The Sound of Silence: The Lifestory of EC
Posted by: berose on: October 31, 2008
It was a gloomy morning on the 22nd day of November year 2005 when I gave birth to EC via caesarian section operation. EC was a high risk baby due to measles (rubiola) that I suffered from during my first trimester of pregnancy. No one could imagine how stormy the history of my pregnancy was. During that time I was told frankly by a resident doctor that the risk for congenital abnormalities to my unborn child was so high. I was not given any hope to cling on to so all the possible complications were laid out to me. My unborn baby was given a week to live because I was also told that I had a great chance of suffering from spontaneous abortion due to high fever brought by the infection. But if by chance the pregnancy continued still the probability of having a still birth was high.
fresh from Neonatal Intensive Unit-EC @ 9 days old
It was so difficult facing all of these alone. My husband was not by my side when all of these happened. He was and still is working far from home. Our communication is only done through series of phonecalls. We only get to spend time together as family during vacations, a very short one ranging only from 2 to 3 months.
One week passed without spotting. Later on the ultrasound showed a fetus growing steadily in my womb. Peace of mind was an elusive obsession on my part. Physical deformity and mental retardation were two things that I feared the most among the probable effects enumerated by the resident doctor. Dreams of terror were constant fraction of my sleep. But then prayers guided me through out my ordeal.
I was closely monitored because intra- uterine growth retardation of the fetus was detected on the ultrasound. I was put on a device called electric fetal monitor to keep an eye on my baby. One day, a fetal distress happened. A drastic decline of fetal heartbeat (bradycardia) warranted an immediate CS operation. During the delivery I knew then that something was wrong. Silent message was conveyed to me through the frantic paces and whispered voices of my OB- GYNE, nurses, medical aids and pediatrician. Still groggy, I overheard bits and pieces of their hushed conversations. Also the span of time before hearing the first cry of my baby was so long. Thus in my mind, i kept on praying for a miracle. Finally my baby was shown to me but I had a vague picture of how she looked like because I was fighting off the effects of anesthesia. I was then told soon after that the APGAR scores were low. My baby was so limp that her reflexes were too weak. I wanted back then to see if her body parts were intact but finally I succumbed to sleep.
I woke up hours later without my baby beside me. I was told that from the OR she was immediately brought to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She had a laboured and rapid breathing (tachypnea) for an unknown reason. Four hours after the delivery she was diagnosed with pneumonia. To top it all a heart murmur was heard by her pediatrician one day so she was screened for PDA also. But the result of the ECG brought hope to my weary soul it turned out to be negative. The hole in EC’s heart i been told was with in the normal level, it would close within a few days.
During my 2nd day of stay in the hospital I was given permission to visit and see my baby at NICU. Tears flowed from my eyes when I saw her frail little body lying in the bassinet yet full of life amidst the apparatus connected to her tiny body. Immediately I checked her body parts hidden behind the blanket, I checked her arms and legs and counted her fingers and toes. Viola everything was complete. I could not ask for more, GOD has not failed me once again.
I was released from the hospital on the 3rd day but my baby had to stay for another 11 days because she was subjected to 14 days of antibiotics.
blister that developed into wound on EC's right foot
On the 9th day she was transferred from NICU to the recovery room. But then I saw a huge blister on her right foot where the previous IV needle was inserted. I was told by the attending pediatrician that the needle was dislocated from the vein. As a result, the muscle and the skin above it were burnt after giving a dose of antibiotics through IV infusion. The blister ruptured and a huge wound developed. They treated it alongside with the pneumonia for fear of being infected and developing gangrene.
EC's heart-breaking cry after she was given a dose of antibiotics through IM
But then her tiny body was pushed to its limit. They could not find any veins at all because she was edematous (namamaga). So they decided to give the antibiotics through Intramuscular infusion. How it broke my heart to see and hear her crying out in pain 3 times a day for 2 days in a row. Somehow I wanted them all to stop but I had to bear the pain. Giving complete dose of antibiotics was very necessary. Relief finally came when at last they found a vein where heplock could be inserted. The antibiotics was given through it instead of injecting through IM.
After giving the complete dose of antibiotics Newborn Screening was finally done. She was cleared for any disorder and was then given a permit to be brought home. She was healthy but needed to gain weight because she was too small for her age. But I was full of hope then that everything would pass smoothly after that. Little did I know that another test of our faith on GOD is looming.
EC is full of Life @ 1 month old
Days following her two month birthday she suffered from a rare disease called pertussis. It is a life-threatening illness to infants specially those less than 6 months old. Oxygen tank was always on standby. Support to EC’s respiration was needed because she had a hard time breathing and always got blue (cyanotic) during bouts of coughing. She was subjected yet again to another 14 days of antibiotics. During that time I thought that maybe our baby was not meant for us and that my husband would not be given a chance of seeing let alone holding his first born. I even asked GOD to let His will be done with and never made EC suffer that much. But GOD is great He let EC lives.
Finally when our baby was 3 months old she was united for the first time with her father. That moment was very emotional; my husband was fighting back tears all the time. He could not believe that at last he was holding his much-awaited baby. He said it was so hard knowing that our baby was very sick yet he could not do anything about it. He could not even go home to be with us because he was bonded by the contract. Finally seeing them together for the first time with our baby on his comforting arms somehow gave me security and peace of mind.
On the 4th month we decided to dedicate our baby to the Lord. Elijah Cyrene, a biblical name was given her to give honor to God’s divine intervention in her life. While EC was carried as nickname to ward off all the hard times and make the future’s trials just easy for her to overcome.
After 2 months, vacation as usual was over; bidding my husband goodbye with our baby on my arms was always painful.
Time passed and I began to observe something unusual on our daughter. Compared with other babies with the same age as EC her motor skills were apparently delayed. After 4 months EC’s pediatrician requested for hearing and optha screening. But then after EC survived all that had happened to her, we decided to entertain no more negative thoughts from then on. Since we already offered EC to the LORD we strongly believed that He would not allow again another sickness to harm our little daughter’s life. Our trust on Him was so great that it could even moved mountains so to speak. So we decided not to follow the pediatrician’s advice and soon changed pediatrician to start anew. That was the worst judgment ever that we did which eventually we would regret for the rest of our lives.
Days passed but still there was an unrelenting thought on my mind regarding EC’s odd behaviors. But I always shrugged it off. I continued to remind myself of our promise to trust fully the will of GOD. Later on I considered my motherly instinct as paranoia because of all the things that we had been through with our baby. But then constant observations on EC kept on bringing back that insistent notion….
EC is not easily startled with sudden loud sounds even when she was still a baby. I even showed my sister in law back then how odd my baby was. I banged pans near my sleeping one-month old daughter but she did not show any sign that she heard a sound. She did not even turn on her sleep. We tried so hard to convince ourselves that everything was okey with EC. We continued to believe that maybe there were really children whose sleep was so deep they could not be disturbed by loud sounds. But my sister in law said it was kind of weird because all her children were easily bothered by loud sounds even on deep sleep. But then I lost all my courage to bring the matter up to my husband whose unwavering faith to the LORD kept him on track. He never failed to remind me of prayer’s healing power. Many times my faith wavered but he would tell me not to stop trusting GOD for He would grant us our prayers for EC.
When EC was about 6 months old, a peculiar head movement was observed. She could not control the side to side and rhythmic pendulum-like movement of her head. It became so obvious to people that something was just not right with our baby. Everywhere we went people turned curious eyes. Some even dared to stare and ask questions to which I could not muster an answer.
After several discussions over the phone my husband agreed to my idea of bringing EC to a pedia-neurologist for consultation. The first specialist that I sought an advice from was bewildered by the uncommon head movement specially after the results of EC’s EEG and cranial ultrasound turned out to be normal. He said it was his first time to encounter a case like that and concluded that there was nothing wrong with EC. After several consultations with him I decided to seek a second opinion.
This time a woman pedia-neurologist that I specially searched for was consulted. She requested for an MRI to rule out brain tumor. The result turned out to be normal yet again. It was then she discovered upon physical examination that simultaneous with the head movement was the subtle side to side movement also of both EC’s eyes. She then diagnosed it as spasmus-nutans which she said would fade away on its own with out medications before or after EC turned 1 year old. Just like what the brilliant doctor said EC’s strange head movement vanished several months following her 1st birthday.
EC @ 2 years old
But then the difference on EC’s developmental milestone in comparison with her peers became so apparent when our daughter turned 2 years old. We could not deny it anymore. EC has speech delay and I was dreading the cause of it. The 2nd fear of mental retardation came surfacing again…in some cases autism is said to be caused also by maternal rubella/rubeola infection.
Finally on my husband’s vacation he saw for himself EC’s developmental delays. We decided to bring EC to a developmental pediatrician for assessment. Autism was ruled out. Upon knowing my history of pregnancy the specialist immediately requested for a hearing screening and referred us to a hearing care and service clinic. The result of the hearing exam confirmed my long- time observation on EC. She was diagnosed with asymmetrical bilateral sensorineural hearing loss or nerve deafness. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by damaged sensory cells (hair cells) in the cochlea. It is a permanent type of deafness that will not get any better but can get worse overtime.
Her ability to acquire language and to communicate with the rest of the world was greatly affected. We were told that EC needs a very intensive speech therapy in order for her to get hold of speech.
with Sam, EC's loving father
During the routine history interview the audiologist asked us “knowing the history of your pregnancy why did you not bring EC earlier for hearing screening?” The question kept on echoing on my mind. We were dazed as to what to think. We were further informed that maternal rubella/rubiola infection is the leading cause of pre-lingual deafness here in the Philippines. But early detection and intervention are the keys to combat the negative effects of Hearing Impairment. Sudden rush of emotions overcame us that day. Sorrow, fear for EC’s future, denial to acceptance and hope for solution were wrecking havoc on our minds. We were simply devastated with the result.
celebrating my birthday with EC
If only we followed our pediatrician’s advice, if only we could bring back time, if only the hearing loss was detected sooner and if only EC was placed with hearing aids when she was still a baby maybe she can talk just like her hearing peers do. Maybe she does not have that hard time learning, coping and blending with other kids in school. But soon realization set in. We can not bring back those lost time. Blaming each other would not help us to get through with this yet another trial in our married life. We need to be strong for EC. She will get all her strength from us and she needs us now more than ever. Then acceptance finally came in although our grief still goes on.
with Ms Angie Tongko, EC's audiologist
Writing EC’s life story in someway brought up the sorrow I am still suffering from. Crying in between words was inevitable. From the beginning up to now EC has been through a lot of hard times. But GOD willed her to be strong that was why she survived them all. One time while I was writing EC’s story tears just kept on flowing from my eyes. The pain of remembering all that had happened surfaced again. But EC came to me and wiped the tears from my eyes with her bare hand as if understanding everything. She was shaking her head as if telling me not to cry. EC is our source of strength and inspiration to fight back.
EC in a regular playschool
EC was placed with hearing aids and soon has begun to receive intensive auditory verbal therapy. GOD on His very special way guided us through out the whole process. He gave us special people that could help us manage EC’s hearing impairment. Relatives on both sides of the family have been so generous in helping us financially. They provided us with loans necessary to buy EC’s hearing aids. Her speech pathologist has shown and taught us on how to help EC to fit in to our world, the hearing world by discriminating sounds which are meaningless to her at the beginning. Even her teachers in playschool have been very understanding with EC’s condition. With their own simple ways they have helped us.
with Teacher Kathy Cunanan, EC's speech pathologist
Succeeding hearing exams further brought us fear though. EC’s right ear has severe hearing loss and still benefiting from hearing aid. But her left ear has shown a very profound deafness and even using powerful hearing aid has proved to be futile. We vowed then to ourselves that we will do everything to help EC participates fully in life. We committed ourselves to the goal of giving EC the closest to normal hearing possible. We want to give her the chance to marvel at the diverse sounds of the hearing world, to enjoy music, and to help her localize the source of sounds hence warning her of impending danger. Impossible the things may seem at the beginning but somehow we will make them real.
That was when we came to a decision through the help of course of EC’s speech pathologist. She enlightened us with the idea of cochlear implant and even gave us a push when we were about to give up our plan for EC. She further advised me to attend seminars about it. The cochlear implant is the only hope for people with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss to hear, listen and speak. It is a new technology now available in the Philippines. Through it and the series of therapies after operation, EC will be given a higher chance of hastening the learning process which eventually will help her in closing the gap on speech and language delay that her hearing loss is causing her.
EC’s many firsts
Posted by: berose on: November 27, 2008
It was early summer of this year (March 29 to be exact), when EC was first fitted with hearing aid. That day marked the beginning of many firsts in EC’s life. It was her very first time to see the world in a different perspective. To perceive sounds not just to see actions. To hear, learn and realize for the first time in the span of two years that her name is actually “EC”. She was further made to understand, react and turn to her name whenever she hears it. Her brain that was once quite, serene and calm was enforced to recognize new and diverse sounds.
That day was also the last time I saw in EC’s eyes the BLANK look that I had come to know so well and had wished so much to wipe away but I had no power and knowledge on how to obliterate before. I could still remember the past with days full of frustrations, questions and doubts on why EC was behaving the way she was. EC simply would not react and appeared not to understand anything that I would try to tell her instead she would always flash to me her BLANK stare in those big black eyes. There seemed to be no way of reaching her. Then came the diagnosis of hearing loss, relief though finally came on us that it was nothing sort of mental retardation. But the pain of knowing eventually set in…we suffered grief; we tried to deny the truth, had questions but had no answers. Acceptance was the hardest part but in the long run we came to admit because acceptance comes with it the wisdom to search for solutions, to look for support groups, and parents that also have children with hearing loss.
After placement of hearing aid EC began to attend weekly speech therapies with teacher Kathy. Then, we began her daily therapies at home. I talked to her in a way that I never did before. For the first time EC seemed to understand what I was trying to tell her. She came to recognize that things in fact have sounds. We taught her simple things like pigs say oink!oink! and cows say moooo and we made her imitate the sound. She began to produce intelligible sounds in response to questions like O for NO and EE for yes, up up for stand up, EEE AW for sit down. She also came to know that the red thing she likes to eat is in fact called apple, that the round thing that bounces is called ball.
I was acquainted with my roles on EC’s life, I became her coach, who pushes her when she needs it, a playmate when she longs for other kid to play with, a mother who comforts and unconditionally loves her all the time. It has been 8 months now since we were made to be aware of EC’s hearing loss. 8 months of wonderful journey with EC from her then silent cocoon to the hearing and buzzing world of sounds. Through it all, an implausible thing has happened. Her hearing loss has become our gain. It strengthened our faith in GOD, made us better persons, opened the opportunity to meet wonderful families, and gave us the chance to work with experts on the field of hearing loss..speech pathologist, audiologist and neurootologist that give guidance and chance for hearing impaired children to know how to hear, listen and speak. Through God’s ways He has given them the gift of helping children with hearing loss to benefit from the miracle of language.
Answers to my questions before were unveiled in the passing of days. Through all the pressures, mental, emotional and financial to name a few we have proven to ourselves that commitment to stay together was yet stronger against all the odds. We are letting go and letting GOD so to speak. Experience with the silent disability further made us treasure the special Gift that GOD has particularly given us. Raising a child who has hearing loss may seem daunting at first but the joy of witnessing the mystery of language while slowly unfolding to our very own eyes is worthy of all the struggles we put into it. The virtue of patience, of not rushing and just to wait and marvel at the gift of language proves to be the best part of our journey. The thing that is being taken for granted by anyone because it (language) comes naturally in time becomes a precious moment to treasure. We were able to see the stage by stage growth of words like watching how an ugly larva developed into a lovely butterfly, uncertain and struggling at first but astonishing and great at the end.
A blessed christmas party
Posted by: berose on: November 24, 2008
Ec just turned 3 years old last Saturday in time for her Speech therapy Clinic’s annual Christmas party. I did not have time to prepare for festivities on EC’s own birthday because we decided to go to the Clinic’s party. As always my main goal was for EC to socialize with other kids having Hearing Impairment as well. Sure ball EC immensely enjoyed the party. The wonderful therapists of the speech therapy clinic came up with a brilliant plan to have a fashion-show type of party. The goals of the fashion show were for the kids to show to all their beauty and talents on the catwalk thereby enhancing their self-confidence and social skills.
Days before the event we practiced EC on how to walk properly to better show off her costume, we made her watched fashion shows on TV to let her know what she was supposed to do. EC being so carefree thought all along that we were only playing model wannabe on the catwalk. She was cooperative, relaxed and confident when practicing at home. But we really did not have any idea on how would she carry herself infront of unfamiliar people. Although guiding her all the way was allowed I planned not to…I wanted her to be independent by walking all alone on the platform.
EC was so excited the day of the party. We were running late and all she could think about was putting on her favorite tinkerbell costume..hayy what a pain my little girl sometimes is. She could not wear the costume because we only had to commute and she would only get warm in it while we travel to the venue.
When the party started all the parents were beaming with pride while watching their children walking confidently on the red carpeted platform. I for one was so happy that EC behaved as well. She was shy at first but got the hang of it when she saw the other kids modeling their respective costumes. She felt even happier when she was asked to go and stay infront of all the kids. They sang a happy birthday song to her. EC was in high spirits the whole duration of the party especially when it was time for distribution of lootbags and exchanging of gifts. She readily fell in line and patiently waited for her turn to receive her goodies.
Being with other kids with Hearing impairment and their parents made me realized more the special gift that GOD has specially given us. They might not be perfect but still they are angels worthy of our love, care and support. And like thier normal hearing peers they are also capable of success in our world – the hearing world if only people would give them a fair chance by looking beyond their impairment.
EC in her favorite tinkerbell costume
EC in her filipiniana dress
EC and her cochlear implantee friend SHAWN
Teacher Kathy and the kids in thier character/party wear
Teacher Kathy and her angels in their international/filipiniana costume
Doctor EC is In
Posted by: berose on: November 20, 2008
I always wonder what profession my daughter EC will choose when she grows up. Watching her everyday while playing her favorite role as a doctor makes me somewhat sad. I know there will be limitations to options available to her when she reaches her college years. If she wants to be a doctor one obvious problem will come up, how will she listen to a stetoscope? She cannot do that with her hearing aids on nor off. If only stetoscopes are made using FM system, (the transmitter microphone is built in the stetoscope and a reciever can be connected to the hearing aid) the medical field will be very accessible to deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. On this part of the world, i have yet to know a doctor who is deaf or hard of hearing.
Yet as i look at EC she is quite contented though with the stetoscope’s Y tubing just simply lying on her neck. But there were moments i caught her pulling her hearing aids off her ears to place the earpiece of the stetoscope on her ears. These moments usually occur every after our routine visits to her doctor. EC is very observant of people she meets. She is subtle though in the way she observes. I would be surprised when we finally came home from the clinic and saw her doing exactly the things that all along she has observed from the doctor. Since EC is an only child and has no friends to play with, she always invites me to play doctor with her. My role is always that of a patient and she as the doctor. She always asks me to take my breath in and out while pretending to listen to her toy stetoscope. She will then proceed to inject on my arm. After which she will raise her thumb and signal the okay sign, shake my hand and bid me goodbye she will say ba-bye while waving her hand to me.
Introduction to Cochlear Implant
Posted by: berose on: November 16, 2008
i know that not all of us have any idea on how cool a cochlear implant innovation is so I added here a video about CI to further inform everybody about it. Please turn on your speakers before watching the video to hear the informative narration.
Random thoughts of a distraught mother
Posted by: berose on: November 14, 2008
Trick or Treat
Posted by: berose on: November 13, 2008
EC is a kid that always likes to be out and about. She likes to experience new things all the time. When we go out nobody suspects she is deaf..well until they look closely at her ears where her BTE hearing aids are. Many times before i been asked what were those gadgets on her ears??were those some kind of high tech earphones? innocent questions that brought a moment of laughter on the seemingly hard truth condition of my child. Dont get me wrong but I have to admit i was tempted many times to let the questions pass as they are “high tech gadget and earphones” to avoid further explanations of EC’s condition…but reality checked again on me as always…I HAVE TO BE AN ADVOCATE FOR MY LITTLE EC, needless to say that’s the least of i can do to inform the public about hearing impairment..its implications and the solutions for the hearing loss.
Tinkerbell the fairy
Two weeks ago we brought EC to her aunt’s company halloween party..she was dressed up like tinkerbell the fairy. Although she was little tired after the occassion she immensely enjoyed every moment of the party. But EC was not the only one who got exhausted..my sister and I were worn-out after carrying our little fairy from 2nd to 7th floor and again down to 2nd floor of the building. All the children in the party needed to go up and down the stairs because all the escalators were not working at that time..whoa ( deep breath). But everybody was happy…EC got lots of candies in her pumpkin bag which she tidiously checked for one by one everyday. The best part was EC won a consulation price, she was included in the top 10 best in costumes. (hooray for ms fairy)
EC among her contenders
ADVOCACY to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing persons
Posted by: berose on: November 11, 2008
Embracing her deafness
While surfing for other blogs I came across this relevant blog posted by an unknown author. The article served as an eye-opener to me. Reading all the issues behind Hearing Impairment made me realized that EC’s road to success in the hearing world should be paved by no one but US-her parents. Patience with our daughter’s shortcomings and understanding her on the process are the keys for her survival in dealing with social problems.
Although our fear for EC’s future will always be there, still her perception for her hearing impairment will depend solely on how we percieve her loss. I am hoping against odds that she will grow up to be a self-sufficient advocate for herself. What we are training her for will help her so much when time comes that she will be on her own. Shielding her all the time will never help her to be strong in dealing with life’s trials in the hearing world.
To help everyone on how to communicate with hearing impaired (deaf) or hard of hearing persons and to help everybody on how to properly deal with them I decided to post the unknown author’s blog here:
Overcoming Emotional Problems
Understanding the Emotional Problems of Hearing-Impaired Children
It is hard to imagine how hard it is for those children that have hearing disabilities to blend in with normal society. Just the fact that they are usually unable to participate in normal conversations is already a big impediment to their social development.
And when social development lags behind, a child may develop a host of issues and emotional trauma that should be recognized and dealt with while still young. These emotional problems could lead to bigger and more destructive issues that would impair the normal development of the child.
The child, due to the disability, could feel out of place, lowly, lonely, outcast, resentful, and moody. It is very important that the parent works hand-in-hand with a guidance specialist on helping the child cope with this situation. The parent should exercise a great deal of patience and understanding when dealing with the child. This is the only way that children can deal with the social problems they are faced with when out on their own.
Here are some of the problems children experience due to their hearing impairment.
1. Inability to make new friends. Children, especially at an early age, are wont to make fun of, or fear the unknown. This also goes for things that are different. Children can be cruel and since your child, because of the hearing impairment, is different he or she becomes a target for all sorts of pranks and jokes.
This could push them farther away from making friends thus perpetrating the heightened feelings of exclusion and loneliness. And usually, kids that are different are the butt of everyone’s jokes and are treated as anathema. Also, being unable to understand what other people are talking about me arise in them a feeling of paranoia. They may feel that everyone is talking about them-especially when people give them odd looks.
Although they may be able to learn how to read lips, this ability may also turn out to be the butt of jokes. Some children make fun of those who try hard to read lips, and try to hide what they are saying behind their hands. Again, it may sound cruel, but for some young children this is just schoolyard fun.
2. Frustration at not being able to express themselves. The hearing-impaired know they cannot communicate properly with other people. This makes them feel like no one can understand them. This may arise from an inability to understand other people properly.
This could cause a heightened sense of estrangement – being different and being unable to blend in with the crowd may cause all sorts of behavioral problems. And since not everyone understands sign language, they may feel that the people they can relate to are limited.
This can be alleviated somewhat by strong family support and affiliation with other people who can communicate in sign language. This could also be a good reason for one with a hearing impairment to seek education in a special school for the hearing-impaired.
3. Suspicion. Most people feel awful when people talk behind their backs. It could increase one’s sense of suspicion. This is doubly so for those with hearing impairments. This is because people tend to say bad things about them even when in their presence, thinking that since they are hearing-impaired they would not understand a single word of what they are saying.
However, even those with hearing impairments can learn to understand body language much better than those that can hear properly. So when they see people talking to each other in hush-hush matters, they can read body language and see that they are being talked about.
This can be a very frustrating experience for those trying to get along with other people. This could cause the children to withdraw into themselves. Teaching others to understand these feelings people with hearing impairments experience could do much to help them react properly to them.
Being able to understand what people with hearing impairments go through will help us be able to deal with them in a better manner. Also it will help us educate people who associate with them to understand how what they do affects them.
Knowing how what we do affects other can help us understand their way of thinking better, leading us to be able to understand and communicate with them effectively. Also, being aware of the issues and problems these people go through will help their guardians to recognize and anticipate potential problems their loved ones are experiencing.
EC’s first day at school
Posted by: berose on: October 30, 2008
unfamiliar place & faces-EC's 1st day @ school
Time really flies…EC has come to age for new level of socialization at school. Consequently, we decided to enroll her in a regular progressive school. We had specially chosen a progressive kind of education to maximize her potential, taking much in consideration her hearing impairment on the process.
We came to a decision by carefully analyzing and weighing up advantages over disadvantages. Putting EC in a school that offers a special education program is very expensive. Furthermore, attending a SPED program will not be compatible with the kind of therapy she has. There is a great chance that her hearing development will regress. EC was registered to receive an Auditory-Verbal therapy. It is a specialized type of therapy designed to teach a hearing impaired child to use her residual hearing provided by a hearing aid or a cochlear implant for understanding speech and learning to talk. Signs, cued speech and lip reading are simply not allowed. Mainstreaming is the ultimate goal of AVT because daily interaction with her hearing peers will give EC the chance of learning the normal patterns of speech, language and social behavior.
PLAY is what EC loves the most
Progressive education involves two basic principles: 1st each individual is recognized for his or her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity and 2nd the development of critical, socially engaged intelligence is nurtured that enables individuals to understand and participate effectively in their community. Given these criteria of progressive education we know we could not asked for more. Other than being progressive we had also taken into consideration the medium through which the lessons will be taught. Our main consideration is PLAY…so we decided to put EC in a regular PLaYScHOOL..
EC's first little red star
Contrary to the expectation, EC’s first day was a success. Going to school proved to be just a natural occurrence in her life. There were no crying, no forcing, no bribing nor sweet-talking. Separation anxiety was simply miles away during her first day at school. Maybe she could sense my excitement, thus my enthusiasm just overwhelmed her i guess. She is happy all the time. She loves to go to school everyday, she loves to hear stories read aloud by her teacher, she loves to do yoga, she wants to dance before her class starts, she likes to play with her classmates and when she goes home she loves to show me her little star . She even loves wearing her uniform and likes carrying her bag too. She did not tell me all of these through words though instead she expressed her delight through her actions.
- EC’s work of art
She started to write her name “EC” and has developed fondness for writing her name on all the papers that she could lay her hands on. Her teacher showed me her sitworks during her assessment. I noticed that whatever their activities still she had time to write her name not just once but many times all over her working paper. So funny but she really did.
EC has also a knack on impersonation. She likes to cleverly mimic her teacher though acting as if she is reading her books aloud. Copying exactly the ways and gestures of her classmates and teacher is EC’s favorite pastime. I felt so elated whenever i saw her doing exactly the things she was learning from school. She could sing with her own version the songs taught to them with matching actions and movements. Indeed school time is happy time for our little EC.
Speech Therapy 101 – Our Journey with EC
Posted by: berose on: October 30, 2008
looking so smart during Play audiometry
After EC was diagnosed with hearing loss we were told that our daughter needs a very intensive speech therapy in order for her to get hold of speech. A very competent Auditory verbal therapist was then recommended by the hearing center. We were in a daze still to comprehend everything..we didn’t have any idea as to what to expect on speech therapy sessions until our very first meeting with EC’s speech pathologist. We met her on one thursday morning in her clinic at antipolo. She has a lovely face that reminds me of an angel…She was so cool and knew just what to do with EC.
listen to happiness - EC's thursdays with teacher kathy
EC’s 1st therapy session was a disaster…she kept on whining, crying and was very uncooperative to many of the activities that day. She would insist on getting what she liked and even kept the toys to herself for solo play. She did not want anybody to interfere with what she was doing…simply she was setting impossible limits to all of us. She was throwing tantrums left and right to every little provocation that made my husband and I so embarrassed. But then Teacher Kathy just like an angel that she is knew everything that was going on her mind. She said that it was a normal reaction because EC could not express in words what she was feeling inside so she got easily upset and felt very frustrated if not understood by us. In addition to she was trying to manipulate everyone around her in doing what she wanted. We were even told that EC’s reactions were just mild in comparison to others so she said that we needed to prepare ourselves for worst tantrums in the following sessions oh no..
The therapy had 3 parts: audition, activities and parent counseling..On the 1st part, EC needed to respond to the 6 ling sounds (a,o,i,s,sh,m)..She was taught on how to discriminate the different pitches on sounds…if she could detect these, EC should be able to understand sounds in spoken language. The 2nd part of the therapy was done using different props (farm animal and vehicle toys). The sounds of the common farm animals and vehicles were introduced..we are working on the principle that everything she sees around her, she is hearing the sounds of them for the first time…The 3rd part was the most important..my husband and I were guided on how to handle the hearing impairment of our daughter, she discussed the importance of therapies and benefits of follow ups at home. We were also asked to level up all our expectations on what EC could really do at her stage of hearing development. OWL was reiterated..to be successful in dealing with EC teacher kathy said to observe OWL that stands for observe, wait and listen. In short PATIENCE is the virtue that we need to practice and master.
So far EC is doing good on hearing and listening ..She has come to love her weekly speech therapy. In fact she is always looking forward to her therapy sessions with her teacher kathy. Her therapist on the other hand is so proud of her because EC is a fast learner. In the span of 7 months of rigid speech therapy she is beginning to speak and can now understand simple words and instructions. Normally it takes around a year of speech therapy for a deaf child to learn how to hear, listen and speak. Always It makes me so proud of her little accomplishments. I know our race to finish is far from over but sure and firm steps will lead us to it somehow. (Race is tiresome so i prefer to call it journey instead).
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- berose: yes tina it is in antipolo.
- tina natonton: where is your therapy? is it in antipolo?
- berose: thank you teacher julie. GOD bless you always!
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