Meet Violet...and her mom!

[Guest guest]

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@...