Ish, Ani & Air

Last week has been one hell of a roller coaster ride for us.

The first half of the week was fun-filled. We went to Lombok for a family (plus girlfriends) vacation. Afif had so much fun swimming in the pool, discovering waterfall, playing with the sand and being chased by the waves at the beach. Everything was smooth-sailing. 

 Playing with sand and attempting to build sandcastle

Us at Sendang Gile Waterfall, Lombok

Until we board the flight home to KL.

He had a major diarrhea. We had to change his diaper twice on the plane and once at the airport. Later that night, the diarrhea didn't subside. He developed a high fever. The next morning, he's still sick. We brought him to the hospital and he was warded for 3 days. He was tested positive of rotavirus. (T_T)

It was challenging for me; being pregnant, having morning sickness and looking after a sick, whiny child who needs to go to the bathroom 10 times a day. i couldn't imagine how painful and tired he feels. My poor baby..

Tapi setiap kejadian, ada hikmahnya. Hari kedua kat hospital, Afif tengah tengok Barney and Friends kat iPad. Tetiba dia kata dengan excitednya "Aaniii!!". Pastu everytime bebudak dalam Barney tu jerit "Barney!", Afif pon akan kata "Aani!!"

Kat hospital jugak, dia belajar sebut "Fish". i showed him videos with fist in it, drew fishes for him.. Lama-lama, nampak je ikan, dia akan sebut "ish!"

As he needed to drink a lot to keep him hydrated during his diarrhea episode, i always made Ribena for him. Sambil buat air Ribena tu, mama akan cakap "Afif nak air? Mama buat air.. Air sedap.. Ok, nah air.. Minom air.." Lama-lama, dia reti sebut air. Bila nak mintak, dia akan tunjuk sippy cup and i'd say "Air. nak air?" dan dia akan cakap "Air.."

Kali ni, sakit ada hikmah untuk Afif. He learnt to pronounce not only one, but 3 meaningful words. The pronouncation might not be perfect but he'll get there. 

Mama and daddy are so proud of you, baby! We've got a feeling that you'll be blurting words after words from now on.

;)

House Visit by Dr. Basha

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of having Dr. Basha visiting us at home. Dr. Basha is Afif's speech therapist from TUTUR, Klinik Audiology UKM.

Objective of the visit is to see how Afif is at home. Where he always hangs out at? What he does at home? What are the toys he plays with? How do we, as parents, interact and communicate with him? Things like that. After making the observation she would sit us down and discuss what she sees and comments on what to improve.

She came at around 11.30am. Afif malu-malu pulak salam dia. After having a drink, we straight away went to Afif's playroom. Upon entering the playroom, Dr. Basha said "Wahh dah macam therapy room!" Hehe.

Afif pon buat la apa dia selalu buat. Main conteng-conteng buku. Dia suka bila Mama pegang tangan dia and lukis beruang sambil nyanyi lagu "Anak Beruang". Upon seeing this, Dr. Basha suggest pausing at some parts of the sound to encourage him to continue singing or asking me to continue singing.

Lepas tu main masak-masak. Main bola. Conteng dinding. Ada jugak time yang dia takmo main dah. Sibuk nak turun. So we took 5 minutes off and doktor suggests what to do with some toys.

After we're done playing, ajak Dr. Basha makan. Senang hati tengok dia selera betol makan. Lauk kampung je pon. Of course la bukan aku masak dah aku sibuk main ngan Afif. Baahaha.

She said my skill of interacting with Afif is good and she has no comment on that. Cuma kene banyak ulang-ulang supaya lekat dalam kepala Afif. Idzwan has to improve and needs to talk more to Afif. The key with interacting with a deaf child is to make everything fun. Bila fun, diorang automatic akan nak main dan nak belajar.

Dia jugak suruh kitorang gunakan laman rumah yang luas tu. Bercucuk tanam atau menebas, ajak Afif. Siram bunga ajak Afif. Aku gelak je sebab kitorang memang lah bukan gardener hoih. Tapi akan cuba lepas ni.

Aku suka betul ngan Dr. Basha ni. She is the kind of doctor whose involvement with her patients is not limited to working hours. Email aku tak pernah tak balas. Weekend ada je dia buat playgroup for certain group of children. Weekend jugak dia buat house visit kepada sesiapa yang dia rasa memerlukan. Doctors like her really make a difference. Whether she knows it or not.

Thanks doctor, for your time and patience. 

Speech Learning Tools from Cochlear.com

i've been meaning to share this but kept on forgetting.

On last speech and audio discussion, Dr. Basya and Pn. Izzati suggested i view and print this printable module from Cochlear website. It has week by week activities to be carried out with your hearing impaired child. It's like a guide for doing your own speech therapy session at home.

i, of course did not know this exist and never thought of going to Cochlear website because Afif is not a CI boy. But Dr. Basya said it's okay because it's the speech lesson that matters, regardless of the baby using hearingaids or CI.

There's so many steps to get to this page so i'll just give you the link:

http://hope.cochlearamericas.com/listening-tools

Depending on your baby's hearing age, you can choose the module for babies or for toddler. Though Afif is a toddler, his hearing age is 8 months so i chose to work with Sound Foundation for Babies module. 

There are week by week module. As Afif has been wearing HA for more than 8 months, i did not start on module 1 for him. Choosing which week to start on was a bit tricky for me as week 36 module looks too advanced for him. In the end, i went through almost all of the module and decided to print week 15 onwards. Even with that, there's a few things in those module that Afif has not mastered and a few other things that he has mastered. So evaluate your child's speech and hearing and start the module according to that.

i wish i knew about this modules when he started wearing the HA. It'd be way easier for us. Anyhow, what's done is done. We'll have to work hard.

Sound Foundation for Babies: for the first 12 months of aided hearing

Sound Foundation for Toddlers: for the first second year of aided hearing

For convenience, i have saved the link under the "Informative Links on Hearing Loss in Children" tab on the right side of this blog.

 

Afif's printed module.

i put it in clear pocket by week.

Audio & Speech Assessment

Hari Selasa lepas gi combined audio and speech therapy session kat Klinik Audiologi UKM. Patutnya speech therapy hari Isnin, tapi aku mintak buat hari Selasa pagi sebab ada meeting penting Isnin tu (dilema ibu bekerja). So Dr. Basyar kata takpe la combine je masa audio session masa petang.

Ingatkan diorang nak buat audio test pastu buat speech therapy. Rupanya diorang just nak borak-borak and discuss je..

Firstly diorang kata based on Afif's progress so far, Alhamdulillah he's doing good. Even though last audiogram ada certain frequency tak masuk dalam banana curve, Afif shows good hearing behavior. A few times Afif tengah leka main, aku suruh dia lompat and dia memang lompat (without having any visual hint). Bijak anak mama!

In terms of speech, walaupon belom ada a clear meaningful word, he demonstrates a wide range of sound. Aku update diorang Afif dah boleh sebut gege/, shh/, meow/ (bila nampak kucing), de/ to name a few (on top of what he can say during our last appointment in June). i also showed a few videos of Afif meowing, main masak-masak, dance to 'The Wheels on the Bus', and buang pampers bila mama suruh.. They're happy to see his progress siap kata "Bulan lepas takda lagi semua ni.."

Alhamdulillah his progress is a bit more advance compared to his hearing age yang baru 7 bulan. Good job, baby!

Dr. Basyar jugak ada tanya pasal Afif's behavior. Last month, memang Afif cranky dan asyik marah je.  Tak cooperate langsung masa therapy. Mungkin sebab Daddy dia takde (outstation sebulan). Alhamdulillah, bila Daddy dah ada ni dah takde cranky or marah-marah dah. Happy je dia. Dr. Basyar kata memang bila mak atau bapak takde for an extended period of time, a toddler would be depressed. They can't express or tell you that they miss Daddy so memang buat perangai la.

i also asked a few questions about possibility of cochlear implant. Sebabnye aku dengar drp ibu-ibu anak istimewa mcm Afif, memang pakai HA insyaAllah boleh bertutur dengan baik (provided parents are giving intensive therapy at home) tapi akan ada masalah di sekolah nanti. So Pn. Izzati (Afif's audiologist) explain, takpe sekarang progress dia okay. Kalau buat CI, diorang risau kalau akan rosakkan hair cells high frequency Afif yang elok. So we'll see in 6 months. Kalau aided audiogram tak elok and still takde first word, baru buat CI.

Diorang jugak ada tanya, bila Mr. Chenta nak amek cuti panjang untuk jaga Afif kat rumah. Because now is a critical time for him to learn language. InsyaAllah lepas Raya. Haritu nak cuti dah tapi kene posting overseas pulak. So pasni harap-harap lepas la cuti dia.

Dr. Basyar said i'm doing a good job. You don't know how much that means to me. i always feel like i'm not doing enough because i have to work instead of being at home to help Afif. That kind words from Dr. Basyar really lifts my spirit.

Anyway, we have to continue guiding him and doing speech therapy at home. i hope Afif will be able to hear and speak well. InsyaAllah.

Ee-Aii-Ee-Aii-Ohh

Afif will be 19 month tomorrow.

His hearing age is around 9 months.

As usual he babbles a lot. Lately he always say eyaiyaiyaii. At first i did not know what he's saying. One day, we were watching some nursery rhyme videos on YouTube and Old Macdonald song came up. He sang along and say eyaiieyaiiyaiii..

He was singing ee-aii-ee-aii-ohh all along!

Obviously without the ohh part.

Nevertheless i am so happy. That's a progress!

He also sings along a few other songs. He sings in tune which is great but no clear words yet.

He loves singing Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on The Bus, Old Macdonald, and Head, Shoulders, knees and Toes to name a few. How do i know he's singing these? Because he made different movements with different songs. Spinning wheels, starry fingers, spidey fingers and touching his knees and toes. 

Can't wait to hear the next words that will come out from his mouth ;)

 9 hours road trip to Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Distracted him with drawing blocks, toys and the iPad.

Took off his hearing aids as the car seat causes feedback and whistling.

Playing with his lil Aunty Delisha

Four Letter Word

Afif demam since malam tadi. Penangan kene MMRV jab haritu kot.

Golek-golek ngan dia atas katil. Penat dah layan dia tatih. Merengek la dia tak sedap badan campur nak ajak main.

Bebel.

"Mmmm.. Hmmm.. Abummm..  Mama!"

*i stopped breathing*

OMG HE SAID MAMA! 

MAMA!

Loud and clear. 

The four-letter word i've been longing to hear him say.

MAMA!

You have no idea how excited i was.  Danced and laughed and baaahahaha. And i asked him to say it again. 

"Mama. Afif, say mama.."

He just looked at me, smiling.

"Mama.. Afif, mama.."

Sengih je dia.

Oh well. Maybe he said that unintentionally but he said it. I'm sure with more practice and constant wear of hearing aid, he'll get a hold of it.

Good job Afif! Mama and daddy are so proud of you.