Alice’s school, Notre Dame, has worked exceptionally hard to find her a suitable teaching assistant to work one on one with her. At times the delay in finding someone got a little frustrating, but in hindsight, it is clear to see that getting the right person was far more important than just getting anyone.
Enter stage left Mrs. Rice.
Mrs. Rice has been working with Alice for just 2 days so far, but it has been clear from the outset that, whilst she hasn’t worked with a child with hearing impairment before, she is on the same page as us and Alice. Straight away she has picked up the concept of what we and AV are trying to achieve with Alice. I have no doubt that we will see Alice make a real leap forward as a result.
Proof of how far Alice has come this past year is easy to see. Not least when it comes to the morning routine of greetings and lunchtime routine of goodbyes at school. It has taken Alice until very recently to be able to confidently articulate “Hello Mrs. Hemsley” and “Hello Mrs. Hookway” to her teachers – that’s 9 months. Mrs. Rice started yesterday and as she waved her off today with a beautiful “Goodbye Mrs. Rice” I remembered how far we have come.
Some moments border on normality and others remind us just how far we still have to go. Alice will make it – of that I have no doubt – I’m just an impatient so-and-so at times.
Anyhow, welcome to the party Sam (Mrs. Rice) and we really look forward to working with you for a long time to come. The rewards will be worth every bit of it and it is clear Alice has warmed to you straight away.
Alice's Ears 
What a lovely start to my day to hear that Alice is doing so well with language. I have a special interest in her as our grandson is nearly one year old and is diagnosed with similar issues. My daughter gave me the link to your site.
Hope all continues to go well for your family this year
‘Liz
I so hope all goes well for you and your grandson Liz -Alice continues to stun us daily and, for the first time since we found out about her deafness nearly 2 years ago, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Chris
After talking about Alice non stop to my family every evening – how much I love working with her, how bright she is, keen to learn and affectionate, in all, my dream job, my daughter was keen to see her and so I decided to show her your blog . We really enjoyed watching Alice sing ‘row your boat’. I enjoy this daily at school along with incy wincy spider so it was lovely to share this with my daughter.
Alice you are a superstar!!
Sam Rice.
we are speechless.