Dear Ms. Sutherland, My son wore hearing aid for 2 months (starting 1st week april 04) and just was implanted last May 26, 2004, a week after his 3rd birthday, It had been switched on exactly 2 weeks from now. So far,I am happy with his increasing imitation, though he does not follow the s, sh, m (utters mama ocassionally)in the ling sounds. what could be wrong? is it just too early for him? (considering he is just 3months hearing age,) also, just so i would know if we are on the right track as far as his speech and language development is concerned, can you pls tell me where i can see that paper on these stages. I had been requesting JTC to send me but so far none has come. is there a website where i can look? thanks very much.

Dear Dr. Demarest,
Derrek seems to be learning quickly with his cochlear implant. You wrote that he has been using it for only three months and he is responding well. However he is not "following" the /s/, /sh/, and /m/ sounds when you perform the Ling Six Sound Test with him. Do you mean that he does not repeat these sounds? Or does he not respond to them? If his cochlear implant is mapped correctly, Derrek should respond easily to all of the Ling Six Sounds. He might not yet be able to imitate these sounds, and that is perfectly OK. But he should indicate to you that he hears them. When you do the sounds, are you always saying them in the same order? By that I mean, are you always saying /a/, /u/, /e/, /s/, /sh/, /m/? If so, he might be tired of responding by the time you get to the last three sounds. Next time, try saying /s/, /m/, and /sh/ first when he might be listening more intently.
You also asked about our special paper, Stages of Speech and Language Development. If you have Acrobat Reader, you can download it from our website at www.jtc.org. Go to Correspondence Course and then to Special Papers. I will also send a copy of the paper to you.
I hope that I was able to answer your question. Possibly I misunderstood, and if I did, please write again. I want to be able to provide you with the information you need.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Sutherland