Welcome
This site is dedicated to every child who faces learning challenges, and especially to the hearing impaired child. The inspiration is my own child who, despite the odds, managed to learn to read to his Mama and to use reading to overcome his hearing impairment. This experience taught me that not only is a parent the child's first teacher but, particularly for the child with special needs, his most important one.
A Daunting Diagnosis
Tests on my son had indicated a severe sensorineural hearing loss in early childhood. The initial outlook was not encouraging; hearing aids for life, an assistive listening device for school and the likelihood that as a hearing impaired child, he would lag his peers in school. With Special ED services he would be able to obtain a basic education, about enough to allow him to become an independent adult. I was advised to become his advocate - I chose instead to first become his teacher.
Despite lack of formal training, I found it pretty easy to teach reading to my hearing impaired child. What I have done, any parent can do. My son had been surrounded by books from earliest infancy, and despite being hearing impaired, his favorite part of the day was story time. I just took it one step further - now it was his turn to read to me.
As many parents of disabled children do, I had read books and searched the web trying to absorb all I could about his condition and the likely prognosis for his degree of hearing loss. On one of my searches, I happened upon the success story of a little girl with Down's Syndrome. With her father's help, she had learned to read before the age of five. It seemed to me that he was saying, "Look at her real ability, not at her diagnosis and give your disabled child a head start". Success stories such as that one, gave me hope for my own child with special needs.
The Obstacle That Wasn't
Let me be clear that the intent here is not to deny the reality of a child's disability or to ignore expert opinion. Nothing here is intended to substitute for the advice of trained professionals.
This is about the importance of parents' roles in shaping the success story of disabled children. We are often encouraged to be proactive in getting from others the services our children need to make it in the world but there is much we can do ourselves.
A parent can certainly teach a hearing impaired child to read if he or she seems ready. For the child with special needs, positive expectations and one-on-one instruction are two important early needs which any parent can provide.
I have learned to not accept a limitation being placed on my child without first testing it's validity. No one gets to assert he can't or won't be able to do something without actually having tested that ability.
In some ways, the story of his hearing impairment reminds me of that old poem I read long ago of a man climbing a mountain who encountered an obstacle in the middle of the path. He spent the next several hours either shouting angrily at it to get out of the way or pleading on his knees that he be allowed to pass. Eventually a light bulb went on inside his head: he straightened, looked straight ahead and walked right through the 'obstacle' - it had never prevented him from climbing, he'd only thought it would.
Getting To The Mountain Top
Once I'd shed my preconceived notions of what to expect, the journey became an adventure into uncharted territory. Elsewhere on this site, I describe how we went about learning to read. Here, what I'd like to share is how the process transformed us both.
Entering school armed with basic reading skills is a real boost to any child's confidence and this is especially true for the child with special needs. The day my son's kindergarten teacher let him read to his class was a high point both for him and for me.
After that, there was no stopping him. Books became friends, constant companions, partners in mischief-making and teddy-bear substitutes. I was only too happy to fill the never-ending demand for reading material. Today, he is a gifted reader with an insatiable appetite for anything in print.
The way I see it, reading provides the hearing impaired child with another means of connecting with the world around him. When parents are able to provide a special needs child with this additional connection, it's both an exhilarating experience and a blessing.
This site is dedicated to every child who faces learning challenges, and especially to the hearing impaired child. The inspiration is my own child who, despite the odds, managed to learn to read to his Mama and to use reading to overcome his hearing impairment. This experience taught me that not only is a parent the child's first teacher but, particularly for the child with special needs, his most important one.
A Daunting Diagnosis
Tests on my son had indicated a severe sensorineural hearing loss in early childhood. The initial outlook was not encouraging; hearing aids for life, an assistive listening device for school and the likelihood that as a hearing impaired child, he would lag his peers in school. With Special ED services he would be able to obtain a basic education, about enough to allow him to become an independent adult. I was advised to become his advocate - I chose instead to first become his teacher.
Despite lack of formal training, I found it pretty easy to teach reading to my hearing impaired child. What I have done, any parent can do. My son had been surrounded by books from earliest infancy, and despite being hearing impaired, his favorite part of the day was story time. I just took it one step further - now it was his turn to read to me.
As many parents of disabled children do, I had read books and searched the web trying to absorb all I could about his condition and the likely prognosis for his degree of hearing loss. On one of my searches, I happened upon the success story of a little girl with Down's Syndrome. With her father's help, she had learned to read before the age of five. It seemed to me that he was saying, "Look at her real ability, not at her diagnosis and give your disabled child a head start". Success stories such as that one, gave me hope for my own child with special needs.
The Obstacle That Wasn't
Let me be clear that the intent here is not to deny the reality of a child's disability or to ignore expert opinion. Nothing here is intended to substitute for the advice of trained professionals.
This is about the importance of parents' roles in shaping the success story of disabled children. We are often encouraged to be proactive in getting from others the services our children need to make it in the world but there is much we can do ourselves.
A parent can certainly teach a hearing impaired child to read if he or she seems ready. For the child with special needs, positive expectations and one-on-one instruction are two important early needs which any parent can provide.
I have learned to not accept a limitation being placed on my child without first testing it's validity. No one gets to assert he can't or won't be able to do something without actually having tested that ability.
In some ways, the story of his hearing impairment reminds me of that old poem I read long ago of a man climbing a mountain who encountered an obstacle in the middle of the path. He spent the next several hours either shouting angrily at it to get out of the way or pleading on his knees that he be allowed to pass. Eventually a light bulb went on inside his head: he straightened, looked straight ahead and walked right through the 'obstacle' - it had never prevented him from climbing, he'd only thought it would.
Getting To The Mountain Top
Once I'd shed my preconceived notions of what to expect, the journey became an adventure into uncharted territory. Elsewhere on this site, I describe how we went about learning to read. Here, what I'd like to share is how the process transformed us both.
Entering school armed with basic reading skills is a real boost to any child's confidence and this is especially true for the child with special needs. The day my son's kindergarten teacher let him read to his class was a high point both for him and for me.
After that, there was no stopping him. Books became friends, constant companions, partners in mischief-making and teddy-bear substitutes. I was only too happy to fill the never-ending demand for reading material. Today, he is a gifted reader with an insatiable appetite for anything in print.
The way I see it, reading provides the hearing impaired child with another means of connecting with the world around him. When parents are able to provide a special needs child with this additional connection, it's both an exhilarating experience and a blessing.
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Copyright 2008 Penny Brown
admin@read2mama.com
admin@read2mama.com
Disclaimer: The information contained here is not intended to replace the advice of qualified professionals. This website does not offer medical advice.
