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).