she has common speech errors which perfectly fine for a four year old! If you listen she says "b" for v in vacuum, she's working on her "r"s and "l"s as well, they seem to come and go. Here you'll find common speech errors.
http://www.speech-pathology.org/pathologists/resources/speechdevelopment.php copy and paste
Friday, January 11, 2008
Brook Speaking
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I know my comment here will not be well received, because Brook's language skills are amazing! You and her speech therapists are doing an outstanding job.
But I speak as a psychologist who has worked with Deaf people for over 30 years, and what you need to "hear" is this question: What will you do when she is in High School, and all her "friends" just gravitate away from the "weird kid"? And how will you explain to her why no boy will ask her out, even to a school dance?
I say this only because of an experience I had with a young woman in High School many years ago. She had nearly perfect speech and was totally mainstreamed in a large metropolitan High School. She was a beautiful girl, and on the Varsity Cheerleading squad. She was even elected Homecoming Queen!
She came to me 2 days before Homecoming dance and told me she didn't have a DATE for Homecoming! In a school with nearly 4,000 students, not ONE BOY would ask her to Homecoming!!! I quietly arranged for her to go with a Deaf boy I knew quite well, and apparently they had a good time.
But you know something? From that time onward, she NEVER used her voice again! She learned ASL and became a militant leader at Gallaudet. I haven't seen her in many years - I can't even remember her name now - but I'll never forget her tears when she told me she needed a date for HC, and asked me to help...
Speech and total "integration" works well in the early years, but as a child develops social skills, and becomes interested in dating, something drastic happens -- not to every child I'm sure, but to enough young people that we have to weigh our values and realize that an education is much more than reading, writing and talking.
I have to say, I can see where you're coming from so don't think I'm upset at your comment. I too was a Varsity Cheerleader and went to both of my proms w/friends. I also remember crying in the seventh grade because some boy liked a this girl in the band instead of me. I think addressing problems early on before she gets to be the weird kid would be best. Parents can help to instill self worth, self confidence, and pride in many ways. Teaching them how to volunteer, teaching them that we all have things that make us unique, teaching them how to handle uncomfortable situations, these are all lessons of importance for their future as young adults. The best thing I can do for my kids is not protect them from normal growth, but prepare them, giving them the tools they need. I think making sure they continue to feel comfortable talking to me about their problems is key as well. I can't prevent these things from happening altogether, as this is normal for us all. One thing we do in our community is educate the ignorant. I used to be one of them so it's important that when we are asked in grocery stores "what's on their heads?" that I leave that person more informed than I found them. My daughter is very shy right now as I was at her age too, however my son will soon be doing speeches with me, as I am asked to do so from time to time. He knows people are interested, he has lots of friends, and he has turned into quite the little educator. We've met and spoke with a lot of people and he's glad to help. As parents we hope nothing bad ever happens to our kids but regardless of who they are, it's going to happen. I've always been a problem solver (guess that's why I was good at accounting) so teaching my kids to be able problem solve in their daily life will go far. I could go on but I guess that about covers it.
Hi Val-
Thank you for your comment regarding the dirty clothes :) That is what I am still hoping....w/ 4 kids we have too much in the way of dirty laundry, and I'm still going through 'some' of last weekends. I really appreciate the suggestion (and really, really hope it pans out).
I also look forward to watching Brook's video. I was a little shocked to see abc's comment, and my only thought is that the example she brings up was many years ago. Technology has changed so much, and many CI kids today, have very few speech issues, w/ therapy, and 'tweaking' of maps, etc. I know you probably know all this, I just was kind of surprised to see someone commenting to 'expect the worst'. I think your response was outstanding. I also have taught my children to be very upfront about what they wear, and what it does. They are not real shy at all about any of it.
Best of luck,
Melissa
Obviously though, someone that shut their voice off after all those years, clearly had more going on than just not having a prom date. Not having a prom a date is completely normal stuff, so I don't plan on relating everything to their hearing loss as we deal with very NORMAL things as they grow up. Like I noted, staying on top of things by staying involved is going to help detect a lot of issues before they get to something so drastic as someone not using their voice anymore.
abc, Please read my comment - http://cochlearimplantonline.com/blog/?p=11
Post a Comment