wheels/cars. He likes cars because they have round things that spin (steering wheel and wheels). he's starting to make a vroomm sound when he plays with them now. Bryan even got him to pretend to drive a car with the wii wheel. He loves to give raspberries on your belly and find your belly button. He knows how to say no in his own way ("ah" while shaking his finger or hand at you), he pretends to do "this little piggy" on your feet, and tries to tickle you. He also likes to try to put his shoes on us, and our shoes on him. He's a *LOT* easier to put down to bed now (goes right to sleep after I sing him two songs before putting him in his crib), and is *FINALLY* sleeping through the entire night (11 hours!). He takes one nap a day, but that typically is anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. He has his canines in now, so that makes for 16 teeth. He's probably the most social baby I know. we went out to eat, and he saw another kid his age, and started waving hi and they were interacting with each other and having fun. Then the other kid's mom sat down and blocked the view. Boy, did that make Kiernan mad. The other family was really nice and shifted their kid so Kiernan could see him again, and he was as happy as a clam. Very cute.
He cannot say any words perfectly (with the exception of Hi and Mais), but he does have specific word approximations that mean something to him. We counted and he has: mais (more), hi, bye bye, nose (honk), baby, doggie, kitty, mama, daddy, grandma, that, see, leche, night night, bath, fralda (diaper), sock, banana, cheese, ah ah (no), zapatos, down down down, up up up, out out out, hot, elmo, all done. And yes, I do count what he has all the time, I like to know because of my job :).
He understands a lot more than that (such as eyes, belly button, and songs that we sing [itsy bitsy spider, 5 little monkeys swinging from a tree, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, clean up song, he's started showing a preference for skid a marink], give me, give ____,).
He still dances like a maniac. :) I love it. He also loves to do the songs that I mentioned above, especially if you stop and wait for him to do the next action.
Yeah, enough bragging, this is a boring post for most of y'all. :)
Bryan took him to his 15 month check up and an audiology appointment. Kiernan's hearing is perfect so far, and he did great in the sound booth. Kiernan is 98th percentile for weight, 92nd percentile for height and 90 something percentile for his head. The doctor said that we definitely need to measure his head again at the next check up to make sure it's not abnormal. We're not worried since Bryan and I both have...VERY big heads (though I'm pretty sure mine is bigger than Bryan's).
Kiernan has also recently fallen in love with steering wheels/cars. He likes cars because they have round things that spin (steering wheel and wheels). he's starting to make a vroomm sound when he plays with them now. Bryan even got him to pretend to drive a car with the wii wheel. He loves to give raspberries on your belly and find your belly button. He knows how to say no in his own way ("ah" while shaking his finger or hand at you), he pretends to do "this little piggy" on your feet, and tries to tickle you. He also likes to try to put his shoes on us, and our shoes on him. He's a *LOT* easier to put down to bed now (goes right to sleep after I sing him two songs before putting him in his crib), and is *FINALLY* sleeping through the entire night (11 hours!). He takes one nap a day, but that typically is anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. He has his canines in now, so that makes for 16 teeth. He's probably the most social baby I know. we went out to eat, and he saw another kid his age, and started waving hi and they were interacting with each other and having fun. Then the other kid's mom sat down and blocked the view. Boy, did that make Kiernan mad. The other family was really nice and shifted their kid so Kiernan could see him again, and he was as happy as a clam. Very cute.
He cannot say any words perfectly (with the exception of Hi and Mais), but he does have specific word approximations that mean something to him. We counted and he has: mais (more), hi, bye bye, nose (honk), baby, doggie, kitty, mama, daddy, grandma, that, see, leche, night night, bath, fralda (diaper), sock, banana, cheese, ah ah (no), zapatos, down down down, up up up, out out out, hot, elmo, all done. And yes, I do count what he has all the time, I like to know because of my job :).
He understands a lot more than that (such as eyes, belly button, and songs that we sing [itsy bitsy spider, 5 little monkeys swinging from a tree, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, clean up song, he's started showing a preference for skid a marink], give me, give ____,).
He still dances like a maniac. :) I love it. He also loves to do the songs that I mentioned above, especially if you stop and wait for him to do the next action.
Yeah, enough bragging, this is a boring post for most of y'all. :)
Work and School
First off, I love my job. LOVE it. I hope I get to stay next year, we'll see how things go with budget cuts and all. It sounds like I'll be there next year, but I'm not holding my breath just cause I was the newest hire in my program. I really couldn't ask for a better job. I just hope I'm actually doing it right and benefiting the families that I'm meeting with. If I don't get hired, I'll go back and do my K-12 student teaching to get the K-12 hearing impairment endorsement.
School: An entirely different story. These assignments are just beating me up. If it weren't for the classes, student teaching, lesson planning and homework, I'd be able to put in a lot more effort into my job and get closer to working on being certified in AVT or AvEd. That takes at least three years :) (seriously, this learning school stuff? it never stops). I love my student teaching placement, I just have a hard time separating what I'm doing in preschool from my job, so sometimes I feel I'm presenting stuff that just might be too advanced for some of the kids I work with, and it's not that they're below level or anything, I'm just not thinking in the right developmental age. Once this semester is over, it'll be a lot easier to remember the developmental steps, process and milestones that are more applicable to my job. I just completed my 9th week of student teaching, that means I only have 7 more weeks of it left. I've passed the halfway mark, that means I *will* survive, and I've gotten good feedback on all assignments so far, so things are looking good so far.
Fellowship: Still gotta work details on that. I might have to fly out of town for a week or two do complete it after all instead of doing it in the state in order to meet the needs and requirements of what the directors want from me. No big deal, was just hoping to stay in Utah so that I could manage school, work and family better. Either way, I can still do it. I am learning a lot from it, and hope to continue learning more about dual sensory impairments.
School: An entirely different story. These assignments are just beating me up. If it weren't for the classes, student teaching, lesson planning and homework, I'd be able to put in a lot more effort into my job and get closer to working on being certified in AVT or AvEd. That takes at least three years :) (seriously, this learning school stuff? it never stops). I love my student teaching placement, I just have a hard time separating what I'm doing in preschool from my job, so sometimes I feel I'm presenting stuff that just might be too advanced for some of the kids I work with, and it's not that they're below level or anything, I'm just not thinking in the right developmental age. Once this semester is over, it'll be a lot easier to remember the developmental steps, process and milestones that are more applicable to my job. I just completed my 9th week of student teaching, that means I only have 7 more weeks of it left. I've passed the halfway mark, that means I *will* survive, and I've gotten good feedback on all assignments so far, so things are looking good so far.
Fellowship: Still gotta work details on that. I might have to fly out of town for a week or two do complete it after all instead of doing it in the state in order to meet the needs and requirements of what the directors want from me. No big deal, was just hoping to stay in Utah so that I could manage school, work and family better. Either way, I can still do it. I am learning a lot from it, and hope to continue learning more about dual sensory impairments.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Puddle Jumping
This is what Kiernan did for a good half hour today. He loved it, as did I. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with my cell phone camera.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
On the verge...
I see I last posted on Jan. 23rd. Life has been insane. I am definitely on a verge of mental break down. 6 1/2 weeks down, 9 1/2 more to go. *sigh*
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Kiernan's new love
No, his new love is not mommy, or daddy. It's this:
It's a music table. We got this for Kiernan for Christmas, and he loves it. Here's proof (you don't have to watch the whole video, and sorry, it won't embed on here, so it'll take you to the video itself).
He's also started doing this new position, and has been doing this in church. While it's funny as heck, it sure is disruptive at church and we try to stop it. I can't wait for nursery.
Now...if you noticed in the previous videos, it's mostly the banjo music playing. Here's why:
Any time I play anything other than the banjo, he gets frustrated. Perhaps we'll buy him a real banjo one day....
This is how he is after dancing all day:
 |
| From 13-14 months |
It's a music table. We got this for Kiernan for Christmas, and he loves it. Here's proof (you don't have to watch the whole video, and sorry, it won't embed on here, so it'll take you to the video itself).
 |
| From 13-14 months |
He's also started doing this new position, and has been doing this in church. While it's funny as heck, it sure is disruptive at church and we try to stop it. I can't wait for nursery.
 |
| From 13-14 months |
Now...if you noticed in the previous videos, it's mostly the banjo music playing. Here's why:
 |
| From 13-14 months |
Any time I play anything other than the banjo, he gets frustrated. Perhaps we'll buy him a real banjo one day....
This is how he is after dancing all day:
 |
| From 13-14 months |
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