Love and motivation

It looks like we are making a great progress. Luca has been really improving so much in the past weeks that it is really unbelievable that he has just been 4 months with the implant on. According to a test that was done a few days ago he would be 17 months delay in receptive language, that means what he understands, and only 1 year delay in expressive language, what he can say. That is really great. All of a sudden I can see how much more he attends to people, to his name, and tries to repeat whatever you are trying to tell him. And all this I think has been because of our trip to LA and also because he has been very much motivated by our family visiting, specially by his cousins. The amazing thing is that they don't even speak the language we are using at home, they all speak in Spanish with each other but that didn't matter. As they told us, this is still input. He is a bright little boy and he is ready to bring the light to everyone around him (that is what his name means).

Parece que estamos progresando mucho. Luca ha estado mejorando un monton en las ultimas semanas y es increible que aun no lleva mas que 4 meses con el implante conectado. De acuerdo con un test que le hicieron hace unos dias ahora esta retrasado 17 meses en el lenguaje receptivo, osea lo que entiende, y solo 1 anho en el expresivo, osea lo que dice. Es increible. De repente veo como atiende mucho mas a la gente, a su nombre, e intenta repetir todo lo que tratamos de decirle. Yo creo que estos se debe a nuestro viaje a Los Angeles y tambien porque ha estado muy motivado por nuestra familia visitandonos, sobretodo por sus primas. Lo increible es que ni siquiera hablan la lengua que hablamos en casa, todos hablan en Espanhol entre ellos pero no importo. Como nos dijeron, eso tambien es lenguaje. Es un ninho muy listo y esta dispuesto a traer la luz a todos los que esten a su alrededor (eso es lo que significa su nombre).

In this town, there was a program for deaf and hard of hearing children in the public school that was not the route that I chose to take for Luca. We were disappointed with the few options in this place, where there is such a magnificent implant center. Why do all the procedure, and put your child (and yourself) through so much if you don't have the follow up educational support afterwards? We have been traveling 4 h twice a week to get Luca the therapy and early intervention that he needs, but once he turns 3 we have no support from the state other than the public schools, that are supposed to help us with our children's needs. So these past months, almost this past year, another mom and myself have been talking, discussing, visiting, requesting, fighting, calling some more, meeting with the school board and trying our best to get a program that will fulfill the needs of our deaf and hard of hearing children. We are not done yet, there are some loose ends still but the program is starting in a couple of weeks. Luca will only attend after a few months since he is not 3 yet, but like the director of the implant center told us yesterday, we have made possible what hasn't happened in this county in 20 years. The love and motivation of some mothers can move mountains.

En esta ciudad, habia un programa para ninhos sordos en un colegio publico que no era la alternativa que yo elegi para Luca. Estabamos muy desilusionados con las pocas posibilidades que tiene este lugar, donde hay un centro de implantes tan magnifico. Porque hacer toda esta operacion, y poner a tu hijo (a ti misma) por todo esto para que luego no haya el soporte educacional adecuado? Hemos estado viajando 4 h dos dias por semana para que Luca tenga sus sesiones de terapia y de intervencion temprana adecuadas, pero una vez que cumpla los 3 anhos no tenemos apoyo del estado mas que los colegios publicos, que se supone que tienen que ayudarnos a satisfacer las necesidades de nuestros ninhos. Asi que en los ultimos meses, casi en el ultimo anho, otra madre y yo hemos estado hablando, discutiendo, visitando, pidiendo, peleando, llamando algo mas, reunioendonos con las directivas de los colegios publicos e intentando hacer lo posible para empezar un programa que satisfaga las necesidades de nuestros ninhos sordos. No hemos acabado aun, hay algunos cabos sueltos pero el programa va a empezar en un par de semanas. Luca empezara a ir en unos meses despues de cumplir los 3 anhos, pero como nos dijo la directora del centro de implantes, hemos conseguido lo que no ha ocurrido en este condado en 20 anhos. El amor y la motivacion de algunas madres, mueve montanhas.