Since turn-on day we have seen a tremendous amount of progress in our little kiddo. We still can’t quite get over the fact that she can hear now. It is a 21st century miracle. Yes, we are flying high!!! Molly actually wants to hear. Occasionally in the morning or after nap she will point to her ear before I have a chance to get her device on. She wants to hear right away! That is so cool to see so early on!

We have already had two speech therapy sessions (an hour once a week). We chose to take the Auditory-Verbal approach. Seems to be a very aggressive yet effective approach. Essentially the AV practice teaches kiddos how to hear, listen, understand the language of their normal hearing parents, and how to effectively speak that same language. It emphasizes hearing rather than vision (no sign or cued speech).

We love our therapist. She is a phenomenal teacher and very creative. Much of this therapy is parent training, of course. So I take what I learn from each session and implement it into everyday practice. Or at least try! The trick is to disguise the work at home as play. After all, she is an infant!!!!

Ok, so I am doing a pretty lousy job with posting. Thought I would tell you a little bit about Molly’s activation session as well as how she has responded in this last week.

On activation day, Molly had a positive report from her Audiologist. She started out by sending signals to the implant and gradually raised the volume. There were some slight responses at first. She then started sending low tones to high tones, like a piano scale. Molly actually cried when she hit the high tones. Tears of joy for us!!! She then turned her "ear" on to live sound and Molly seemed to respond to a few things in the environment. All of our waiting for this big day was well rewarded.

As far as how Molly is taking to her new "EAR".....She is a NEW KID (at least in the last couple days). What happened to our little screamer??? We were seeing a little reaction to loud sounds in the first couple days, but nothing like yesterday and today. She has found that all of her toys that make sound have a whole new dimension to them. She wants interactive play now (in the last couple months she has been playing quietly by herself). For those of you who know Molly, you know that she has quite a loud and frequent scream (especially in public). Yesterday was my first grocery shopping experience with a quiet child. Let’s see how long this will last. :)

I should also note that she is taking to this device far better than she ever did with her hearing aids. We are assuming it is because she is getting more input and LIKES what she is hearing. She yanks the device out though when she wants our attention. Hummm..... Still naughty!!!!


There are three parts to her external device. What is hooked the the halter on her back is the body-worn processor.

Molly is now wearing her new Nucleus Freedom device. She is actually alerting to sound in the pic. Pretty Cool!! The coil portion is magnetized to the head where she has been implanted. The pink portion, which SHOULD go BTE (behind the ear), is the microphone. She also wears a processor that we attach to her pants. I will send a better photo later.
Here is our little Squirt from Finding Nemo