Belyaev
How did I find out that my child does not hear
At the age of 2.5, Vitalik fell seriously ill: with a high fever and a rash we had to go to the infectious diseases hospital. Doctors have been knocking down the temperature, which stubbornly kept at around 39.5 for three days. On the fourth day, the temperature dropped to normal, the rash has gone.
But after discharge fr om the hospital, I realized that my child does not hear anything at all, does not react to any sounds. Of course, right now I understand that the initial hearing impairment was from his birth ... We have been visiting the polyclinic by the place of our residence for almost half a year: the neurologist, the ENT, the pediatrician - everyone said that the baby was fine!
Only in half a year we have received a refferal to the audiologist in Children's Regional Hospital wh ere we have been diagnosed with "Sensorineural hearing loss of 4 degrees". Such diagnosis, put to beloved son or daughter, sounds like a sentence for every mother, and I was no exception ... My son brought me out of that state, that evening he climbed to my lap, snuggled up and smiled (I remember this moment as if it was a second ago) ... Then I realized that my son's future is in my hands.
Cochlear implantation
About the cochlear implantation, I learned from the audiologist and specialists in the kindergarten, while everyone tried to dissuade me from doing the operation, frightening me with some kind of fiction. After studying all the information about the cochlear implantation, which was available on the Internet at the time (this was the end of 2008) and talking with the parents of the implanted children (at that time there were very few of them), I decided that we would be doing the surgery, no matter what. All the family supported us and helped with best they could, a huge thanks to them!
After the surgery, the rehabilitation process began. For us, for the first two years, it was very difficult: we went to a kindergarten in an integrated group for children after cochlear implantation, along with ordinary hearing children, in the garden we worked with the faculty teacher, at home, after the kindergarten, we were also engaged, but there was no independent spontaneous speech... We were already going to visit St. Petersburg to check the setting, but for a short time, while collecting the documents for the trip, Vitalik began to speal a little by himself! Spontaneously, grammatically wrong, but he spoke! It was a great happiness, joy and result!
How do we learn to hear and say
Of course, an implanted child is a permanent occupation. We work at home, on the street, in the car, everywhere we constantly talk. At home at first, like many parents, everything was stickered with names (floor, table, wardrobe...). In the car, with the development of speech and attention, we constantly talked, pronounced individual items that we met along the road, animals, then the verbs, adjectives... Now I have many different children's books in my car. On our way home from school and back, we learn various poems, read books (as the one-way trip takes from 30 minutes to an hour).
Studying Vitalik treats differently, it happened that he cried, used to work with perseverance, now, when he understood the difference between the words "I want" and "I have to" he is doing all right. Sometimes without much enthusiasm, but goes and does.
Vitalik has no embarrassment on the fact that he was implanted: he lives a full normal life. Relations with peers are quite normal: he is a very sociable boy. He likes drawing very much, while still in the kindergarten he painted various clothes, both female and male, liked to dress dolls, people told me: how is that, the boy plays with dolls ... I thought it was his choice. Now he does not play with the dolls anybore, but draws something every free minute. He likes to play checkers.
Like all children at his age, he likes to watch TV, play computer games... But from the very beginning, we had our own limited time for this: the TV was not more than one hour per day, and only after classes, the computer (or tablet) - also not more than an hour per day. At the same time, Vitalik always has a choice: either a computer, or a TV. Of course, at first it was very difficult, but now my son, after studying, always comes and asks: can I turn on the TV or computer?
What does it mean to be the mother of an implanted child
I do not know what to answer, probably, there is a huge desire that my son finished high school in an ordinary school, entered the university and lived a full life. And I try to observe the most important condition for my work - it is not to be tied to the office and by the time, be free to spend as much time with my son as needed. This is especially important during holidays, and if necessary I can take him to work with me.
I have so many different plans and ideas. I really want to be disaccustomed to the surdopedagogue, but, unfortunately, there is very much free time. Every day, coming home in the evening, I think: why the day has only 24 hours?
I am very glad that we had an operation, thanks to what my child can hear and develop, and thanks to what we met wonderful people, both parents and specialists. Communication with parents is especially charged with a very great positive. Now, at last, we will officially register as a public organization, and we will have a lot of hard work to do.
Parents of implanted children can say that every child from birth is already a person, and it is very important to develop this person and not to suppress. And it's very important to remember that a child is a copy of his parents and if you do not like something in your child, do not try to change it, change yourself and you will see that your child will also change. There is a wonderful book: Alexander Sviyash "Reasonable World or How to Live Without Extra Experiences", I highly recommend to read it. It is always important to think positively, even if it is difficult and there are many minor troubles, the main thing is the attitude. Remember, thoughts are material!
