Testing your skills

Yesterday I visited a friend whose lil boy is hearing impaired.I had guided him last couple of years when she suspected that he was deaf.I had been telling her all along that she needed to work harder and be firm about him giving results and all along she would tell me he does not listen and he tries but he is not able to, etc.I was so convinced that something was amiss.At 2.5 Prisha was speaking a lot.So I went with chocolates and started to communicate to him and the family tried to do that for him.I told them to stay away and to let me try and get speech out.
The family is always protective.I too was , and still make excuses for her behavior at times.It is normal.The kid refuses to ask for chocolates and I refused to give without his vocalization as at that age I expected him to speak something.After a couple of roleplays where the mom asked me and I gave her the kid got around and finally asked me !!What a relief.
After that I started to interact and he would not respond and the family was saying he tries and he can't.I felt that with Mrs.Hulikar's speech therapy noway a child could not talk.I told the family to back off and started my interaction and he soon became friendly.He looked bothered at the melting chocolate, and to test him I asked him to keep it in the fridge.To which he walked to the dustbin.I corrected him and said it was not a fridge I took him to the fridge and told him several times that this was the fridge and to keep it and it would be hard.I found it so easy to get across to him.Soon enough he got a balloon to play and said it was a ball.I corrected and the mom said he calls it a ball.[was she not supposed to correct him?]I got him, with a little work, to speak balloon and soon enough I made him realise the difference between a ball by asking him to get one.To this the granny complied ,much to my displeasure ,as I wanted the kid to tell me he couldn't find.Soon enough we were playing with the ball and I made him say....."kick the ball, throw the ball and bounce the ball" which they thought was difficult for him!!YES! it was a great moment for me to see the family looking stunned as they were not using the kind of language, expression ,intonation, etc that I was using.I felt it was a good test for me, that I passed.It is possible as a mom to teach your kid as you know them well and you know their abilities.But the test is to try your teaching technique to a child who has not known you and complies with your commands.I was able to perform where his mom felt it was not possible.I made them realise their mistake that the efforts they were putting in were not enough.Our therapist has been doing a good job, she has been teaching us the same things as she has been doing this last 40 years, but it matters how a mother takes it forward and works to get results.A therapist can guide ,she can't do much in 2 hrs a week but we need to carry it forward and expand on that.I am sure in so many years there must be mothers who have done more than me,but it confirmed my belief that ultimately it is the mothers job to get her kid around. I think it is a good idea for mothers to try their speech therapy skills with other kids of different age group to test their own ability.