AJ's been on P2 (program 2 of 4) now for a few days. We saw his eyes widening as soon as I lifted my finger off the remote button to bump him up. After that initial reaction, we have not seen anything negative or showing us that the level of sound is bothering him.
He went to toddler group (for the first time in THREE WEEKS) this past Wednesday. While I could tell our absence had decreased his tolerance for sitting during circle time, I did not see any initial reactions to the general sounds in the room (kids talking, teacher talking, singing, etc.
When it was his turn to put his picture on the board he clearly "heard" his teacher say "Quack Quack" as she helped him put his picture above the duck (he whipped his head around). Wow.
I noticed him looking around a whole lot more at the table during watercoloring. Then it was music time. And I PANICKED. When we first observed the toddler group, we happened to be there on a day when they had music. They have this ginormous drum, I mean the thing takes up half the room. It's awesome, and when we first saw it, of course AJ wanted to play with it in the hallway.
I had told AJ's teacher that I would observe him closely that entire day, just incase the noise level began to bother him, I would adjust his program. When I saw the music teacher go in, I whipped out the remote for AJ's CI and my camera (what an oxy-moron hey?) and watched.
She started with the guitar, which he loved. He cried when she put it away. Then the moved on to wooden blocks and triangles. He wasn't overly thrilled, but he participated and had no negative reaction.
Then the big guns came in. All the kids crowded around the drum (which is big enough for them all to sit around). AJ LOVED IT! Now this kid loves drums anyhow, but I thought the sound would just be an overload for him. Nope, not my kid. The teacher and SLP's were all watching him to see if he had crazy eye blinking or flinching going while playing with the drum. He did not. AMAZING. He cried when the drum left the room. That is a reaction I'll take any day. Here is a picture of him at the drum.