A nice summary

Like to share with moms of HI kids.

http://speechtherapyweb.com/late-talker-or-receptive-language-delay/#comment-3358

Keeping hearing aids on

We have dealt with lots of moms who complained about how to keep those huge hearing aids on those tiny ears.First we need to know , why do the kids take off the aids.Once we know this the rest is easy.

I had issues with Prisha about the hearing aids being thrown off.She had just started putting them when she was 10 months old.She threw one of them off into the DUSTBIN within that month! They are expensive lil things, the value they don't understand till we make them realise it. Here came Mrs. Alaka Hudlikar to the rescue.I too had actually tried tying the scarves on her but she would find a way to wriggle out of them.

The kids take them off as they do not enjoy or like wearing them.For them the world was a nice silent place with which they made their adjustments.Now with these, there is so much sound which at times scares them and sometimes bothers them. This happens till they realise and understand the meaning of those sounds- sound perception.To top it the moulds too can be quite suffocating in the ears.It is very important that the child should hear sounds [ could be anything from music to mom's voice which makes meaning to him etc.] that excite him and make him want to hear them.Like initialy with Prisha , I used to really talk a lot of things, show her around, sing and do things naturally which made her want to pay attention to what I was saying, diverting her mind from those stuffy , noisey things.So for her they became a mode of communication with the exciting world of sounds.She wanted to be a part of it and give her own voiceing.But there were times , she just would not have them in her ears.She realised I had great importance for those Hearing aids. So when I was ignoring her or giving her a dressing down for some tantrum, the hands would definately go to the aids, threating me.At that moment, I had to be very firm and strict.I would give her a warning and show her my eyes and would definately give it to her in a firm voice. At times she listened but if the tantrum went further, there are times I told her that since she does not want it, she needn't bother, I would take it out and throw it away, then she cannot hear. Sounds nasty but it worked.Then once this warning too was ignored and she was pulling it out, I quickly took them out and pretended to throw them out of the window into the street.She was horrified and started to cry.I told her its gone and since she does not like them she can stay without them.I walked out of the room, with my heart bleeding at her crying. But I knew it was all for her good.She came in later and since she had little vocabulary , pointed to her ears and wanted them on.With a bit of signing [as she was just a year old- I NEVER use signs otherwise] I was able to tell her next time she should not do it. We put on the aids, and then I talked to her in simple small sentences telling her not to throw otherwise mumma would throw it.That was the last of this behavior.

This is Ma'am's philosophy.She does not believe in being very available to the child.Most good medicines that are good for us are bitter.She feels if the child threatens the mother, he is holding her to ransom as he knows the mother would eventually melt.Let him realise the value of the aids and once he starts to enjoy the sounds around him, he will never ever take off the aids.Prisha has been off the left HA for the last 6 months. Her ear boils have gone from her ear[ thanks to homeopathic medicines given by our Dr. Sunil Anand].But since the skin is just healing I don't want to put the aid.She keeps telling me she wants the other aid. If she did not like it she would never want it.It has worked for me and for hundreds of mothers who have come to Mrs. Hudlikar in the last 40 years.So I am sure it would work for everyone.

Good reading

Got this on my mailbox, would like to share.Also uploaded new videos of our speech therapy sessions on youtube [rouchi6].

http://speechtherapyweb.com/late-talker-or-receptive-language-delay/#comment-3308

http://www.youtube.com/results?uploaded=d&search_query=rouchi6&search_type=videos

Audiogram

Found this on the net.Wanted to share the information about audiogram and its technicalities.

http://www.hearingresearch.org/Dr.Ross/Audiogram/Audiogram.htm

Keeping mouth closed

Just uploaded a video on why should the children keep their mouth's closed before starting to speak or when they are just sitting around not doing anything.I found it very useful for Prisha as the deaf kids do leave their mouths open due to lax mouth muscles and speech gets affected.

Click on the link below or in the video bar on the side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B7zrVfe_y8

Budapest trip

Our 2 day Budapest trip came to an end and so are the trips around Austria.Another 10 days and we go back to the grind back in India.Budapest was a good place to see and these trips made Prisha get exposed to so much.She is so confident here in supermarkets, stores and in places of interest, back home I can't let her out of my sight even for a minute.The feeling of security here is immense as there is more discipline. Back home the traffic and timing of schools make her lost and there is less exposure even to language. In Budapest we strolled on the bank of the river at night and Prisha sat there and sang for us, her quaint little songs.She danced and needed to be clicked all the time.She gives me poses that make me laugh and people passing by would smile too.My husband was a bit irritated about her song and dance on the riverside but I was thrilled as she was doing it so naturally boosting her confidence and at the end of it is good way of listening to her on natural voice, giving her a chance to correct herself.She is not thrilled with walking and so she was promised a surprise if she walked and also rewarded with the "big girl" tag, which she now wants to be called. So she decided to walk all the way around the place telling me that she was a sweet girl like strawberry and not a sour girl. The smile that followed is enticing.
She loved the view from the top of the Gellert hill and got her poses clicked.We went to a hotel for a drink and she needed to go to the toilet. The lobby was big and I was trying to look for the WC sign. She just tugged me and said come there is the toilet.I was surprised as on out road trips she was the one who would quickly show me the toilets.I was thinking about it and realised since she cannot read just now she depends on the pictures. WC sign has been captured in her mind as a picture and so she finds it more quickly while I am still trying to figure out the script of German.
In the supermarket she loves to pick up her yogurts and chocolates of her choice and even helps with weighing the fruits and vegs. So it is fun. I hope this spontaneity remains once we are back and is not lost in the hustle and bustle.her ear has another big boil near the ear lobe waiting to burst. She is so patient with the pain and tells me that once it bursts I should clean it. I am amazed at her strength.I just hope with medicines I am giving her things are alright soon.I am concerned also as our dear old DR. Sunil Anand , the homeopath, is shifting abroad.We wish him well as thanks to his treatment last 10 years had been good for myself, my son's wheezing and my mother in law's health issues after her cancer treatment, but somewhere inside we don't want him to go.He is the only hope for Prisha right now.Tomorrow we plan to take the kids to Klagenfurt where there is a miniworld. I would love to see prisha get inspired to make her mini world from waste.

Dr. Greene

I just came across this website through youtube. I liked what he said and thought would share .
www.drgreene.comhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYICPmURI5Y

Heart , talk to mumma

Prisha is on the latest fad of hearts.Actually this is there for a while now.All her pictures and paintings need to have all kinds and sizes of hearts.It is very cute , I would like to admit, as I go back to the time in college when hearts and smileys seem to rule my corner in the hostel. It has come pretty quick for her , a typical girlish thing. The hearts are there on the chef's coat , the jokers dress, the houses she draws, the mugs, the writings etc are incomplete without a couple of hearts thrown in.Her flowers are always with smiling faces and I realise that her paintings always portray her sense of being, which is very happy.She understands that she has a disability and cannot hear without the aids, has immense pain with boils in her ear still there, now her nose and the upper palate too is paining, but the moment I ask her to draw, she is at it and she forgets her pain.My husband and i were discussing the other day, how she has got so much life in her. She keeps my home alive with her fights with the big bro, her melodramas,her singing,her hugs and kisses which she is very generous with, and her "i love you"s keep me pepped up too.I am so glad she came into my life and then in spite of all the rough rides with her hearing impairment journey, life became easier to live once Alaka teacher came into our life and Prisha started to talk. I get those lumps even now thinking about our journey.It was a tough ride with ma'am hudlikar.She is very tough but when I see the results, I feel the struggle was worth it. The other day we were in Ikea in Vienna, I saw a couple using sign language, my eyes welled up and I shuddered to think that had it not been for Alaka ma'am our world too would have been so silent, we would have missed all the non stop chatter, the constant chatter that is full of jest, laughter, provoking [her big bro only] ,singing[ she makes these funny songs on her own] and that life would have been full of "why me". Today when I talk to a few mothers who are just starting out , my heart goes out to thm and I wish I could help them out with all the lessons I am able to give out to them.For me when I see this door for the deaf, where they can be as normal as me, I wish every deaf child and the parents could walk through it and experience the joy we feel.
I would like to share a little incident that happened y'day. It made me laugh,as well as I had tears at the innocence of it.Prisha had been busy provoking and fighting with her big brother. I always ignore it as I feel it is part of their growing up and also relation building.When it went to far,there was bad behavior, i intervened and since my husband was out, we decided that Prisha needed to left alone till she apologised.The big ego was not allowing her.She sat in the corner and threw a small fit and told me she did not love me and the melodrama was on. When she saw there was no reaction, she sat and was drawing something in her hand.After a while she realised I meant business, she apologised after a lot of tears and ego blasting.I was smiling in my heart as all this is "so cute". She cried a bit and then I told her she needed to have good behavior and then we all love her.I suddenly saw her muttering into her hand "heart, talk to mumma okay, she is a good girl". I just found it so sweet that I could not help but kiss her with tears in my eyes. She had drawn 1 smiling heart in each palm and they belonged to both of us.She told me I should say "I love you to the heart" and kiss it to make up, which I gladly did. I love this child innocence and wish it never goes away.

Trip to Italy

Finally home after a long week end in Italy.We went to Venice and Florance. It was wonderful to see the cities. What excited Prisha was there were no cars and roads in Venice and we just needed to go by boat everywhere. What fun! She did loved going to churches. We did light the candles and she did pray as usual asking God to bless her and to help her to hear and speak well. She did complain to Mother Mary about her boils in her ear and her eyes.She asked her to take them away. It did give a lump as to see how she desperately wants her other hearing aid.
We learnt about all the different kind of boats and saw ships , it was exciting for her. She took out her book and pencil and drew out the big ship.She was tired with all the walking but cooperated well. We sat on the steps near the water and talked about the things happening around.
She complained of ear ache at night on Sunday and when we peeped in , we got a shock as we saw a huge boil burst with a big hole at the end of the ear. In heart I knew it could not be the ear drum but the fear of the possibility kept me uneasy and upset the entire night.She was complaining of ear pain behind the ear too. The faith in homeopathy medicine started to dwindle again.We were quite happy as the homeopathic medicines for ear boils had really worked well this time after the long session with my doc.The next morning I could just run into the streets of Venice shouting with joy as the hole was actually a crust of the boil that had healed. It had fallen off and covered the eardrum.I am glad we bought the otoscope.She is better now. The left eye too had developed a stye but thanks to the homeo preparation , it has stopped where it started.I am glad I did not start anti biotic again. Homeopathy for boils has a more lasting effect.

Walk in the jungle

We went out to see the castle and it was really nice to see it. There was a thick green jungle around the castle in Kafenberg in Austria. As usual my son and husband complained about walking into it. But mom daughter duo did persist. Prisha was so over enthusiastic about getting into it. Well it was the best decission as the whole experience turned out to be not only refreashing but we did a lot of speech therapy there. A few weeks back Mrs. Hudlikar had talked about the jungle and so here we saw one and talked about it. We did focus on the tall trees , snails and the birds chirping. Great job done! Prisha is turning out to be a model in front of the camera. She had all the poses and asked me to click her in all possible postures. Loved it!Her boil is still troubling her but is healing now. Hope a new one does not crop up. I am cleaning up with spirit, drying it up 3 times a day with a hair dryer. She feels a lot of relief.I also uploaded the latest video of our speech therapy session. It is about picture description. These video clipping I got on my laptop are quite a blessing . Prisha is all day hung on these classes. She has learnt her way on the laptop { when I am still figuring it out with nervous fingers} and finds all the videos and sings along and also keeps repeating the conversations on her own.Quite a good speech therapy lesson as it is making her listen well to a different kind of sound and respond to it.Thank God for technology.