Good job Prisha !!

Little mind at work

project that she let go, a bridge !!

Thinking and working.

    This week has been pretty rewarding as far as school goes. I have been just been watchful and waited to see how Prisha gets used to the new teacher and understands her ways. This teacher is very experienced and very systematic. She even watches and knows each child well. So when I went to ask her she had some good things to say. She said Prisha has been a very good observer and is very sincere.She has the need to learn and gave all her attention which she found very good. She is cooperative and made sure she understood what was being done in the class. She found her book of stories that she had made very interesting and said that it would be nice if she made a second book. So now the next 10 days we may do that. She also said that her enthusiasm was commendable.
       She said we need to now work on her to be able to express herself better. She needs to read and we need to read advanced book with her and then she should tell the stories in her own words. So now we are going to work on that.
      She said she has one of the best hand writings in the class and had told her to take time off from hand writing practice which she denied as she loves to write. They also had a puppet presentation where they had to make a small conversational story with the hand puppet. The teacher said, Prisha stood out in her class and she was fantastic. She was loud, clear and very good with the interaction of her various puppets. She enacted her favorite theme, student teacher conversation with a song thrown in. We are glad that she has upped in many things and some we need to work on.
      A friend counselor had come in to meet the special needs department here. She was told that the last year they had a difficult case which they were sure could not make it through the year. It was us they were talking about. When she said she knew it was us, they said, they were very happy with her progress and her graph of learning is very steep. they love Prisha's enthusiasm and the spirit that she has. She took correction as many times and was never down on spirits.Her enthusiasm rubs on people around her. they said they found us as parents very enthusiastic and supported well without being interfering and contradicting. and so They are happy to have us at school. for us it was a happy moment as last year we nearly thought we made a mistake by moving here.
      Another thing I am proud of and the teacher is happy with was Prisha's heart to let go of their class project which they did in twos. Her friend wanted to take it home, disheartened and heart broken she was, but she let her partner take it home.
    Am now just hoping that she learns and grows from strength to strength. Hoping this year too sees her at a totally different level. We have seen her math too and she seems to be doing good with numbers too. So keeping fingers crossed and socks all pulled up.  

A callous audiologist

       Last week Mrs. Hudlikar got a case which actually made me so miserable that I literally wanted to fly down to India and question the lady audiologist. It is a simple case where she wanted to just make money out her profession without really bothering about the child and the family who have got so severely affected by this.
       Without naming , I want to share this experience and hope that anyone who reads this could understand that they need to know how they can be wronged and audiologist who make this as a money making profession, read it and maybe realize the sin they commit towards this very sensitive issue.
     The parents of this child realized the child was deaf and went to this particular audiologist in Pune, India seeking help. Hearing aids were tested and soon as usual she started to ask the family to go in for cochlear implant as they were very effective and the child would talk.The desperate parents in the need to get the best for their child went in for CI . As usual not much information was given and the parents, from a simple back ground, took it on face value that their little boy would chatter with this miraculous surgery. Then the child was started on speech therapy 4 times a week and the family was paying 250 Rs per time ,that is 1000 Rs a week !!!! The family kept waiting for years that some day the child would talk . This family with limited means sold their home to make this dream a reality for the child. Soon the family started to question the audiologist about the child not talking. So her next reaction was, the child has a faulty auditory nerves and so the child is not benefiting with the CI!! When she did all the testing, was she not aware of the condition? She gave more reasons which were absolutely rubbish but the simple couple ,not educated enough, took it as their fate. She then told them they have to accept it as their fate that their child would never talk. So her next suggestion ( am amazed ) was, label all your things at home , at least the child would learn to read ! But read what?? Bed, glass, TV, etc......how would it help? Would the child be able to put his thoughts accross with these mindless names? We need to speak full sentences to convey our thoughts.And what about speaking? Just with those labels, can the child talk? One takes years of practice to learn a language and speak it well.How does she expect that to happen to this child.Does she not have a conscious? How does she go to sleep having done so much harm, year after year?
       This lady was apprached by a parent when he saw the 7 year old had CI but could not speak.he gave her Mrs.Hudlikar's number.The hopeful mother went running to her, crying and begging her to help her little son speak. Ma'am's heart is so large , she just cannot refuse despite the fact she is getting older and some days finds it difficult. The lady was ready to do anything to help her son.What hurt her more, almost like a dagger in her heart, was that all the hearing  impaired kids, with what ever loss, was talking and going to normal school. She feels the pain and so does ma'am and we hope with so much loss of time and damage done, the child can still maybe learn to talk.It does get difficult as the child gets older, but each mother wants that her deaf child should be able to talk like a normal child, hear her voice and integrate into the world.
    I wish these audiologists were penelized or were answerable to someone.The parents are too busy trying to sort out their life and cannot run around fighting the case in the court. But is there no way that the hearing aid companies or CI companies come back to check what the response of the people.Why should not they be answeable to anyone? The family sold off everything just to help the child. But he is still speechless. that just shows , despite the best aid......hearing aid or CI, the most vital clue to the child talking is not just any speech therapy, but effective speech therapy.I wish more and more people do that. the main problem why more stress is not laid on speech therapy is as there is not too much money in it. The audiologist find it easier to make more money seeling aids and CI than using effective speech therapy. I wish they turned more human and did not weight everything in terms of money. More power to Mrs. Hudlikar...is my only prayer to the Almighty !!
  

Another success story in the deafness world

     I feel so privileged to be guided by such a wonderful teacher who has many such success stories to her credit. The hard work of these parents, kids and the force behind them-Mrs Hudlikar is commendable. She fills up each of the parents with her spirit of never say die and pushes them to achieve greater heights against all odds. In India life for the handicap is very tough but teachers like these inspire and makes life worth the fight and struggle. Thank you Ma'am Hudlikar for giving the hearing impaired kids a second chance in life and making them contribute positively to the world around.God bless you.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=10/08/2011&pageno=4&edition=40&prntid=151430&bxid=30767542&pgno=4

Thank you for all the efforts Ma'am Hudlikar !!