We have a new Deaf Ed. teacher for now because the one assigned to Little Guy is on bed rest for a high risk pregnancy. We haven't actually met the one on bed rest, but I'm sure she will be wonderful once she does get to start working with us. Until then, I think I'm going to get along great with Ms. Kristy.
She was very opened to the fact that we don't really need help with going over the Texas Connect handbook or explanations about how hearing aids and cochlear implants work. She was excited to help us bring more sign language into the home, and was more than willing to work with Snort and Pretty to help them catch up on their signing. This is precisely what I needed. I needed someone to be willing to let me be in charge of my family. When she left, I was able to take a deep breath and feel really good about where things were going.
In all honesty, I had planned on recalling Little Guy's IFSP and setting him up for only monthly monitoring because I didn't want to waste my time (or the teacher's time for that matter). Instead, I think I'll keep her coming at least every other week just to keep us all motivated to keep working on our signing. There really is something to be said for professionals who really listen to what families are saying they need.
That's great! We had a rough go of it the first time around- our SLP had never worked with a hard of hearing or deaf child before, so she didn't know what to do with us or with Nolan. We finally got a good SLP when Nolan was around 7 months old- we had no family information until then! If we had a second go-around with all of this, we'd be seasoned pros and wouldn't need as much information.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with brushing up on the signing!