On Thursday, April 24th we went back to the audiologist for Owen's hearing aid fitting. The little tiny mold they had cast previously was ready, and they had found a suitable loaner hearing aid for him. He has taken to wearing it really well and there is minimal feedback at this point, which can be a problem with hearing aids for small children, but we still can't tell if it's helping at all. Hopefully at the 6 month point they'll be able to put him in a sound booth and see if he responds to sounds on each side of his head, but for right now he's just a cute little kid with a hearing aid attached to the side of his head with toupee tape (a little tricked we learned from the John Tracy Clinic).
This past Friday, May 2nd, we had our first meeting with the teacher from the Early Start program. The Early Start program is something provided by the state to help with kids at risk of learning disabilities as early as possible. For us, this is facilitated through the Torrance school district. The teacher will be coming to our house on a weekly basis and providing us with techniques to help make sure Owen is learning and developing at appropriate rates. At 18 months of age Owen will be eligible to attend preschool 3 days a week at a classroom specifically for children with unilateral hearing loss. When Owen starts school there will be a teacher who follows him basically from kindergarten through high school and meets with his teachers and hopefully provides an extra voice to make sure that his education doesn't feel any different than anyone else's. More than anything it is just really nice to see that we won't be alone in being Owen's advocate, and that there are so many programs available that we had no idea existed 3 months ago.
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