Tuesday 10/04/90

Grace, who works for us, is back thank goodness!!

Hughan and I started the day by playing ball. We had a great morning recognising sounds.

He knows the washing machine sound. This morning while eating breakfast when the spinner started he pointed to his ear and shook his head.

Afterwards Grace got the vacuum cleaner out. He loves pulling the cable out and then pressing the button that rewinds the cable.

It makes a loud noise while he presses the button and he can feel the vibration.

He also reacts when Grace switches the vacuum cleaner on and off.

Today when the phone rang I pointed to my ear and grabbed him and pointed to my ear and shook my head and saying “I can hear the phone”, and then took him to the phone.

He is enjoying recognising sounds.

I wish you could see him now. When we call him, he turns round straight away, as long as he is not engrossed with play.

When he is doing something that he knows he shouldn’t and I say “no”, he stops immediately and swings around.

He is also turning in the correct direction when he hears the sound from behind. I have also found when I say “say goodbye!” he is waving without any gestures given to him. He also kisses you when you ask him to.

We have noticed a great change in him and we feel he is responding very well.

Tina the dog barks when you bark at her and Hughan is trying hard to bark at her. He babbles very well when he plays with her.

He is also giving eye contact a lot easier now and we talk to him as much as we can, in fact all the time.

It has also got to the stage that when we hear a sound I pick him up and show him where it is coming from and reward him with the vibration, be it at home or where we are out visiting. It becomes a great game.

I also find while I am driving the car that he vocalises very well. When he babbles I jump and he thinks it is great fun. Sometimes when I speak to him or make a noise he jumps in a response to hearing me.

When we have people around, he is usually involved watching something or joining in with the others and when I tell everyone how he is responding, he never does it when they are around, as he is otherwise occupied. Occasionally he will react and they will comment.

We are all finding it great fun. At times I feel quite exhausted by it but it usually happens when it is time for Hughan’s morning sleep, which means I can have a break and when he wakes up I am ready to start again.

Willem also spends time with Hughan and talking to him. Hughan loves his Dad. Jamie is very protective over his brother and they are very close. We also reward Jamie when he helps his brother. Sometimes when Jamie wants to paint, his brother has to have a piece of paper and brush and join in with him as well.

We are looking forward to our visit in May. Not too long now.

Cheers for now

Sue

I sent Vanessa our ‘Diary’ notes and an update on how things were going at home in Gaborone in Botswana, so she could track Hughan’s progress, before our return visit back to the Carel du Toit Centre in Cape Town in May.

(I started this website to help other patents with deaf children through our experience. Our son Hughan was born in 1988 and was diagnosed profoundly deaf at 14 months old. We kept a Diary, so his progress could be tracked between our lessons, as we were living in Gaborone in Botswana and traveled every 3 months to the Carel du Toit Centre in Cape Town.)