INTRODUCING MYSELF

August 26, 2003

,

Well you have come to the right place!!!! You will get lots of support

and info here. I'm Gena, 38 married 20 yrs, 2 girls 19 and 13. I am

5'3 " and at my heaviest I was 284 lbs. I am about 206-208 so far. Nice

to meet you!

Gena

> Hi W.L. Buddies,

> My name is , I am a married,(almost 6 years) mother of 2

> children 5 and 3. I am 5'10 " and I weigh 269lbs,I have tried several

> diets with little to no luck, and I have spent money that I dont

> really have to spend. I joined this group because I need some

> buddies and some encouragment. Most of my friends have moved away,

> so I came searching. cant wait to hear from some of you!! JULIE

>

March 13, 2005

Welcome to the group, . I'm 27, and was diagnosed with IgAN back in 2001.

I'm on a stack of medications, as I also have other health problems, including

type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation, depression, and high blood pressure. I'm

glad to hear that you had 3 successful pregnancies & that the kids are all

healthy. Unfortunately, I've lost 2 pregnancies (one at 9 weeks, and the other

at 17 weeks), although it was due to me having a weak cervix (which will make it

difficult for me to go to full term with a pregnancy) rather than due to the

IgAN.

Anyway, welcome once again, and I hope you find the group to be of use to you.

Take care,

Jennie.

Schorn wrote:

Hi,

I had 3 successful pregnancies and have IgA. I was never once advised

that it would not be safe. But then again I was not taking any

medications at all for the IgA. No need, as it was quite early stage. My

BP had to be monitored carefully as I did have hypertension and there

was a risk for preeclampsia, but I helped to control this through diet

(no salt) and exercise. I also had a lot of edema. My feet went from a

size 8 to a 9.5 during the pregnancy and got very uncomfortable in the

last trimester. For my last two babies I also had a pacemaker and during

delivery needed to receive IV antibiotics as a precaution. One of my

son's was born with a genetic birth syndrome....totally unrelated to the

IgA or any pregnancy complications.

All 3 kids are unaffected at this time by IgA, healthy (relatively

speaking) and fairly typical. My oldest will be 16 in a few months, the

youngest recently turned 6. I wouldn't do it differently. I think

however, I would have seriously weighed the risks if I had to be on any

prednisone or cellcept or other invasive drug therapy to treat the IgA.

Or at least made sure I was fully informed of all the information and

potential risks to the fetus.

Even now my kidney function is about 60% and I only take ramipril to

help maintain my BP and further protect my kidneys.

Good luck to you in your decision.

S

March 13, 2005

Hi Essie,

If your kidney function is at 100%, there should be no reason you can't

carry a pregnancy to term, but I would recommend that you be followed by a high

risk OB just to be safe.

I can't recall if I told you this or not (what were we saying about memory

loss recently????) but I also have HSP, so I understand the vasculitis. I do

not get the typical rash, but I do get the abdominal and joint pain when I

have a flare up too. I did not have any HSP flare ups with either of my two

pregnancies, but my protein spill did go up with both resulting in more edema.

I pray you and your husband will be blessed with the baby you are longing

for.

In a message dated 3/12/2005 6:33:39 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,

essipessi76@... writes:

Hi again and thank you all for answering my message. Elisabeth's

answer gave me a lot of new courage!

My IgAN is very much at it's early stage. My blood pressure is fine

(without any medication) and my kidneys are still functioning almost

100%. My biggest symptoms are abdominal pain and vasculitis (causing

Henoch-Schonlein purpura on the lower legs). Those symptoms come and

go and I only need medication when those occure (often after flu or

other infections).

I have thought this matter of pregnancy a lot and I think, as I

myself don't really understand my disease that well, that the best

thing I can do, is to trust my doctor (in the matter of pregnacy,

NOT with taking pred!). I actually already thought that they will

never give the permission and now that they did, how could I not

believe them and start trying! After all, that's what we've been

waiting for two years now!

Thank you all for vey encouraging words! That means a lot.

- Essi

October 10, 2005

In a message dated 10/10/2005 8:01:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

carebearmr@... writes:

However, it has been hard to cope with and I have had a

hard time discipling her as well as potty training (although she is

potty trained at school completely). She is out of control a lot of

the time, but only for me and her father. Can anyone help me out?

Anything that helped you with your HOH kids?

First, welcome to the group. I'm Jill, mother of 2. Ian, 15, has a

progressive bilateral conductive loss. He was very late in being diagnosed -- he

was

7½. He is a sophomore in our local high school. Since he lost his hearing

post-lingually he is very oral but we are now learning sign. My second child I

our daughter , 11, who is hearing but uses it selectively. My husband and

I have been married for 20+ years ... it's really amazing to type that. Seems

so much longer and shorter at the same time. (grin)

We've just had a series of threads on the topic of kids and tantrums. Some

of it sharing silly stories and some of it serious. I think you can find them

in the archives if you'd like.

Our D/HOH son was not the tantrum type -- one benefit to having a painfully

shy child. But our daughter was/is the queen of melodrama. As I've just bored

everyone with the stories, I'll be brief. She gave up on tantrums when she

found they got her nowhere and decided instead to have sit-ins. Literally

lying on the floor of a store and playing dead. So we'd end up carrying a child

to the car who looked like a limp rag doll and had people asking if we needed

medical help. (sigh)

As for the tantrums ... it sounds like your daughter is pushing your buttons

because she can. At school she doesn't bother because the tantrums either

get her nowhere or get her removed from the fun. Either way, she's discovered

that they're not worth it. You have to make them not worth it at home.

I would ask the school what their policy is when a tantrum starts and maybe

you can adapt something they for you to use at home. It'd be starting on

familiar ground for her, with outcomes she is already expecting.

One thing we've found that is really important is consistency. Our daughter

is now 11 and the melodrama never really ended, just changed forms. She has

always been one to test our limits. And she WANTS those limits. Once we

establish that the rules haven't changed, she becomes content again. It's a

little

weird, but true. Kids like to know where the boundaries are and what to

expect when they cross the lines.

You're going to have to find which thing works for your child. For us, the

punishment always fits the crime. Counting down never worked. My kids would

shut up immediately at the beginning of the count down and then start up the

moment you were done counting. Ian thought the counting was a game. (oy!)

For Ian, time-outs never worked. I could never understand how parents got

them to work. Ian would curl up on the stairs and go to sleep. Or stare at the

ceiling quite happily. Time-outs for him meant quiet time alone to daydream.

He liked them ... go figure! So for him the punishment was no the Tank

Engine or Mr . He LOVED those shows. And depending on how far the

misbehavior was from the punishment, I'd say. " Time for , oh no ...

that's

right, you can't watch him today can you? I guess you'll have to do something

else. What will that be? " And make him chose another activity.

Throwing toys meant they were taken away until the same time to following

day. They were not put in a closet or cabinet, but on top of the fridge where

they could be seen as a reminder. That behavior stopped pretty quickly in both

kids.

When came along I came to appreciate time-outs. Sitting on the bottom

stair was torture for , so we'd dole that out by the minute and set an

egg-timer -- she had to be quiet during the time-out or the egg-timer was

restarted. One minute for each year of age was the standard then, I don't know

if

that's changed.

We preferred to reward good behavior because I find it depressing to be

reprimanding all the time. (Lately I think it's all I do!) Sometimes that seems

impossible, but it can be done. You just have to stick to your guns. We kept a

sticker chart on the fridge during dicey periods (bought at Walmart). We

listed things like " dry all day " or " ate vegetables " or whatever we wanted to

encourage. They'd get a star each day that they did the task. At the end of a

week of stars, there were rewards.

We let the kids pick rewards and we wrote them on slips of paper and put

them in an empty ball jar (spaghetti sauce jar). They had to name fun things to

do, not ridiculously expensive toys or candy. (Food itself was never an

acceptable reward) An extra book at the library, choosing the movie at

Blockbuster, shooting off rockets with dad, their choice of music in the car,

sitting

next to mom at a restaurant (really! weird huh?) -- they were all things they

liked to do and wished they could do more often. I can't remember their

choices when they were really little but they were simple things like an extra

book at bedtime, or going to bed 15 minutes later, or calling my brother to

hear

him talk like Duck.

An incredibly good day for Ian was when he got a reward -- his favorite

choice was to watch the regular show and then add an extra video.

It was heaven for him.

For potty training, I admit I used bribery. I had a glass jar of little

plastic toys sitting on the counter in the bathroom. For Ian it was dinosaurs

and

for it was little My Little Pony ponies. They were about 1- 1½ inch

plastic toys that I bought by the dozen in places like Walmart or Toys R Us.

The kids would drop them all over the house. I'd make sure they had a small

collection to play with and then put the ones I picked up back into the jar.

They never realized I did that. A pony at the end of a dry day was absolute

perfection for Kate.

After a rather nasty flu, complete with horrible diarrhea, Ian stopped using

the bathroom for bowel movements. There was nothing that would get him to

try. Then one day he played with Lincoln Logs at a friend's house. I told him

if he used the potty (like he had been before) I would get a set. I bought a

box of them and set it on the back of the toilet. It stayed there for about a

month. After a full two-week period of pooping on the potty (and not in the

pull-ups), Ian earned those Lincoln Logs. He never had another accident. Pure

unadulterated bribery. But we stuck to the rules to earn the reward, and

that was very hard!

We're boringly consistent. We always have been. My husband and I were

married for almost 10 years when we had the kids, so there was no question about

parenting styles or philosophies. We'd had enough friends with kids that we had

our opinions all worked out. (don't all kid-less people?! LOL). We've always

been on the same page. If you two aren't, then you need to work out some

standard punishments for standard bad behaviors and stick to those rules.

If the kids realize that you guys will overrule each other, they'll quickly

learn to play that game! What often results is the parents argue about who is

right or more fair ... and in the mean time the kid is getting away with

murder. Even really little kids are good at this. Believe me! Our started

trying the technique before she was 2. It used to make us laugh. (Now it makes

us roll our eyes.)

Even if one of us feels the other has meted out a punishment that was too

harsh, we back each other up -- and even offer to increase it if rudeness and

attitude follows. Later on, we often find out that the grounding/punishment was

harsher because there were warnings or chances given that were ignored or

disregarded. Or we were lied to. Lying at our house will immediately double a

punishment.

For instance, our is currently grounded for 2 weeks from all things

with wheels because she went skateboarding today with no protective gear. The

huffing and stomping lasted about 2 minutes, when I asked if she wished to

increase her punishment for adding rudeness on top of blatant stupidity.

She then went to tattle to her father about how horrible I am. Without

speaking he walked onto the porch, picked up her skateboard, skates and

protective

gear and put them into a garbage bag. " You prefer MY choice of punishment? "

was all he said. She muttered " no " and took the garbage bag and put her stuff

away. As expected, my human daughter returned to this planet within a few

minutes.

We try really hard to match the punishment to the crime. Messes are now

punished with cleaning chores. Rudeness loses you phone privileges, or cancels

your weekend plans. (Why should I kindly drive a collection of friends around to

activities when I'm treated with disrespect in my own home?) The latter

happened only once. I doubt it will happen again. (grin)

So, find what trigger works for this child and then be boringly consistent

in using it. Even if you have to bite your tongue or walk out of the room in

order not to back down.

Best -- Jill

October 10, 2005

Hi ,

I'm mom to two wonderful but highly energetic kids and .

is 6 and has a moderate sensorinueral hearing loss in both ears and is 3

and hearing.

We didn't discover 's loss until she was 2 1/2. When was 18

months I was concerned about her lack of speech...her ped told me all kids

develop at different times. Repeated the same thing to me at 2 years old. When

was 28 months old I self refered her to early intervention. It was

eventually through them that a hearing test was suggested. Then we finally knew

why she wasn't speaking in words.

wasn't potty trained until she was a little past 4 years old. It wasn't

for lack of trying, but it seems that if you can't hear it, it's a harder task

for some kids. The good thing is that once she was potty trained, we never had

another accident day or night. It might be that she is trained at school

because they go to the washroom at the same time of day everyday and she has

become use to that routine.

As far as discipline, 1-2-3 Magic worked pretty well for my daughter, but not

for my son. When I was counting down with I would also make sure she

could see me counting with my fingers. Consistency is helpful and as we found

out here, both my husband and I have to be on the same page. If we're not, they

figure it out quickly and use it against us. Another thing that I had to

remember with was that even though she was, say 4 years old, she had only

been hearing for about 18 months. She was doing a lot of things simular to her

hearing age. It was so easy to get frustrated with her because I expected her

to act older. I would have to stop myself and step back from the situation and

remember that she didn't understand things like a hearing 4 year old. That

seemed to help me most of the time be able to deal with the situation.

BTW...whenever I'm not around everyone tells me how well behaved my kids are.

It's just a shame that they don't choose to share that with me!

Debbie, mom to , 6, moderate SNHL and , 3, hearing

lostupsouth wrote:

Hi, my name is and my 4 year old daughter was diagnosed very late (at

3) of a hearing impairment. She has severe loss in her right ear and moderate

loss in her left. She is only on about a 2 year old level as far as language and

speech, although it is improving daily.

Her pediatrician was convinced (or just convinced us) that she could hear and

was just a late talker. It also turned out she was epileptic.

My daughter is in a great program for hearing impaired preschoolers and I love

it. However, it has been hard to cope with and I have had a hard time discipling

her as well as potty training (although she is potty trained at school

completely). She is out of control a lot of the time, but only for me and her

father. Can anyone help me out?

Anything that helped you with your HOH kids? I need any resources I can get.

There hasn't been much help here in Knoxville other than handing us a pair of

hearing aids and setting her up with a hearing impaired preschool. Thanks!!!

All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is the

intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

October 11, 2005

Hi - welcome to Listen-up! I have two boys with hearing loss -

Tom is 13 with a severe/profound loss; Sam's 11 (OMG - he's 11 now!)

with a profound loss. They both wear hearing aids, although Tom will be

getting a cochlear implant November 16.

Tom was diagnosed later - at 3 years 3 months - and wasn't aided until

he was 3-1/2. When he turned 5 and was tested prior to going into

kindergarten, his " hearing age " with 3-1/2 years which I initially felt

bad about but realized he'd gained 3-1/2 years in just 1-1/2 years since

he was aided. For the most part, he's caught up and is actually quite a

strong reader now.

Both my boys were late potty training - I think not being able to hear

played a part in that. LOL - we resorted to bribes finally with Sam

(don't tell Dr. Spock!) but I'm happy to say at 11 and 13, they both ARE

potty trained now! Sam actually didn't potty train for poop until he

was 4-1/2 I think.

I'm glad you're here - good luck!

Barbara

lostupsouth wrote:

>Hi, my name is and my 4 year old daughter was diagnosed very

>late (at 3) of a hearing impairment. She has severe loss in her right

>ear and moderate loss in her left. She is only on about a 2 year old

>level as far as language and speech, although it is improving daily.

>Her pediatrician was convinced (or just convinced us) that she could

>hear and was just a late talker. It also turned out she was epileptic.

>My daughter is in a great program for hearing impaired preschoolers

>and I love it. However, it has been hard to cope with and I have had a

>hard time discipling her as well as potty training (although she is

>potty trained at school completely). She is out of control a lot of

>the time, but only for me and her father. Can anyone help me out?

>Anything that helped you with your HOH kids? I need any resources I

>can get. There hasn't been much help here in Knoxville other than

>handing us a pair of hearing aids and setting her up with a hearing

>impaired preschool. Thanks!!!

>

>All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

>

October 11, 2005

, welcome to the list! I couldn't resist weighing in on

potty-training. My daughter wasn't trained until 3 1/2, and my son -- well,

he wouldn't pee in the toilet until almost 4, and not until I'd bought a

gumball machine and said he could have a gumball every time he peed in the

toilet. Pooping in the toilet took until 5 (!!!). It was ugly; he would

actually request a pull-up, go into the bathroom, put on the pull-up, poop,

then ask me to come in to wipe up. Things finally changed one day when we

were at a friend's house, he had to poop, and I had no pull-up. Once I saw,

and he saw, that he could use the toilet, I played hardball the next time he

had to poop at home. Of course, we still use the pull-up at night, but he

sleeps like the dead, and I know he'll grow out of it. Eventually.

I highly recommend bribery; Ben was totally fascinated by the gumball

machine, and we had tried other things before that hadn't worked.

Good luck; it's a tough one!

Stefanie

Mom to Ben, 7, severe to profound HOH, diagnosed at birth, and Isabella, 10,

mild loss

October 11, 2005

Bribery was what worked for us too - especially for Sam. And his

Pediatrician is who suggested it! So everytime he pooped in the potty

(and didn't use a pull-up) we'd pay him a quarter.

He's a rich kid now! LOL

Barbara

Stefanie Cloutier wrote:

>, welcome to the list! I couldn't resist weighing in on

>potty-training. My daughter wasn't trained until 3 1/2, and my son -- well,

>he wouldn't pee in the toilet until almost 4, and not until I'd bought a

>gumball machine and said he could have a gumball every time he peed in the

>toilet. Pooping in the toilet took until 5 (!!!). It was ugly; he would

>actually request a pull-up, go into the bathroom, put on the pull-up, poop,

>then ask me to come in to wipe up. Things finally changed one day when we

>were at a friend's house, he had to poop, and I had no pull-up. Once I saw,

>and he saw, that he could use the toilet, I played hardball the next time he

>had to poop at home. Of course, we still use the pull-up at night, but he

>sleeps like the dead, and I know he'll grow out of it. Eventually.

>

>I highly recommend bribery; Ben was totally fascinated by the gumball

>machine, and we had tried other things before that hadn't worked.

>

>Good luck; it's a tough one!

>

>Stefanie

>Mom to Ben, 7, severe to profound HOH, diagnosed at birth, and Isabella, 10,

>mild loss

>

>All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is

the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright

restrictions.

>

October 12, 2005

In a message dated 10/11/2005 7:13:28 P.M. Central Standard Time,

em2_mom@... writes:

I debated whether or not share this, but I couldn't

resist. We had a Poo-poo fairy (given the name by

Emma, in the vein of Tooth Fairy) visit each night

that there was a BM success. The fairy brought little

gifts ... a

this is hilarious! Cracked me up! Where were you guys with all these potty

ideas when my youngest was going through that?

My youngest kid had the strangest way of going to the bathroom-- he had to

take ALL of his clothes off. I finally realized why it was happening, because

I always trained my kids to use the potty before taking a bath and the

youngest just took everything literally!

Putz

Illinois Families for Hands & Voices

_www.handsandvoices.org_ (http://www.handsandvoices.org/)

_www.ilhandsandvoices.org_ (http://www.ilhandsandvoices.org/)

Email: support@...

April 6, 2006

Thanks, Barbara! Looking forward to getting to know everyone! I know

there are other Georgians around, but hopefully some Savannians as

well.

Deganit

> >

> > Hi, all,

> >

> > I just wanted to introduce myself and tell my story:

> >

> > My daughter, now 15 months, was diagnosed through the newborn

> screening with mild/moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

> As is similar to many of the situations I've read about here, it

was

> a total surprise to my husband and I and we were thrust into this

> unfamiliar world of hearing aids, communication options, genetic

> testing, etc. etc.

> >

> > It turned out that my husband and I are both Connexin 26

> carriers (specifically the 167 del T mutation, almost exclusively

> found in Ashkenazi Jews). Being in Boston at the time, we were

lucky

> to have a lot of support and info available to us - though we had

> some frustrating experiences with the initial ABR (was very

> inaccurate, due to our 2 week old daughter being too awake and

> indicating a loss much greater than what it actually is...but

that's

> another story).

> >

> > Anyway, our daughter Jordan was aided at 5 months and we

> struggled through the process of finding ways to keep her from

> pulling the aids off (thank goodness for Hanna Andersson pilot

> caps!). We also began meeting with an AV therapist who gave us a

lot

> of support and advice.

> >

> > This past October we moved to Savannah, GA to be closer to

> family (and for the weather, lower cost of living, etc.), and this

> coincided with an explosion of language on Jordan's part - which

> hasn't stopped yet! - and she's just doing great. She's also

finally

> stopped pulling her aids off, so that's been a big relief as well.

> >

> > I've met and talked to lots of parents who have children with

> hearing loss (especially because there were many in the Boston

area)

> and I've always known about this listserve - but it's taken a

while

> for me to feel comfortable and ready to go public online - it just

> feels so impersonal. But I feel very isolated here in Savannah

where

> there really isn't a parent support group and it's just very

> different from Boston, so I need a support group somehow and it

> looks like this listserve is a wonderful source of support and

> advice.

> >

> > Sorry for rambling, and I look forward to trading stories,

> suggestions, pieces of advice, etc. And if anybody knows more

about

> Savannah resources or people than I do, as well as info and links

on

> the Connexin 26, 167 del T mutation, please do let me know.

> >

> > Thanks so much,

> > Deganit

> > mom of Jordan, 15 months, mild/moderate hearing loss

> >

> > ---------------------------------

> >

> > What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos

> >

May 9, 2006

HI

I AM SUE AND MY DAUGHTER IS KATE. SHE IS 12 SOON TO BE 13. SHE IS

HEARING IMPAIRED BOTH EARS, AND IS NOT A CANDIDATE FOR COCHLEAR

IMPLANTS. SHE WEARS HEARING AIDES IN BOTH EARS RARELY, BUT SHE USES

AN FM TRAINER IN SCHOOL AND ALSO HAS A SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER.

I DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH CONCERN ABOUT HER IEP OR CSE MEETINGS, BECAUSE

I HAVE BEEN GOING TO THEM SINCE PRESCHOOL. I LEARNED EARLY ON TO JUST

SHOW UP WITH ANYONE I WANT. I USUALLY GO ALONE, UNLESS I NEED TO MAKE

A BIG CHANGE.

KATE IS NOW IN MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND WILL BE GOING INTO 7TH GRADE NEXT

YEAR.

MY ISSUES WITH MY CHILD ARE CLOSER TO HOME. KATE HAS TEMPER TANTRUMS

LIKE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE. SHE CAN CARRY ON ALL DAY IF SHE HAS A

MIND TO, AND OFTEN I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS THAT SET HER OFF. ONCE

SHE IS OFF AND RUNNING ON A TANTRUM THERE IS NO TALKING TO HER, AND

THERE IS NEVER ANY REASONING WITH HER.

SHE HAS 2 YOUNGER SISTERS THAT SHE ANTAGONIZES ON A REGULAR BASIS AS

WELL. RATHER THAN LET ANY OF US KNOW WHAT IS BOTHERING HER BY USING

SIGN OR VERBAL LANGUAGE, HER INITIAL IMPULSE IS TO PUSH, SHOVE AND

HIT THEM. I FEEL LIKE I AM CONSTANTLY SENDING HER TO HER ROOM. I AM

AT MY WITS END WITH THIS, AND IT IS GETTING SO HARD TO BE PATIENT.

I WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE ELSE HAS THIS SAME EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT

THEY TRY TO DO ABOUT IT.

May 9, 2006

" I THINK DEAF PEOPLE VIEW THEIR OWN WORLD

> THAT WAY. IF THEY THINK IT, IT IS.

> SO I THINK WHEN I GIVE HER RULES OR TRY TO CHANGE SOMETHING

IN " HER WORLD "

> SHE REACTS INSTINCTIVELY BY YELLING OR HITTING THINGS.

> I DON'T KNOW IF THIS MAKES SENSE TO YOU OR NOT, BUT I HAVE A

FRIEND WHOSE

> MOM IS DEAF AND I SEE THE SIMILARITIES EVEN THOUGH SHE IS A SIXTY

YEAR OLD

> WOMAN. THEY SEEM TO REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAVE ANY

RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE

> WAY THEY BEHAVE OR THE ACTIONS THEY TAKE. "

>

I think this could be true for some people, but not necessarily most

or all deaf people are like this. I don't think its restricted to

deaf only.

I re-read your messages and I did not really have issues with Hayley

until she became 13. I would say absolutely she was spoiled prior to

that. I now give her rules and choices and, as I said, have her work

with a counselor on appropriate behaviors. I have noticed she gets

more sensitive around her period.

Maybe there is something else going on? Your family signs, it looks

like - so she has equal access to communication at home and at

school? Maybe you are right, maybe she doesnt' feel like she is part

of things outside herself. Is she in activities?

One thing I try to do is make sure that Hayley knows what we're

going to do before we do it, other than just, for example sticking

her in a car and going somewhere.

Hayley now attends deaf residential school, so she is involved in

cheerleading and thru my forcing her, track. She feels involved in

things (which is why I picked this school) and while she usually is

excited for the weekend, she is just as excited to go back to

school. She attended since 1997 special day classes in Ventura

County, CA until we moved her in 2005 ~ she has been at her school

since Jan 2005. This was a good move for her, but each family needs

to make their own choice that benefits the child and the famil, I

think.

May 9, 2006