Pain in the ear

Prisha was complaining of ear pain for a couple of days and due to mental pressures I ignored it.The other day I put in ear drops to ease the pain and the next morning she was complaining of more pain.I peeped into her ear and saw a white point.I applied a little medicated ointment and put in the aid and let her go school.She returned in the afternoon and complained of ear pain again and it extended to her cheek and behind the ear.I got worried and the moment I pulled out the hearing aid, out came a thick mucus like white discharge with it.I was shocked and I cleaned it with the ear bud as my lil girl complained of immense pain.I was cursing myself for taking it lightly and was so scared that her ear drum should not be affected.The 4 hrs after that was a nightmare of sorts as that is when I could see my ENT specialist at the earliest.The fear of her hearing being affected was killing me as she said that in school she was hearing cooing sounds in the affected ear.
The doc examined her and to my partial relief her ear drum was all right. She had a huge boil in the canal and the whole skin inside was affected.A 3 day course of antibiotics along with medicated ointment to apply and no hearing aid for 3 days was prescribed.My brave girl sat through the whole procedure while he cleaned the ear as the boil had burst and was giving out lots of discharge followed by blood.It did give her a bit of relief from pain though.At school the teacher was informed the the response may be affected due to 1 hearing aid. Fortunately as the aid she was wearing was in the better ear we could manage most of the talking and hearing.I kept telling her that though she wore 1 aid she can hear well if she paid attention.It psychologically worked well too.
Today we went for a follow up and a scab has formed on wound and it has healed well.She could wear her aid.I was thrilled.The moment we reached home Prisha said to me.."My ear is not paining, I want my other hearing too".The happiness on her face was so pleasing to me.It just showed how she enjoys listening to sounds.She wore her aids and kept saying.."I hear loudly" jumping around the house.I am so thankful she is alright.I even tested her listening skills in the affected ear, to my relief all is well.I learnt not take ear pain lightly.
By the way Prisha made me proud in last speech therapy class.We were doing picture reading and she did all of them very well.Her 1st picture she said -"In the picture there is a monkey. The monkey is peeling banana", the next being good too.The 3 rd picture was complicated and needed more number of sentences to make it more clear.Ma'am broke the picture into 6 sentences and Prisha said all in order at the 1st go[ she missed out a couple of words here and the , that's ok] Yippee, we were all thrilled and ma'am was very happy too.She remembered the pattern well though I have not able to sit with her for over 6 weeks.Great going Prisha.

You are talking too much

I have noticed that since we keep talking around Prisha , she picks up these one liners that she hears and uses very appropriately.Like when she is talking on the phone , she gives the phone to me and says..' mummy, baat karo." meaning mummy talk here. I love the use of this kind of language that she is picking up and using it without being taught.This confirms my belief that when I teach her a verb, I say it first and then do the action so that she associates that word with action only after hearing it. She did a funny thing the other day.She was arguing with her grandfather for a long time and when the conversation became too much and she had enough of it she piped in..." you are talking too much.".Everybody was in splits at this use of prompt language.She drags her voice and is unclear when she talks in front of her grand parents as she knows she will getaway.When I am around she is open to correction and will listen to everything I say. In front of her speech therapist her speech is perfect.The intonation, the voice quality and her grammar is all in place as she wants to please her.How smart kids are!

Meeting an ex-student

Yesterday I met an ex-student of Mrs.Hudlikar who was one of her bright kids with good communication skills.He was married and come for therapy for his 10 month old deaf child who was diagnosed early and was wearing hearing aids and doing well .The man's mom had come with the entire family to re- learn what had to be taught to the child as the baby's mom was also deaf using sign language and the responsibility to develop the language laid with the grand mother.
During the session we gave out our feedback to the grand mother and we interacted with the family.All was well till the father of the child opened his mouth to speak.I was shocked as the man's language was so not at all clear and we all found it difficult to understand even one word. We all tried to strain and wondered how he was one of the good students. Ma'am was at him again and corrected his speech and was upset at the deterioration of his voice and speech. The man's parents then came out with the real story.The man was married to a deaf lady using the sign language. So for the woman adjustments were made so that she could open the door if the bell rang [ a light was attached to the door bell].There was a lot of writing that was used to make everybody understand.So to make the lady comfortable , the whole family made adjustments with the lady instead of helping her to react to sound and use her hearing aids to listen. The man has done his M Tech and works in a firm where during the interview when the interviewer tried to sign to him , he asked him to speak in English as he could speak. He also joined a deaf club against his parents wishes where most used signs and lip reading.With time the man stopped using his voice and started to depend on lip reading. As a result his voice quality and speech deteriorated.I was so shocked.Prisha too looked at the man with horror.It did give her a bit of fear.It is essential that the deaf person is surrounded with hearing people so that he does not get an opportunity to use any other mode except -speaking through hearing and hearing alone.As the man stopped started to focus on lip reading, he stopped focusing on listening and so stopped speaking. It did give me a big push that with Prisha I have to make sure that she is always in an environment where there is use of spoken language.

Prisha is 5

Our 2009 speech therapy classes got delayed as Mrs.Hudlikar was down with a stomach infection .And at that age to recover and regain stamina to teach 50 HI children takes time.
Our 1st session of the year started with the concept of time.2008 has gone 2009 has come.She sat down with the calenders of the 2 years and then talked about how the old calender is of no use as the new year has come.The kids were asked to say the names of the months of the year.Well Prisha almost managed. Then we moved to the names of the days of the week. The teacher asked everybody for their birth days, I held my breathe as I had been talking about her approaching birthday. She said her date of birth and when asked about how old she would be, she proudly said 5! She looked at me for approval and we exchanged that look where she was happy to see my thumbs up look. Ma'am marked her birthday on the calender.
2 days later it was her birthday ie, 15th Jan. I packed up some popcorn, cake and sweets to give in therapy class.We got a surprise.Ma'am was celebrating her birthday. She laid out a beautiful table cloth embroidered by her ,and we laid out the goodies that she kept for the little party and I took out my stuff.A candle was lit and we sang happy birthday for Prisha.She was thrilled! A lil envelope with some money for Prisha was a precious gift from her.A very touching and memorable b'day for us.A good therapy lesson was taken where we talked about b'days.
Prisha was on a big high on her big day.This year she had been to b'day party and wanted 1 for herself too.She is realizing the fun and was on cloud 9 the entire day.I loved to see the zest for life in her.She told me what she wanted for her big day. we pulled out the entire wardrobe as she could not decide what to wear. She wanted balloons of all colours in all rooms, [to be blown by the same lady in a sari who had blown in her friend's house- but my dear prisha it was her neighbour who helped out] the cake, the chips the food, etc had to laid.She specified where the cake would be cut, how it would be served and how the presents had to be opened after everybody left.My God , I was trying to keep pace on my creaky knees and was falling off with all the running around.But it was all worth it to see her eyes light up at everything that I could do for her, which wasn't much.She makes me feel young and energetic.Her energy radiates on to me.I thanked God that she came into my life.She has given meaning to my otherwise ordinary life.The other day I told her that I need to do yoga so that I keep healthy and teach her to talk well.She looked up at me with a funny look in her eyes and hugged me so tight.I had tears....Her 5th birthday is the 1st birthday where she realized the importance of her birthdate.The day ended with all the fun , where her friends painted, ate well sang for her gifted her and gave a lovely memory for us remember.The hangover is still not over though.We look forward to the next one now.

A summary of last 6 weeks

I have not been able to sit on my blog last 6 weeks as 1st the Mumbai attacks took hold of my emotions and I was literally grieving and the depression took toll on my own personal work.My husband and relatives turned up and we had a lot of catching up.I asked all of them about how they felt had Prisha progressed in the time they had not seen her.The answers were encouraging.Her comprehension is great and things don't need to be repeated to her.She comes across as a normal kid.
Since she was the centre of attraction everybody wanted to teach her what they were good at.My husband's sister tried to tell stories and did some maths, my co-sister did a bit of her artwork and igniting her creative mind, my husband tried to pamper her and her grand parents gave in to her fancies. I took a back seat and after a month I am realising she has regressed in speech.She needs me to break down sentences which she echoed earlier without much ado.Yesterday in her speech therapy class she was shivering while answering as she was not confident and also since she is weak from her stomach infection.
But I would like to high light the things she has done in the past 1 month.She is aware that singing is not something she is confident about , yet she breaks into " we shall overcome", " God's love", "lakdi ki kathi"- a hindi song and does sing " Raghupathi Raghav Raja Ram" - Lord Ram's song.It is satisfying to hear her normal voice.When i teach her to say something new she juts out her lower jaw as she finds it convenient . I correct her immediately.
She does play school .I think all girls love it.She does become Manisha ma'am, her class teacher, and her grand pa is the student. there is attendance, colouring class, singing class, English class etc and he needs to be very attentive and has to follow or she gives him a dressing down.During the attendance she calls out her grandmom's name but is normally marked absent as she feels she does not cooperate .It is something to really experience and she does want me to go away as she feels I will correct her and she can't be her real self. We took a short holiday and she enjoyed the stay in a resort. she modelled for photographs and had her speech practice where ever we went.My sister's daughter has down's and so has problem with speech. I tried to do my bit of work to encourage speech and Prisha was most cooperative. The moment I left she would then take over and tell Kitu to copy her. She copies the same style. When she plays teacher , I know how her teacher talks, when she does speech therapy with Kitu , I feels it is a mirror image of me talking.With Kitu and a friend's daughter who is 9 ( with a bad job of CI) their voice quality is something I am always concerned about.I tried to sing ( aa...) in different pitches and with a little work and encouragement I was able to achieve it, much to my delight.I have worked it with Prisha from the beginning and so Prisha's intonation and voice modulation is great. I have taught the tricks to their mums, hope they carry it further. In the speech therapy class their is a boy 8 years old, bright guys but his voice is flat. I taught the trick to the mum and after a month she told me that after much encouragement from both of us, he was for the 1st time trying to sing along a cartoon theme song! Yipee!!!!I was thrilled. The kids may not turn singers but why deprive them of another part of speech!

Meeting Priya

Yesterday I finally met Priya who is now 21 yrs or so running her own bakery from home.I had ordered some brown bread and buns.She arrived in a hurry , she spoke so normally and as she has recruitment [I hope the spelling is correct] where she is unable to wear the hearing aid as the sound is unbearable in that ear.She was , I think , a bit conscious as the class was on.We did the calculations and I paid up.I was disappinted as I was not able to meet her mom.Her mom was the one who introduced us to ma'am and changed our lives forever.So when she told me that she was in the car, I ran to meet her.I had got her a bunch of flowers , I hugged her and thanked her for what she did for us. I was meeting her after 4 years as I got busy with Prisha and never got a chance to meet her.It was an emotional moment for me.Thanks to her today with the correct speech therapy we lead normal lives.

Telecon with a deaf youngster

Today My speech therapy teacher Mrs. Hudlikar called up and said that one of her old students ,who is now integrated into mainstream, had called her up.The girl in her early 20's has done a course in baking and has opened a little bakery in her home.She makes all kinds of bread and would like her to tell other people to come and try her products.She told me to speak to her on the phone as she now owns her own cellphone! She wanted me to pose as a potential customer and ask her about her products, prices and make other small conversation as a customer to see how her interaction was.Just because she is a deaf person people will not just take pity and buy stuff.For them it 1st the quality and then how good you are at explaining.An outsider would not know she is deaf . And if she does not take the order properly or is not clear, nobody will be patient but will go ahead some place else.She needed to be polite, clear and very specific. I was so happy to hear her as she was so clear on the phone, she gave me her list and prices, the distance from ma'am's home, and we had the entire conversation as normal as it could be.It was so good to know how she is able to lead such a normal life.I have given her my order and will go and pick it up tomorrow.I really want to see how well she is integrated.It is so nice to know ma'am still goes beyond her therapy classes and is ready to take on her to make her understand the tricks of the trade.She wants to still teach her the skills required in the business.In this material world very few are like that . I am looking forward to it.

Describe

I have been doing a lot of description practice with Prisha.Well since a few days I have seen how she has become aware and has started to ask a lot of questions .It is almost a competition as to who will ask first.I had seen how she had given up noticing things as I was a bit too occupied with my stresses.I then started this pattern of asking questions...
1. what is this?
2.what is its shape/ taste/colour etc?
3. What is it made of?
what is the use of it?
I noticed this covers every aspect of an object.It helps to describe, so she learns the shapes/ various tastes/colours etc which are adjectives.She learnt lots of nouns, she learnt to notice things around and learnt all things that are man made have some use. She picked up verbs and action words which are most important in our daily life.I also never sit in a place and do do it as it feels like I am teaching.Whatever we do and whatever we come across at home or on the street and mall etc, we just talk about it.It gives more opportunity to talk and life is not boring .
I saw the benefits yesterday.Yesterday in the speech therapy class ma'am picked up a book where there were pictures of daily household things.She asked Prisha to describe a couple of pictures by guiding her through these questions.She got a hang of it and sure enough she started to rattle off.I was so happy and her confidence went up.She spoke 5 sentences on the iron, which were told by the teacher , and said them exactly in the same sequence.I really feel , early intervention, a bit of pressure in the 1st 2 years and persistence really helps the deaf to develop language.It is a never ending process but we have to carry on so that the child is easily integrated into normal atmosphere.

Another visit to the child welfare institution

Mrs. Alaka Hudlikar asked me to come and visit the institution for another round of discussion with the teachers of the deaf and parents about how we can develop language in the hearing impaired children.She had invited a few more kids with their mothers as examples to motivate parents and teachers.The lecture was as usual very interesting and informative.I have heard this so many times but each time I find something more to learn in it and also it re-enforces my learning of the subject.It was a long lecture where she talked about how language develops in normal children and the importance of language in the mental and intellectual growth of humans.There were people who listened to each and every word and took down notes.There were a few who were critical but it is a good way of starting a discussion.I was a bit touchy or should I say a bit agitated at a teacher who commented that she was lucky to have mothers who worked to develop speech in children.I felt it was unfair of that teacher to overlook her passion, dedication and hard work that she put in and pass on all the credit to the mothers.It is our teacher who ignites our mind, raises the bar each time, constantly corrects us , motivates us and is the one who is never satisfied so that we do not get satisfied and get laid back about the work that we need to do.It is the duty of the teacher to constantly light the fire in the mind and heart , set goals and examples and make sure that the target is achieved.Ma'am has never taken credit for the work , infact she always passes on the credit to the mothers but I feel it was very unmindful of him to overlook what she has been constantly doing for the last 40 years.I told him that as the teacher he needed to motivate , educate parents and be passionate about the work he has taken up to make the parents realise and work with him.Someone cannot be so lucky for 40 years.She has made the mothers we are today.All mothers from all fields are trained so well that they can teach any hearing impaired child.It is his insensitivity about the subject which I think is not able to make his students speak.Till he puts that passion and sincerity in his work there is no way that his students are going to benefit.

Maths sums

Well this month Prisha learnt to do a bit of maths.She has learnt simple addition , subtraction and also learnt half the table of 2, thanks to her aunt.She loves to rattle off.She has the yearning to learn and is very fond of books and stationary.All day her pals are these.Her zest for life keeps me amazed. I hope she is always this way.I can excite her into any activity.I was cleaning up this month and she was more worried when I was cleaning up her book cupboard than when I did her clothes cupboard.I could not chuck out even a lil pencil or piece of paper.She was relieved when all was in her cupboard was closed .Clothes cupboard was left to me.
Y'day was diwali, she loved to dress up and looked all dolled up.She has fetish for ear rings and shoes.I was worried with the loudness of sounds from the crackers.I kept asking her if it was too loud in the hearing aids.But I think the aids were working well for her.I am glad the settings of the aids was changed after I got hyper with the audiologist.I am still wondering why this setting was not given when we 1st bought the aids as she told me this time that she had given her the best settings this time.Well I wish I was able to open a centre where all this could be taken care of for parents who are less aware.