Sheila M - Cochlear Volunteer

During my regularly scheduled Sunday night visit, Payton, almost 5 years old, wanted to play cards. Sometimes we make up our own card games with flash cards (identify pictures, shapes, numbers, letters, etc.). I asked her if she would play school with me and be my teacher for hearing therapy. I explained I need to practice hearing with my new cochlear implant (referred to as Mimi's new ear) and turn off the old one on the other side.

I closed my eyes and covered them with my hand while Payton would say one of two choices for me to guess. One was the letter and the other was the word for the picture on the reverse side of each card. So, I did cheat a little and asked her to first say, "This is the letter V", and I would repeat the letter. For the other option, she would say "This is a VASE." For every card I repeated correctly, I got to keep it. At the end (whenever she got tired of playing), we counted the cards I heard correctly which was 30. The ones I missed totalled 6, and I only missed those because the teacher was so strict she only gave me one guess! ha ha!

This is just an example of how your children and grandchildren can get involved to help you with listening practice. They love to be the teacher and see that you are just like them and don't know all the answers! Also, it helps them understand hearing loss and what a difference a cochlear implant can make in our being able to communicate and play games with them.