Jekyll n Hyde

I'm a speech language pathologist who works with special needs children in early intervention program.People often say that Rhianna is lucky to have a mom who is an SLP.I think my profession is both a blessing AND a curse to Rhianna.

When her father is always happy with her overall progress, I often find other areas to work on.

Rhianna is doing great in kindergarten. She finished top 5 students in the 5 year old class last semester.Her academic skills is on par with her hearing peers and in some subjects,even better.So of course we are happy but I'm still worried about her social skill.

She tends to be a bit shy with new friends and she often needs plenty of warm up time.If the social situation gets too stressful for her,she will just observe and not participate or she will just play alone.

People (her father included) told me to let her be.She will develop better skills in good time.
At moments like this..inside,I will be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde.As a mother I agree (that's Dr.Jekyll). I should accept her and give her time and enough support to develop her confidence level.
As a therapist, I itch to intervene.In the end Mr Hyde wins.

So we are trying a few things like joining more after school activities, planning more play dates and role playing different social situation.
So, no rest for the weary...my poor child.

We did it!

We finally did it! Rhianna's second implant was switched on ,on May19th.I was anticipating chaos and hardship but it didn't happen.Boy,was I glad.

She participated well during the map but was a bit upset after the switch on saying that the new ear is noisy.I guess that's how it is if your ear has not been hearing for the past four years.Anyway,the new ear is turned on very low BUT she was able to detect and identify all Lings sounds by day 3.Yes,we started therapy at home from day 1.Not that we're so ambitious,we were just trying to get her to understand that the new ear will need training too.At first she was quite amused working with the new ear,then she got a bit bored.So we mostly work for about 15-20 minutes each night on sound detection, Lings and some early sounds.
So far this new ear is working way faster than we could ever imagine (talk about cross over effect!).

Kylie the koala is Rhianna's new best friend.She enjoys reading the book on how Kylie got her CI



The new bilateral bionic girl in her pink tutu skirt

 So far,our second hearing journey has been much easier than the first from surgery to switch on to getting her to wear the device.She's been wearing the new ear as much hours as the old one if not more and WITHOUT complaining.Hopefully,this will last forever and ever.
So keep us in your thoughts and prayers people.

A fun experience !

Rhianna participated in a colouring contest during the official launching of WQ Park Rehab Center today (the place where she receives her many therapies - http://www.wqpark.com.my ).She didn't belong in any age category since she is only 3 so they put her in the 4-6 years old group.Seriously,I was just expecting a few random scribbles here and there but I just let her joined in the fun.

She needed some prompting from the art therapist but she basically chose her colours and managed everything quite independantly.

This is what she produced..woohoo! Notice parts of the picture is unfinished..well she's only 3 years old so her attention span only allow her that much.

She received a consolation prize for her effort (believe me, it took a lot of effort to finish that much..she yawned multiple times but still persevered)

It was a fun experience for her plus she got a cute mickey mouse pencil case and many other goodies to bring back home!


P/S : the boy in red cap is her current best friend

Of Donald duck and art time!

Rhianna has been watching too much tv...I know because I've been humming Donald Duck's song in my sleep..
(who's got the sweetest disposition,one guess,guess who?who never never starts an argument,who never shows a bit of temperament,who's never wrong but always right,who's never dream of starting a fight,who gets stuck with all the bad luck..no one but Donald Duck!)

In order to cut back the tv time we are trying to put in more art time ( inspired by Elsie's art playpen )
So good bye mickey and donald (hopefully)!

Here's some photos from our recent art time.

Squemish at first but enjoying the activity

We did some finger painting and leaf printing...(green cabbage from the fridge actually as mommy didnt pick any leaves before that).She kept complaining about her dirty hands and was a bit squemish at first but she did well after that.

Huffing and puffing and rolling

We blew the colours and rolled them with the toy car...she painted a tree with her fingers and put some red dots that she claimed were apples..

These are the results:

the apple tree and the sun

Fish and flowers (that's what I was told)

It was a good activity and learning experience.She learned a lot of new words and I learned that my child knows more words and things than I thought she knew.

p/s : I also learned that she's a demanding little creature..even though I love her to the very core of my being,I always feel like weeping with JOY when Monday comes and school and nursery reopen...

Little Miss grump update

Little miss grump is her normal jolly self right now...no more episodes of severe temper tantrums.Because I was worried about sensory integration issues (which is quite common with hearing impaired kiddos),I took her to see a child developmental psychiatrist (superb dr!)in Seri Kembangan.After some observations and assessments done this is pretty much what we found out:

1.Rhianna's cognitive,motor skill and sensory is normal (except for her deafness of course!)She's a very perceptual,alert and observant child.No sensory integration issue is apparent.

2.She is actually an outgoing and extrovert child who likes to lead (surprise!) but has not developed necessary social skill for this (that's why she's so bossy!)

3.As by nature she is a bubbly girl,she has increased frustration level due to her inability to communicate verbally effectively (imagine having so many things to say and tell, but not enough words to do so?)This may sometimes affect her confidence level.As she learns more language and social skill,these problems will eventually subside.The Dr is pretty confident that she will catch up soon.

4.The severe temper tantrums episodes is most likely stress triggered and could be the result of emotional seizure? (still under investigation).

SOooo.. what should we do to help move her along?

1.Organize more play dates so that she mixes with other children of various ages and learn appropriate social behaviour like how to lead/follow the leader.
2.Do more real life activities with her instead of just play or pretend play.
3.Give her more control of her daily life activities like what she'd like to wear/eat,or when she'd like to take a shower..etc(I think she's already doing this,manipulating and bargaining until she gets her way!Or is that wrong?Maybe she shouldn't have to bargain and should only be given choices?)

So anymore ideas?Tell me people,how much more complex can a three year old be??

The flower dress

Anybody who ever worked with a 3 year old would know how hard it is to get them to pay attention to you.Rhianna is no exception.She seems to have her own mind about everything and she can be very persistent too.
She recently received a new dress from one of her many aunties (who consistently spoil her silly!).She was so excited that the dress has many colourful flowers, she wouldn't do anything else but keep showing it to anybody who would look.So we spent a good hour counting the flowers,describing the colours and sizes.Guess what?That took care of today's therapy hour.It's funny how much of the daily things that can be turned into language activities.You just have to know how to seize the moment.Man,I'm getting pretty good at this.

speech therapy

Aside from audiological mapping,speech therapy is another major aspect that will determine a child's progress.Therapy is a tricky business for a young child.So what we normally do for Rhianna is just play,play and play.While playing we narrate our activities,introduce words and concepts.
We made many mistakes initially.We asked too much questions,expect her to speak when she was not ready,we did'nt recognise the time when she was tired and on and on the list go on.But we are learning and progressing with her.
So simple tips for you all out there:

• make it fun fun fun (easier said than done!)
• Don't ask too much questions,rather provide her with the words that you want her to learn.Remember,a child needs to hear a word spoken many many times before she can understand it.
  
• talk to your child like you would to a normal hearing child
• don't use any signs or allow your child to lip read you.
• and of course,find a quiet place initially to encourage her to listen.Listening in noise will need more training.
  

Mostly..enjoy!