Mrs Alaka Hudlikar's article on the eve of "World Deaf day".

Lighting up many lives by giving speech to the deaf

Article in the newspaper about how deaf kids can learn to speak and lead very normal lives. This little child is such an example.Kudos to her and her ways as she has brought sounds and happiness in many lives in the last 40 odd years.we love you ma'am, keep being our guardian angel.

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=09/28/2011&pageno=4&edition=40&prntid=150565&bxid=30884646&pgno=4

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=09/28/2011&pageno=4&edition=40&prntid=150565&bxid=30886696&pgno=4

Funny moment

      This morning on our way to the school, Prisha stumped us with her use of language and we had a great laughter which made our day.She saw her dad going to school after 2 days of leave and asked if he went to office after he finished college. She then asked me.I told her I worked too after college and then I stopped. Then came the one liner which had us in splits.
Prisha- "you stopped working to save me? "
My husband and I laughed out loud and I said that I stopped working to save her brother and her.
Prisha- "well, you can start going to office once I get married."
I asked if she did not want to go to office.
Prisha- " I want to go to office but I need to save my children." very seriously.
I volunteered to save her kids while she went to office.She looked pretty doubtful about that one.I guess she did not think I was capable of handling her kids well as I am a firm mom.She is going to be a very lovable mom,its so obvious with the way she talks and handles her teddy.What ever be the future, this moment made our day and one more sweet memory to add in my diary.

Naida III eventually

     Yesterday we had the appointment with the audiologist to see if Naida S V could work with Prisha.As we had tried it on, Prisha was not happy with it an had taken it off the very same day.We thought we could see if there was any possibility of still making it still work.Prisha was under stress already and she told us to tell Ms.W that she did not want to change her Naida III and if she really wanted, she could give it to her and Prisha would use it on the week ends !!! We smiled at her innocence and assured her, she would be given the aids she was happy and comfortable with. She looked relieved but I could see her eyes still looking doubtful.
    We discussed and Ms.W said there was nothing more she could do and it would be better that we stuck with Naida III as Prisha was happy with that and see how things go. The next aids are now 4 years away. So we came back with mixed feelings.Her aided audiogram shows average 30db and at 8K it shows sudden loss of 10db more,we are wondering about that one. We plan to get another audiogram in 2 weeks when she is more fresh and more attentive.I am hoping she gets the best aided audiogram, as her 1st one was done with these aids on 15th October 2010 and it showed 25 db average.Am surprised at the difference as her unaided is still the same and so her hearing loss hasn't deteriorated. Sometimes these things just make you so vulnerable and insecure.
    At the school her teacher is very happy with her work.She says she is very attentive, listening well and is 100 % into the subject. But she is still wondering if she is getting everything as Prisha hasn't been asking for any extra help.They are still getting to know each other and so hoping it would work better as the year goes by. I have requested her to ask her now and then if Prisha has understood all that she speaks and have asked Prisha too to ask Mrs.O if she does not get something too. Her concern is that prisha is too dependent on her partner and if she finds it too much ,she may need to give her a new one to break so much dependence.I trust her judgment and asked her to do what she thought was best for Prisha.Sometimes it works best that way.
    meanwhile I have started to volunteer at school for art,lunch room and also mentoring.Its a great way to understand the school and keep myself busy too. Hoping this year has a fantastic ending.

Back to school night

Staff reads to the kids !

Book buddies !

      Last evening was the "back to school night" for Prisha. We were invited to get a peek into the new school year.The evening was the speech by the school director, the new principal and then the Parent volunteer coordinator.We were asked to go around the school to check out the major changes ,new building and all the latest additions. It was really lovely to see the school....bigger and better.
    Then we went in to meet the class teacher and were asked to open up our child's drawer and pull out the work to see what they have been doing. there was a class map which we have to look and then find out from there where our child sits in the class. I saw parents struggling and so skeptically looked at Prisha's map. A mum peeped into mine and exclaimed that our map was really great. I looked at hers and realised how accurately Prisha had drawn her entire class room with the white board,tables,sinks.....everything was so well made that within seconds we knew where she sits. It felt really nice. We looked at her work and felt good as her special educator Mrs.K had told me that she has seen great detailing in Prisha's work after the summer break.I was also happy to see her write ups.
     Then Mrs. O started to give a little talk about her plans for the year.What made me most happy is that she is friendly, kids love her, she has been teaching for many many years and is very systematic and likes a certain style which is great where the kids needs more structured teaching and approach.She was talking about how reading is the most important thing. She had various people come over to the class and read to the kids which included buddies,principal,the nurse and even the music teacher.They all read out the Black lagoon stories.The kids bring back a book daily to read and she said even if the kids brought home a simple book, it should be encouraged as it brought them confidence.So we look forward to more power for Prisha and hoping this year is going to be great for her learning.