Hearing Aides

 Last Friday, Lena got her hearing aides!  The actual hearing aide is translucent purple and the ear mold is clear with purple glitter.  She was so cooperative with her sweet audiologist, Wendy, and she took every minute of it in.  We knew she would not be able to hear sounds clearly enough to discriminate speech sounds and to be able to produce speech, but we were hopeful that it would help with safety concerns.  She seemed to act like she could hear things at first, but after a few days with them, I am questioning whether she is or not.  They produce a lot of feedback- they are very loud because they are the strongest ones out there.  I am no sure the fit is 100% good.   I am messing with them a lot during the day at this point.  We've tested calling her name and she doesn't turn to us unless we are close and we say it REALLY loud!   We'll just keep trying- she may just have to get used to hearing actual sound.  One of the real reasons we don't think they are helping though is because the audiologist told us she'd probably be overwhelmed by loud noises and not to introduce her to too much at once- knowing our house full of loud kids was enough for the first weekend.  Lena is also quite loud herself and we were sure her own loud noises would startle her.  NOPE!  Nothing bothers her- she doesn't act upset or cover her ears at all....she doesn't respond to the boys being loud, to herself being loud, etc.   Oh swell...we'll just keep using them and observing and then go back in February to test her hearing with the hearing aides.  Our insurance will only pay for them if they are helping and we will not be keeping them if they are not helping and we have to pay for them.   I am just happy that she likes them! :)