The Story Continues at the Town Home...

Yeah! The movers didn't take my computer away this weekend! They have to finish the packout by Monday, so it will eventually be packed. IF the house closes in time we may get a laptop. We'll see...

Not long after we arrived, we figured out that the Town Home State was exactly what The Doctor ordered for our family. I was told that there was a large deaf population in the immediate area. Folks everywhere seemed to know sign language. Instead of staring at that weird thing on my kiddo's head, they would come right out and ask, "When did your son get a cochlear implant?" WHAT? They knew what it was? I'm not kidding, that was really cool. They loved to ask Matt questions orally and see how he was doing, too.

I met one great lady at church, and her CI son. I also met another lady at the library, and she has since become one of my all time best friends! We were looking at some of the same books, and got to talking. And I don't know if I was surprised or not by then, but her son was also going to be in Matt's class, too! Never in a million years would I have thought we'd settle into "Hicksville" so smoothly. :)

Once the school year started, we finally sat everyone down for Matt's first IEP. And when I say everyone, there had to be at least 12 folks in that small meeting room! A very involved team, with every possible resource represented. I'll never forget their first question, "Mom, what are your long term goals for Matt?" I smiled and answered, "I want him to grow up happy and healthy, become independent and move out someday." Brief silence and then they all broke out laughing. I have a sense of humor, but this wasn't exactly meant as a joke. They explained that they wanted to know what my long term EDUCATIONAL goals were for Matt and how they could help him achieve those. My response, "I want you to help educate him so he can be happy, healthy, independent and move out someday." BIG GRIN! This time I meant it as a joke, but I still didn't have a clue what they were really wanted. They were very open, explained things well. After hearing so many scary IEP stories, I was pleasantly surprised at how well this one went.

Matt had to be tested by them, a new school system with good, thorough testing. I told them that the numbers on all these tests didn't really bother me as long as his progress kept moving forward. We did identify his strengths and weaknesses, and developed a plan of action.

But something stuck in the back of my mind. At that initial meeting there was a representative from the School for the Deaf. It was explained to me before the meeting that she would be there, even though I had already decided to not send Matt to that school. Professional courtesy, and they worked hard to make sure ALL options for Matt were presented at the meeting. Boy, am I ever glad they did that! At the very end of the meeting, the SFD rep mentioned a hearing peer program they were working on at the school, and the excellent speech therapist that would be on staff. HEARING PEER program at the School for the Deaf? Matt's old School for the Deaf was doing that, too, I think! How cool! Not what I expected from that school. I decided it couldn't hurt to check out the program.

Once Matt was settling in in his public school program, I took him to visit the SFD. Within seconds of entering the building, jut by watching Matt, I knew he had to go to that school. It reminded me of his old school, but had resources they could only dream about. It was so perfect inside, I had to hold back the tears. Matt was checking out the classroom and seemed as if he had found his "home". What an eye opening experience, I was SO GLAD I had opened my mind to all the options that available for Matt.

So we were at the Town Home, and life couldn't have been better! Matt was bused to the SFD in the morning. He was usually in a small group that was stronger in oral skills. His speech therapist ended up being a specialist of sorts in oral motor skills, helped him "find" his k, hard g and c sounds. The classes went on so many field trips it was amazing! After lunch Matt was bused to the public school half-day program for deaf/hoh kids. I chose to keep him here, too, as he had to get used to public school classes. Who knew where we'd end up next? AND I loved the speech pathologist there. She's the one who had over 10 years of experience with CI kids. As a matter of fact, we lived in the same town home building as her first CI student! That boy became sort of a hero for us, he was a perfect example of what we wanted for our son.

I became really good friends with yet another mom from Matt's class. Her daughter is hard of hearing, but has other medical issues as well. I grew to really respect and like this mom, too, because of her strength and coping skills with multiple kids. In reality, I liked her most because she made me feel like it was okay to feel bonkers when the kids drove you nuts. :)

Oh, I hated the thought of leaving the Town Home. But before we were to leave, I had another son, Joshua, my "little angel". Considering at one time we were thought to be infertile, we felt especially blessed to have yet another son. As you already know, Josh is deaf, too. I'll start his story with the next post. My boys are a perfect example of how each child is so unique, even in the same family.