Today we took a visit to the Indiana School for the Deaf. Their campus has beautiful all stonework buildings and the greenest grass for acres. The school was founded by Elizabeth Willard in 1849 which happened to be where our assessment was taken place - at the Eliza Willard Building. When we arrived we entered the building and the art on the walls was in such detail. For example, next to each doorway going into an office, hallway, or other form of passage, there were clay painted hand figures in vivid colors mounted on 9*9" etched wood. Each of them was a letter or number for a certain sign in sign language. It was like eye candy for the observant ones. So anyway, we started testing at one. I was told to keep her awake so that she would take a long nap there. The theory was to keep her sleep deprived so that they could attached four sticker probes to her head and behind the ears and proceed to stimulate sound while she was sleeping. It sounded like a fool-proof test to me. First, we went into the sound proof booth and they gave her the same light-up boxes with stuffed animals int he corners - same rodeo as the others. After five or so minutes of this, they realized that she was not interested and that we should just put her down for her nap. I then went into another room where there was a small crib, a comfortable blue chair, the computer desk and other equipment. I changed her diaper, gave her milk, tuned off the light and then closed the door. Needless to say, she fell asleep after about three minutes. To took myself to the table in the waiting room by the couches. I went back about ten minutes later and opened the door. I let the two interns know that she was sleeping as well as the audiologist. I suggested that they wait about five minutes before completing their testing.
About ten minutes later, the audiologist stated that she was a light sleeper. She had woken up and I could clearly hear her crying. I the stated that maybe if we give her drink back and try to close the door again that she ma go back to sleep. So, they did just that. About five minutes later, we all heard a sound that was similar like something falling to the floor. One of the interns jumped to see what had happened and came back with a smile so I knew it was not Eva that made the thump. She said that Eva was standing in the crib trying to remove all of the audio equipment attached to the crib and managed to get half of it off. So obviously the nap test would not be completed today. The took her back into the sound proof room and continued with the hearing screening test. This test is measured in decibels (Db). For a "normal" child, the range for her age is between 15-20 Db. The smaller the number the quieter the sound. She was in the 15 Db range on both sides. This Has been the first positive reading from any of the hearing screening test so far! Out of the five total hearing tests that we have had, this was by far the most professional and parent assuring experience (not to mention the staff was extremely kind and sought out her needs). We did however schedule another appointment in May for a follow-up and confirmation of her scores.
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| Second time in sound booth - obviously I am not a distraction :) |
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