Jim and I are Skylar's advocates in this new world where she has hearing loss. We read up on the issues, get connected with the local DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) community, organize appointments, clean her equipment, contemplate the merits of special vs. mainstream schools, write up communication tips for her teachers, answer other kids' questions if needed, etc. Basically, we're her parents, and we care about her well-being more than just about anything else on the planet (except for Paige). So of course, we advocate for her, we cheer her on, we pay attention, we do what needs to be done.But I'm still figuring out how much to advocate/separate/specialize, and how much to let her just integrate hearing loss into her already very normal life. Since she got her hearing aids, her communication skills have improved drastically. We held a video chat with gramma and grandpa E. today and Skylar carried on a pretty good conversation with them; you know, they ask a question and she answers with something intelligible that makes sense. How freaking cool is that? I mean...how normal is that? You can see what I'm getting at.
Some DHH parents have recommended doubling up on speech classes, and adding UO Speech and Language clinic classes as well, to really pour on the learning services during this critical stage of language acquisition. On the other hand, after her first speech appointment, her therapist Mindy told me Sky speaks really well and she had expected, based on her charts, for her speech problems to be much more severe. She also clearly passes all her developmental milestones on the zillions of forms and tests I have filled out in the past two months, with the exception of speech and language milestones, for which she scores slightly sub-par. A lot of kids with hearing loss have other issues that compound the problem, but for my sweet girl, it's just her ears. "Why does she need hearing aids?" is the most common question from other children. "You know how some people need glasses to see well?" I ask them. "Skylar needs hearing aids to hear well." They accept that.
And away they go, playing like the carefree three year olds they are.
Next up: we get a home visit from our new DHH teacher, Trish. And if you want to see some of the stuff I am reading related to hearing loss, check out the John Tracy Clinic and Speak Up! blogs I posted in the My Blog List section at right.
P.S. Paige is doing great - funny as ever and rolling with all the recent transitions. She was a little apprehensive about starting her new preschool, so she told me she would hold Skylar's hand to make her feel better. And she did. Look at this drawing of a person she did today! A recognizable, crooked-smiling person! It came out of basically nowhere and made Jim and me smile, widely if not crookedly :-) In the next pic, she munches a bagel, not caring to pause long enough for me to take a decent picture.
