It's World Book Day, but I didn't manage to make time to read, however I have grabbed a wee ten minutes now to update my blog, so I guess that gives you something to read and therefore I have contributed to the whole literary celebration.
Following on from my Miserable Monday, I am feeling a lot better. Sometimes there is therapy in simply sharing your feelings and frustrations, writing was a also therapeutic, but the most successful therapy was getting organised again. Life is so busy, organisation is vital to survival! With four kids under 8yrs in the house, there is no time for just going with the flow, as we would end up achieving nothing.
In my reorganisation, I have managed to clear out the boys bedroom (creating space but mostly making me feel better every time I walk into it), restart the family meal planner and begin sorting the huge piles of "stuff to do" at various locations throughout our small house.
Increased planning of my day, has also allowed me to spend more time with my Princess and focus on her "Magic Ears". I desperately need to read her instruction manual, the leaflets on cochlear implants and also communication tips. Despite showing initial signs of response to sound, she is still only hearing deliberately made sounds or the odd loud noise, meaning that we are still relying on sign language.
Every day, Princess's understanding of signs grows, she seems to know everything I sign and often she signs back. Many times I am unable to tell which sign she is attempting, but there are some which are very obvious - milk, food, give me, go over there, fish, more, where. She has also made good attempts at yes & no amongst others recently. I am so happy that Princess is beginning to develop her own communication channels, as a family we really want to allow her to be part of both the Deaf and Hearing communities, therefore her knowledge of BSL will only be advantageous to her future. Personally, I don't agree with those people who get CIs for themselves or their children and then believe they are no longer deaf, I feel that being deaf is an important part of my Princess and I want to respect and be proud of it, not hide it away.
We have started playing with toys and reading books together, sometimes with her big brothers too, where we teach the signs and promote their use. It is so encouraging to see her focus on your hands as soon as they start to move, knowing that you are initiating conversation and she is ready to read you and hopefully respond.
A lovely quote on Facebook I recently saw:
You can hear with your ears?
Big deal.....
I can hear with my eyes!!
Whilst we have chosen for Princess to get implanted and we will work hard with her to teach her to hear, listen and hopefully speak; we ultimately want to allow her to make her own decisions about hearing technology and communication. However, I absolutely love that she is such a visual learning and that sign seems to be becoming her first language.
Last year I met a Canadian professor at a conference, who had become profoundly deaf at age 19, I was chatting with her (via her ASL interpreter) about my daughter and gaining loads of helpful insights, when she asked to see a picture of of my daughter. Immediately she commented on Princess's eyes - she called them Deaf Eyes, she explained that in the photo she could see the focus in her eyes, the concentration, the energy, her eyes were trying to take in everything and were almost working as more than one sense. I immediately understood what she was talking about. So many people comment on Princess's eyes, how beautiful they are and how she misses nothing, I guess this helps her understand her world and it has certainly helped her communication skills develop due to her sense of curiosity. Here's hoping the curiosity continues and helps with hearing, listening and speech development.
Time for bed now - tomorrow we need to increase the volume of the CIs again, looking forward to seeing what happens & of course I will share my observations with you xx
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