On the day Carter was born he did not pass his hearing test. As a precaution doctors asked Carter’s mom, Taylor, to bring him for another check up in a week. During that check up Carter was diagnosed as profoundly deaf in both ears. Through the Wichita Ear Clinic, Taylor was referred to Rainbows’ Infant/Toddler Services for speech therapy and Carter received cochlear implants at 18 months old.
Rainbows’ speech language pathologist, Tina started working with Carter regularly. “Tina is so nice, so outgoing,” said Taylor. “She comes once a week for about 45 minutes to an hour and Carter loves her.” During speech therapy, Tina works on listening strategies, specifically on sound and object association. Recently, Carter has started saying hello. “It isn’t clear yet, but he is trying,” said Taylor. Tina enjoys working with Carter, too. “He is a sweet boy. He loves teasing me and is becoming great at wearing his CI’s [cochlear implants].” Carter’s cochlear implants are attached by magnets to the back of his head and connect to a harness. When one falls off, Carter tries to put it back in his ear instead of on his head, which is very cute to his mom and therapist.
In spite of that, getting a toddler to wear his cochlear implants is not always easy. “Some days if he is in a bad mood, he doesn’t want to put his ears on,” said Taylor. “If he is in trouble then he will rip them off.” Carter’s family is learning more and more about his hearing loss and constantly making accommodations so that he has the most access to speech. “He has a wonderful support system and he has great potential for building his listening and spoken language skills,” said Tina.
An active toddler, Carter loves to play with balls and is always trying to talk. He also loves to yell.
