Training the Baby to Respond to Lights #Deafness

Being the Mom to a Deaf baby is a lot more different than I would have ever thought. I wrote a few months ago about nothing being able to verbally console him. Another issue that I have found particularly difficult is getting his attention.

As an adult who grew up in a Deaf house, my husband is keenly aware of lights and vibrations. We use flashing lights for alarms, door bells, etc. I will also flash the lights in the room to get his attention. While it does seem natural that one would attend to something that is flashing, it isn’t necessarily automatic to relate the lights to a reaction.

Over the past few days, I have been attempting to train the baby to become sensitive to a flashing light in the room. I started by waiting until he was fully engaged into an activity and then would flash the room light a couple of times. At first he completely ignored the lights so I would flash them and then go over and smile at him. After a couple of times, when I flashed the lights, he would stop what he was doing and look randomly around. I would reward him with little smiles and games of peek-a-boo. Then, after a few more attempts, I noticed that when I flashed the lights he would stop what he was doing and start to search for me.

Initially he would stop what he was doing and either crawl towards me or fuss. It didn’t take long for him to realize that when the lights flashed that someone wanted his attention. Of course for him, this was just a fun game but it was also part of his developing culture.

I made this quick video. His first turn is probably the best. After that he became a little bored with my game.

[I apologize for the dirty house and bathroom. Just keeping it real and by real, I mean letting you see what my house looks like]