well, that certainly wasn’t what I had in mind when I said I wanted to understand speech. Saturday, October 14, 2006

Well, that certainly wasn’t what I had in mind when I said I wanted to be able to understand speech with the CI. I most certainly didn’t expect to be able to understand that phrase 2 months after activation. Being able to understand “you’re a bleeping bleep” in the background at a party, even with the music playing and people talking, is amazing. Course, it is a phrase that I hear frequently, so it wouldn’t be that difficult, but still… Oy.

all of us (minus 2 people from the picture, and a few who couldn’t come)

My friends were amazed when I turned around from the kitchen where I was doing stuff and asked “who is the bleeping bleep?” (which wasn’t directed at me, but rather an “-ism” one of my friends uses for everybody) and realized that I understood that. There were a few more of those moments during the night, where I was asked something, and responded back correctly, either with an answer or doing what was asked, all without looking at them or lipreading.

The whole concept of being able to understand without actively listening, is very strange to me. But I get rewarded with those rare moments that I understand words or sentences, and reaffirm my faith in the CI.

Showed up on Friday, only to find out from Don that Mandy is sick so no therapy. She didn’t look like she felt well on Thursday, so I hope she feels better soon because it’s not fun to be sick, and because it’s always awesome to see her. And she has a surprise that she is working on for our sessions, so I’m eager to see what she has come up with.

Had speech therapy with Karen on Thursday, and she had a new activity for me. She will ask a question, and I have to answer it, and then have a back-and-forth conversation with her. This allows me to practice listening, and to work on my speech rate, and using good speech while talking. The majority of my errors come not from when I’m reading the word/doing drills, but rather from being spontaneous. This is going to be a lot of fun, I’m excited.

She also forwarded me an email with the listening therapy websites online, and it is comprehensive! I need to get internet at home, so I can use them on my computer, because the Macs at school don’t seem to like the files, as I discovered on Thursday.

At 2 pm, National Public Radio did something I’ve never seen before. They had live captioning on the web for a story that was being talked about live on the radio. The subject matter was the October 12, 2006 – The Evolving Debate Over Cochlear Implants as well as Deaf Culture in America: As Culture Evolves, The Questions Change, and they encouraged deaf people to call in. They were cool working with the intepreters and relay operators, even though radio is a fast-talking medium, attempting to squeeze many words into a short amount of time. Now if some people in the world took the lead of NPR on this broadcast, life would be good.

Don’t forget to read A sampling of comments from the audience members. Be sure to read about the one titled “Social and Emotional Impact of Oralism”, as it is a topic I am very familiar with, and strongly support.

I would have called in/listened during those shows, but I was at work.