VRA Results: GOOD!

Hey there, sailor!

Sorry it took an extra day or two to update everyone, but we took Jordy to his appointment with Selma (our audiologist) on Wednesday and, as promised we'll tell you all about it. I'll cut straight to the good stuff and let you know that the results are what we had hoped for. Well, I suppose one could hope that this whole 'hearing-losscapade" has been a huge mistake and our baby can hear just perfectly, but that wouldn't be very realistic and Chris'n'Deb are nothing if not realistic.



We invited our SLP, Sydelle to come along to observe so it was Jordan, Mom, Dad, Sydelle, and technician Kelly, all in a sound-proof room with Selma visible through a window on the other side. Kelly was able to receive communication from Selma with an ear piece, and Selma could speak to us over the same intercom she used to play music and tones. She played some snippets of fun kiddy songs to get Jordy used to it and whenever he would turn toward the speaker outputting sound she would reward him by lighting up one of three visual "reward" boxes on each side, they were all different, but an example was a bunny that did a little dance and rang a bell. Jordan was assessed without his H.A.s for most of the test. It took him a while to catch on that these would light up when he turned toward the sound, but eventually he got it. He sat with Dad for the first half of the assessment. Kelly's job was to use toys to bring Jordan's attention back to centre after turning to each tone. After a while Mom and Dad switched off, and found that Jordy did well if he was allowed to sit on the table to play rather than on our laps. The test seemed to click along after that.

Uh-oh! He's going straight for the electronics!
Baby-proofing is high on the agenda this weekend!

It's slightly out of focus, I know, but I had to show you
the look he shot me after I told him, "no."

It was really cool to see him react to what Chris and I often thought were softer tones that we thought he may not be able to hear. Though we can also see how the test must be very subjective, as sometimes he would turn and look for the animals without a sound, or there would be a much louder sound than one he reacted to earlier but he wouldn't turn. Also, we weren't able to see his face, and Selma mentioned that sometimes he would dart his eyes toward a sound but not turn. There seemed to be a lot of interpretation involved and she says it gets easier as kids get older and as an audiologist gets to know her subject. The cool thing is, despite the interpretive nature of the assessment, Selma was able to complete an audiogram which is consistent with the very first hearing test (ABR) last July. All points plotted were within 10 dB of the original assessment, which tells us two things: 1) that both tests are probably accurate and 2) Jordy's hearing loss is unlikely to be a progressive one - his hearing isn't getting worse, and probably won't. This is precisely what we wanted to hear. Hooray! In addition, Selma did test a bit with the H.A.s in, and registered his hearing as within the "normal" range. Also good news.

He loves to play with these balls, usually smacking them together.

One final note, a bit of a retraction from last Friday's Post, "How do you sign 'hungry,' again?" I wrote that Ayasha was let go from DCS "due to some budget cut-backs this fiscal year." This is apparently not quite accurate, as Janice Springford, DCS Executive Director (and a devoted follower of the blog, I may add!) informed me. As there are some DCS clients and potential clients out there reading Little Dumer News, it is important to me to be sensitive and accurate about the information I post about this organisation which I am greatly indebted to, so here's the skinny, in Janice's words:

The truth of the matter is that Ayasha was only on a maternity leave placement, and therefore was casual staff, and would be let go when the regular staff returned. Our number of clients has dropped since September due to Kindergarten enrolment for some of our preschoolers, so when Sydelle came back, there really was not enough work for two full time SLPs, and since our funding was indeed reduced by MCFD (Ministry of Children and Family Development), it would not be appropriate to keep Ayasha on when there is not enough work for her.

I hope that no harm's been done, thanks Janice!