Today Chris and I were on our first parent panel. We were asked to come to a regional meeting that the State Dept of Ed sponsors for those who are service providers for children with hearing loss. There were people in the room from all over eastern Pennsylvania.
We had our first meeting today with Ellis's "new speech therapist." I put that in quotes, because I'm not sure if we'll keep her. She drove me crazy. I'll give her a few sessions to find a groove, but if it ain't groovin' I'm ditching her.
It's probably about time to do another update on how fantastic Ellis is *grin*. I was kind of on hiatus from all deaf blogging for a little while. The comments were starting to get too intense for me, which, to some extent, I allow to happen merely by posting on the world wide web. whatever. Lots of fun things to write about today.
Ellis and I went to his once a week class this morning. Only a couple of other families were there, so it was small and nice.
I stayed late talking to E's EI teacher and ended up bawling, which I've never done before. A flood of emotions overwhelmed me in the small intimate environment. I don't think I can even begin to unravel my feelings in a coherent way at this moment. And I think it has more to do with me than Ellis actually, except that he's inextricably a part of it all.
Today, despite my tiredness--and E's for that matter, I feel like I really pulled some great parenting guns. First of all, we didn't go anywhere. I get to midafternoon, and then I just can't take it anymore, so we go somewhere, ANYwhere. It takes a lot of perseverance to get through that time without going anywhere. I'm glad we didn't, though, because Ellis is getting some bad diaper rash and a touch of diarrhea from the antibiotic they gave him after surgery (Cednifir, I think preemptive against an ear infection).
The Early Intervention services we get for Ellis are really great. It's wonderful that the county will provide all that he needs to give him a good start. Every other week a woman comes from a local School for the Deaf, and she has been wonderful, bringing helpful resources, giving us good ideas, and just talking with us, as we begin to navigate this new world of the deaf.
Our early intervention has taken a new twist. So far a teach comes every other week from the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. She brings resources, information, and conversation. In between, we watch Signing Time! and read.
Yesterday we were visited by a team to evaluate Ellis for early intervention services. They were really nice, down-to-earth, friendly, helpful people. (I was so glad, having no experience with social services folks and having a general suspect for the social sciences). So they accepted him into their program. A teacher, physical therapist, and speech therapist/audiologist were on the evaluation team along with the services coordinator.
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