Vandita is our daughter age-5. She was born on the twenty third of December 2004. She is our only child and we were very happy at her birth. But after few months we realized that she was not responding to any sound or noise, not even to louder sounds. We thought that she is only six months of age and she will be able to respond after few more months. We decided to try making different sounds behind her to see what she could hear; again we failed to get any response. Than we decided to go to an audiologist and after BERA test she was found profoundly deaf. That day was the very sad day for us.
Learning that your child is hard of hearing or deaf is an overwhelming discovery for every parent and have many questions. We wonder how this happened to our child, and how it will affect her life. Will she be able to hear her parents? Will she be able to say "mamma" or "pappa" ? What will her future hold?
Gradually, after meeting professionals, parents of deaf child, learning through net, we got answers of above questions in yes. We learned that deaf child can hear with her residual hearing with the help of hearing aids. But providing the hearing aid or CI is not sufficient enough to develop her hearing and speech. A child with a hearing loss needs even more of an introduction to the world of sounds than a child with hearing. We should play, talk, read, sing and laugh with our child, encourage noisemaking, and reward her efforts to talk. So, early amplification and intervention both are important.
So, at the age of one, after consulting audiologist we decided to give her behind the ear hearing aids, almost on her first birthday.
Now she is four years old. And we are trying hard to rehabilitate and mainstream her. She is studying in kindergarten in a normal school and getting speech therapy in K.L. Institute of Bhavnagar. She can speak good amount of words and sentences like papa, mamma, dada, give me water, what papa is doing, and many more. Which we thought impossible in case of a deaf child.
One more important thing I like to share that Vandita's mother joined a two year course in special education for hearing impaired (Diploma in Ed. in special Ed. H.I) for Vandita's better development in speech, Language and education.
This is a brief story of Vandita so far. And i would like to share many of the things about Vandita in coming days through this blog. And I will be grateful if you people especially the parents of hard of hearing or deaf child would also share their views and experiences.
Learning that your child is hard of hearing or deaf is an overwhelming discovery for every parent and have many questions. We wonder how this happened to our child, and how it will affect her life. Will she be able to hear her parents? Will she be able to say "mamma" or "pappa" ? What will her future hold?
Gradually, after meeting professionals, parents of deaf child, learning through net, we got answers of above questions in yes. We learned that deaf child can hear with her residual hearing with the help of hearing aids. But providing the hearing aid or CI is not sufficient enough to develop her hearing and speech. A child with a hearing loss needs even more of an introduction to the world of sounds than a child with hearing. We should play, talk, read, sing and laugh with our child, encourage noisemaking, and reward her efforts to talk. So, early amplification and intervention both are important.
So, at the age of one, after consulting audiologist we decided to give her behind the ear hearing aids, almost on her first birthday.
Now she is four years old. And we are trying hard to rehabilitate and mainstream her. She is studying in kindergarten in a normal school and getting speech therapy in K.L. Institute of Bhavnagar. She can speak good amount of words and sentences like papa, mamma, dada, give me water, what papa is doing, and many more. Which we thought impossible in case of a deaf child.
One more important thing I like to share that Vandita's mother joined a two year course in special education for hearing impaired (Diploma in Ed. in special Ed. H.I) for Vandita's better development in speech, Language and education.
This is a brief story of Vandita so far. And i would like to share many of the things about Vandita in coming days through this blog. And I will be grateful if you people especially the parents of hard of hearing or deaf child would also share their views and experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment