Ben at 18 months

Time has flown these past few months! We celebrated Easter and a First Communion, spent every spring weekend (and many weeknights) at kids' games, attended a ballet recital, a band concert, a tae-kwon-do tournament, a preschool graduation, several Scouting ceremonies, and many, many end-of-school-year parties. Summer arrived and with it came trips to the pool, swim team meets, family outings, and adjustments to new routines. Last week we spent a wonderful week at the beach, returning on the Fourth of July. I have finally had a chance to catch my breath, and am hoping to share more about all of the above soon. For now, I want to share where Ben is in his hearing journey.

After much discussion, Nathan and I decided to apply for Ben to attend the River School in the fall. Started nine years ago by a mother of a deaf child, the River School is a private school that serves mostly hearing children, but has as its mission the inclusion of oral deaf students in every classroom. There are usually two deaf children in each class, with cochlear implants or hearing aids, and there is a full-time speech-language pathologist dedicated to assisting these children in every classroom, essentially providing therapy the entire time. There is an audiology suite staffed with a full-time audiologist, who can troubleshoot and even program cochlear implants. The school has a unique relationship with our CI Center, Johns Hopkins, and can communicate with them if necessary about any concerns, and our CI surgeon sits on the school's Board of Directors. We visited the school shortly after Ben was diagnosed last year, and were amazed at the nurturing, creative environment. This was where I had my first experience talking to children with cochlear implants and I was so impressed and grateful for the chance to see what was possible for Ben. As a parent, the school provided the best of both worlds: a mainstream environment with typical language models, yet the total support Ben will need with speech and auditory development with the SLP in the classroom, the individualized therapy once a week, and the audiologist to provide equipment support and assistance if necessary - and all of the hearing kids are familiar with other kids wearing cochlear implants! Although the tuition (yikes!) and commute (probably 30-45 minutes each way, maybe more) were both causes of concern, we decided that this was too important an opportunity for Ben, and decided to apply. Even with the financial aid we have received, this is going to be a huge sacrifice. I am nervous, too, about sending him to school at such a young age, but he will just be there two mornings a week. It will give me time to run errands and volunteer at the other kids' school - and hey, maybe even exercise! Ella will be joining her older siblings at school full-day, so this fall will really be a turning point in our family.

Ben will continue with AVT therapy once a week, as well as the EI visits with his county teacher. We hope that these next few years will give Ben the foundation he needs to successfully mainstream by kindergarten. We are going to take it year by year and make our decisions for Ben's education based on his progress at each stage. Tonight as I watched Ben dance around the room to music as the older kids watched a movie, I found myself fighting back tears. He has come so far in the past seven months. Both his receptive and expressive language have started to increase dramatically. He has a long way to go, but we feel that he will be in wonderful hands next year, and I can't wait to get to know (and finally meet :-) other CI families through Ben's new school.