Ben can HEAR !

Here is a video clip of Ben's 1st activation. This is just a portion of a 15 min video. It seemed like a magical day for Ben. He was happy. We had previously taught Ben how to say 'Mama' and 'Father', although he's never heard himself speak those words. We've been told that what he's hearing is nothing like what we hear. Could be sounding to him like beeps, noise, possibly with some pitch. Only Ben knows what he's hearing right now. His brain will have to discover a way to process these signals into something recognizable for him. This is especially hard after living 11 years in silence. The audiologist says it will be a long and slow process. He was really excited about everything though, and we walked out of their office trying everything we could think of to see if he could hear it... stomping our feet, slamming the van door, crinkling leaves next to his ear, hearing the van horn, listening to cars driving by, etc. On the way home, he was anxious to see if he could hear any of the movie on our portable dvd player we had taken for the trip. Mike hard-wired him directly to the dvd player, since they gave us a wire that will connect Ben's processor directly into the "output" of an electronic device. I was worried that he would be overstimulated, with all we were trying, not to mention all the typical chattering and such with having 6 kids in the van, but he liked it. He said he was hearing things on the movie...don't know how it must have sounded to him, but he was happy. After the 2.5 hr ride home, he and Brent rushed around the house with great zest, trying out everything that makes a noise... the piano, the toilet (we have a loud turbo one), the ice dispenser, running water... just a little bit of everything. He stayed up until 11:30, even though the doctor said he would probably be very tired from all the brain stimulation. This morning, he woke up late and was anxious to put his processor back on right away. After a couple hours, he took it off for a break. We are to ease him into the 4 levels of volume that they've programmed it for now. Then when we go back in 2 weeks, they will turn up the volume, and send us home with 4 more sub-levels to work on at home. He is receiving all the frequencies right now, just at a low volume. The school system will be changing some things about his IEP, to include that all of his teachers make sure they are voicing when signing to him. He'll also get auditory verbal therapy at school, and I need to be present for those sessions, so that I can receive the training also, and work with him at home. For now, we are just taking things day-by-day, and knowing that God is working a miracle in Ben :o)