Re: Meet Violet...and her mom!

[Guest guest]

Hello there. Are you in Tacoma WA? I live up in Kitsap co,

Silverdale and have a 10 yr old son with a severe/profound bilateral

sensorineural loss. He attends the Northwest School for Hearing

Impaired Children in Shoreline. They use an oral/ SEE program. Not

sure if that is the type of program you are interested in, or if you

have looked at it already. Feel free to email me privately if you'd

like. We moved herein 2001 from CT and in terms of education for my

son, I was very disappointed in the area!

J

Silverdale WA

mom to 10, severe/profound loss,bicross Widex aids,

SEE/oral, asthma,SID

8, hypernasality

ph,5, articulation issues

> Hello! All of the sudden I feel like I'm in a room full of

people I don't know

> and everyone is staring at me. I'm not one to be a wallflower, so

on with the introduction!

> I'm , mother to Violet and Zoe and our surprise bean, due to

make her arrival

> sometime around Halloween. Violet is four and Zoe is 19 months.

Violet has a

> moderate sensorineural loss in both ears and was diagnosed at 2

years, 10 months.

> She was aided last July and has been wearing the aids pretty much

full time ever

> since then. Take a look at my beauties so you know who I'm

talking about: [http://www.picturetrail.com/indiegirl]

www.picturetrail.com/indiegirl

> . I'm sure my story isn't unique in that the late diagnosis

proved to be a huge

> factor in Violet's speech and language development. Initially she

was assessed

> (at 2.7 years) with a severe speech delay--18 months expressive

and 19 months receptive.

> This was last March of 2003. We got in under the wire for Birth-3

services. She

> was assesed last week by a private speech therapist and her

receptive was up to

> 2.9 years, expressive was 2.4 years. Progress, yes. Slow but

sure. When she was

> aided last July, she had less than 50 words and signs--now she has

well over 500.

> That being said, Violet is THE most expressive kid I know--always

has been. She

> is so smart and can read a situation in seconds--and she's pretty

good at lip reading.

> It was so hard to tell if she had a loss (before she was tested).

I brought her

> in at 2 years and her doctor said she was fine--she could

sing " Happy Birthday "

> so she was normal. Later, the same doctor called me at home on

the weekend to apologize

> and commit to learning more about hearing loss so that she didn't

make the same

> mistake again. I joined this list because I struggle with which

path to take in

> regard to her education. She spent last year at a private

Waldorf school (think

> uncoventional schooling) and at a public language preschool. The

language preschool

> is an adequate program that didn't do much for us in regard to her

language development.

> I do the same kinds of things with her at home--I saw nothing

remarkable. The Waldorf

> school provides us with our community, our support and a beautiful

eduactional opportunity--but

> one that lacks any sort of emphasis on language development. She

is pretty easy-going

> and jumps into any situation with ease. She was also in private

speech until December

> when her therapist said that she had all of the sounds of speech

and just needed

> language work--which could be done in the school setting--

ooooookkkkkaayyyy. I

> didn't buy that for a second, but pulled her because I didn't

think she was getting

> much from the therapy with that therapist (we had to change

therapists from her

> first therapist, whom we loved). She will re-enter private speech

(2x a week) within

> the next month or two. So I've been reading and reading about all

of the approaches:

> oral, total communication and ASL...and I just don't think we fit

the mold for any

> of them. Yes, my child has a hearing loss. I'm fine with that.

I would throw

> her into Deaf culture is that is what I thought was best for her--

but Violet doesn't

> seem to fit in either world. The school district has a D/HH

program that I observed

> and I wasn't knocked out. Plus, it's all day and my girl still

takes naps. She

> needs sleep, she needs something less intense than a full-day

program. The program

> wasn't bad...but it didn't knock me out. There is an Oral Deaf

school about 1.5

> hours away and I'm visiting on Friday. I also don't know if this

is the right approach

> for us. Plus, that is at least three hours of commuting a day--

with a toddler and

> a newborn? Um, can you say YUCK? There are no ASL-immersion

programs in the area.

> I feel like I need to keep her in one program and keep her there

all year. I don't

> want to divide our time like I did last year. I want her to feel

confident and

> challenged and I want her speech to grow. I want to assist her in

finding her identity

> either in the hearing world or the Deaf community, or both--but

I'm not will to

> sacrifice my ideals regarding education and how children learn

best. I have a Master's

> in Education and was a public school teacher--I feel like I have

some idea of what

> goes on in the public school system. I taught D/HH kids in my

classes and I became

> close to many of them. I want to be sensitive to a culture I am

not a part of,

> but I also don't know if Violet is a part of it either. I was

thinking of doing

> Waldorf for Violet's preschool experience. Then we'd have speech

2x a week. Then

> I'd also like to take an ASL class with her as well as get her

involved with local

> D/HH playgroups. I am open to any sort of feedback you might have

or opinions you

> want to share.

> Nice to meet you all! Michener

> Tacoma Theatre Conservatory

> Artistic Director

> jesse@t...

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome to the group. I'm going to make this fairly short. First I know what

you mean about being in a room with everyone staring at you. That is one reason

I like online support group, you get support and info and no one is looking at

me. Anyway I'm a little self consious.

I understand what you are saying regarding your daughter not fitting in however

I think you will find that there is a place for her in society. What your

school district has to offer may be a different story.

My son has a mild loss but is debatable because he also has had issues with

processing which seem to be so much better now and the audiologists refuse to

accept what he is showing on the tests because they don't believe them. Anyway

I plan on getting him tested elsewhere but he has an ear infection and still has

fluid in his ears.

We chose total communication because he can hear but doesn't understand so we

thought we would sign using ASL and speek to him (takes some getting used to and

we still aren't fluent) This way if he chose to sign great, if he chose to speek

then great and if he chose to use either then great. Anyway my point is in our

situation any communication is good communication. He always acted profoundly

deaf from the standpoint that he didn't respond to any words. The past few

months I would say he is down to probably a moderate level, he is learning to

hear for the first time. He doesn't hear certain sounds, he is not aided and we

do use a soundfield system when ever possable and it has worked wonders. Anyway

for us TC was a way to get the best of both worlds. He would have exposure to

speech and sign. He could be bicultural by being accepted as hearing and deaf.

Of course he isn't accepted as Deaf but that's another story, when he gets older

I'm sure he will be. He is currently 3 1/2. So when you say you feel like none

of the communication choices seem to fit, I just wanted you to recognize that

you don't have to take any of them for exactly what they are. If you want to

sign and speek but you don't want to use SEE then use ASL either in it's true

form (not an exact translation to what you are saying and not in the same word

order) or you could do ASL in english word order while speeking, or you could go

with cueing. It sounds to me like you are very interested in maximizing her

speech and auditory use which is great, but you don't want to deny her the use

of manual communication either. I could be wrong, but in that case SEE with

spoken english, ASL with spoken english or ASL in english word order with spoken

english, or cued speech are all fairly good options. You also mention that your

daughter uses a lot of lip reading. I think that is great and something we are

working with my son on as well. I think that is a wonderful idea to really work

on improving her lip reading skills as well as her listening skills and that

doesnt' necessarily mean that you have to deny her the use of sign. It also

sounds like she is doing very well with sign.

Our school district also doesn't have a proper placement for our son and we are

working on getting him out of district. Your daughter should not have to learn

different things in different places, you really should be able to get all

services in one place and everything you are looking for in one area. That is

just so much work to have her go from one place to the other. You may have a

fight on your hands regarding that though.

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome to the group. I'm going to make this fairly short. First I know what

you mean about being in a room with everyone staring at you. That is one reason

I like online support group, you get support and info and no one is looking at

me. Anyway I'm a little self consious.

I understand what you are saying regarding your daughter not fitting in however

I think you will find that there is a place for her in society. What your

school district has to offer may be a different story.

My son has a mild loss but is debatable because he also has had issues with

processing which seem to be so much better now and the audiologists refuse to

accept what he is showing on the tests because they don't believe them. Anyway

I plan on getting him tested elsewhere but he has an ear infection and still has

fluid in his ears.

We chose total communication because he can hear but doesn't understand so we

thought we would sign using ASL and speek to him (takes some getting used to and

we still aren't fluent) This way if he chose to sign great, if he chose to speek

then great and if he chose to use either then great. Anyway my point is in our

situation any communication is good communication. He always acted profoundly

deaf from the standpoint that he didn't respond to any words. The past few

months I would say he is down to probably a moderate level, he is learning to

hear for the first time. He doesn't hear certain sounds, he is not aided and we

do use a soundfield system when ever possable and it has worked wonders. Anyway

for us TC was a way to get the best of both worlds. He would have exposure to

speech and sign. He could be bicultural by being accepted as hearing and deaf.

Of course he isn't accepted as Deaf but that's another story, when he gets older

I'm sure he will be. He is currently 3 1/2. So when you say you feel like none

of the communication choices seem to fit, I just wanted you to recognize that

you don't have to take any of them for exactly what they are. If you want to

sign and speek but you don't want to use SEE then use ASL either in it's true

form (not an exact translation to what you are saying and not in the same word

order) or you could do ASL in english word order while speeking, or you could go

with cueing. It sounds to me like you are very interested in maximizing her

speech and auditory use which is great, but you don't want to deny her the use

of manual communication either. I could be wrong, but in that case SEE with

spoken english, ASL with spoken english or ASL in english word order with spoken

english, or cued speech are all fairly good options. You also mention that your

daughter uses a lot of lip reading. I think that is great and something we are

working with my son on as well. I think that is a wonderful idea to really work

on improving her lip reading skills as well as her listening skills and that

doesnt' necessarily mean that you have to deny her the use of sign. It also

sounds like she is doing very well with sign.

Our school district also doesn't have a proper placement for our son and we are

working on getting him out of district. Your daughter should not have to learn

different things in different places, you really should be able to get all

services in one place and everything you are looking for in one area. That is

just so much work to have her go from one place to the other. You may have a

fight on your hands regarding that though.

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome to the group. I'm going to make this fairly short. First I know what

you mean about being in a room with everyone staring at you. That is one reason

I like online support group, you get support and info and no one is looking at

me. Anyway I'm a little self consious.

I understand what you are saying regarding your daughter not fitting in however

I think you will find that there is a place for her in society. What your

school district has to offer may be a different story.

My son has a mild loss but is debatable because he also has had issues with

processing which seem to be so much better now and the audiologists refuse to

accept what he is showing on the tests because they don't believe them. Anyway

I plan on getting him tested elsewhere but he has an ear infection and still has

fluid in his ears.

We chose total communication because he can hear but doesn't understand so we

thought we would sign using ASL and speek to him (takes some getting used to and

we still aren't fluent) This way if he chose to sign great, if he chose to speek

then great and if he chose to use either then great. Anyway my point is in our

situation any communication is good communication. He always acted profoundly

deaf from the standpoint that he didn't respond to any words. The past few

months I would say he is down to probably a moderate level, he is learning to

hear for the first time. He doesn't hear certain sounds, he is not aided and we

do use a soundfield system when ever possable and it has worked wonders. Anyway

for us TC was a way to get the best of both worlds. He would have exposure to

speech and sign. He could be bicultural by being accepted as hearing and deaf.

Of course he isn't accepted as Deaf but that's another story, when he gets older

I'm sure he will be. He is currently 3 1/2. So when you say you feel like none

of the communication choices seem to fit, I just wanted you to recognize that

you don't have to take any of them for exactly what they are. If you want to

sign and speek but you don't want to use SEE then use ASL either in it's true

form (not an exact translation to what you are saying and not in the same word

order) or you could do ASL in english word order while speeking, or you could go

with cueing. It sounds to me like you are very interested in maximizing her

speech and auditory use which is great, but you don't want to deny her the use

of manual communication either. I could be wrong, but in that case SEE with

spoken english, ASL with spoken english or ASL in english word order with spoken

english, or cued speech are all fairly good options. You also mention that your

daughter uses a lot of lip reading. I think that is great and something we are

working with my son on as well. I think that is a wonderful idea to really work

on improving her lip reading skills as well as her listening skills and that

doesnt' necessarily mean that you have to deny her the use of sign. It also

sounds like she is doing very well with sign.

Our school district also doesn't have a proper placement for our son and we are

working on getting him out of district. Your daughter should not have to learn

different things in different places, you really should be able to get all

services in one place and everything you are looking for in one area. That is

just so much work to have her go from one place to the other. You may have a

fight on your hands regarding that though.