• “Hello Mrs. Rice”

    June 8, 2010 By in Uncategorized 4 Comments

    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.

  • Very Slack Indeed

    April 28, 2010 By in Uncategorized Leave a comment

    I am too ashamed to even look at when the date of our last post was. Life has an annoying habit of just passing you by and, before you know it, a couple of months have disappeared.

    One of the problems with being a parent of a child with a CI is living with it every single day. This also has its positives, but, what is most troublesome is that you very rarely step back and notice the changes. Aunty Bee and Uncle Andy (Alice’s Godparents) are forever telling us how much they are wowed when they see Alice – “She has come on so much” they tell us.

    This is (hopefully) true. It is, however, difficult sometimes to see this. Teaching Alice to speak and hear can feel a bit like pushing water up hill and then, bang, she takes a leap forward.

    It is now a year since Alice was first switched on. Alice seems very proud of her new voice and is starting to construct some relatively complex sentences – “I need more biscuits” being a current favourite. That said there are days when it is still so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel – the dream that is “age appropriate speech and language”. We have to keep telling ourselves that she will get there. We know she will, but some days it is hard.

    It all seems a very long time ago now that we first started on this journey. Even though it has only been a year, so much has happened in that time that I feel like I have aged 10 years in just one.

    At Easter, Alice had her first visit to Disneyland Paris. (I say first as it is unlikely we will get away with not taking her back). There is nothing nicer than to hear Alice saying (in some delight) “Mishy Mouse” – it’s not perfect, but, for now, it is more than we could ever have hoped for.

    Alice and Mickey