Oral Motor Skills and Foster Care.

Seriously, Matt is four years post CI activation, and he's doing so well I don't even think about what he needs to do to improve. His speech is a bit off, like any normal Joe with a speech impediment. But we've been working on his "s" sounds, and he's doing much better. The more language he's exposed to, especially in his Spelling and Language Arts books, the more familiar he is with how words are actually spelled and spoken. I make him read aloud to me on a regular basis, and to his brothers at night. That helps a lot, too, keeps me clued in to where he may need help.

Then there's Josh. He's really vocalizing all the time now, so I find the need to focus on HOW he's vocalizing. Hubby says he doesn't care what it costs out of pocket, I need to look into PROMPT therapy for Josh. At least to get him evaluated, to see if it would help him. Josh's therapist at school is helping us with his oral motor skills, too. It's nice to have a good team, great support.

But I can't rely on how he does in school, I have to keep focused on helping him at home. Some days that's easier than others. Josh doesn't mind "working" on his speech when his other brothers do "therapy" with us, but he's getting a little more independent now, and stubborn. Most of the time he lets me touch his mouth area to get him to vocalize better, but not at all when he's tired. But as much as he gets frustrated, screeches and kicks at me at times, I'm stubborn, too, and hang in there with him. Maybe for him. I try to keep a balance, working with him toward progress, but not so much that he'll hate "therapy" and not let me near him. Some days I just want to bag everything and let him just skate with what skills he has. Not very nice of me, but that's how I feel at times. Very rarely, but like I said, some days are easier than others.

We've actually thought about putting our family in the ring to foster a deaf/hoh child in our area. We still need to make calls, inquire about the need around here. Well, I've already been told there's a need for such foster families. I don't think we're ready now to take in someone else, we still have to settle in our new home ourselves. I think if it weren't for our own sons' disabilities we'd have many more of our own children. That's not totally true, I really don't want to be pregnant again. I'm not shy about that, we've been through seven pregnancies with three boys full term. My body is just kaput with the thought of "trying again". And we were told we were infertile at one time! Ha!

But I like the idea of having another kid around, for the child's sake as well as for Josh's. I know we might have little say to pick and choose another child in the foster arena, but my ideal choice would be someone around Josh's age. Matt and Chris play so well together, I wish there were someone for Josh, too. He loves his gal friend at school, plays very well with her. It would be nice to have another little one here he could play with. We'll see... Right now we're just in the Considering Stage, inquiring about the details of foster care. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

God knows (I mean that literally), we would be a good family for another deaf/hoh child. We've learned the ropes in our own lives, maybe we can share what we've learned with another boy or girl, too. :)