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.

Classes update

A little bit of updates..I spoke to Rhianna's music teacher last week.She said Rhianna is doing very well in the class.She's beginning to imitate singing solo when asked to..sometimes not very accurately of course.She has good sense of rhythm and tempo (she didnt get it from me.I'm musically challenged!).She can follow instructions well but sometimes get easily distracted by the noisy toddlers.I guess this class really help sharpening her listening in noise skill.I owe many thanks to the teachers and other parents in the class who cheer and encourage her all the time.They help build her self esteem.

As for her reading class...still too early to say much about the progress, but she enjoys it tremendously.The teacher reported that she's the one with the best behaviour (I wish I can say that at home!).She listens and points as her teacher reads.She tells her class mates "come,sit down" when they walk around (that's her,always bossy).
She knows ( and can say!) her primary and secondary colours,her numbers (1-10)and almost half of the alphabets.She might have to catch up more on her language skill but at least academically,she's pretty much on par with her peers...yippee!

Go figure!

Rhianna is recovering from an episode of cough and cold.She's being very picky about her food and all she wants to eat is cake..so I decided to teach her all the words and phrases related to the cake."Cut the cake","bake the cake", "blow the candles"..she can even sing the 'happy birthday' song.So she can pretty much understand and say them all...all but the very word CAKE.
Everytime I ask her what she'd like to have,she'll say "happy birthday to you".Try as I might to get her to say the simple one syllable word "CAKE"...she still prefers the multi syllabic phrases "happy birthday to you"...Go figure!

simply amazing

One morning..

Rhianna : Kiki come! (calling the cat)
Kiki : meow..(stretching his body)
Rhianna : Kiki come,come (gesturing for the cat to come)
Kiki : meow..(moves lazily towards Rhianna)
Rhianna :Kiki mamam (pushing the food bowl to Kiki)
Kiki :(starts eating)
Rhianna :Sedap?Sedap?
Kiki :(ignoring Rhianna,continues eating)
Rhianna :Kiki air,air (pushing Kiki's head towards the water bowl)
At this point,mommy intervenes (to prevent Kiki from drowning)

It's wonderful to watch this girl talking.This girl that couldn't hear a thing just 7 months ago ( let alone talk ) is now becoming such a chatterbox.Chatting even to the cat who wont answer back.Simply amazing.

Funding for CI

As promised,here are the ways to find funding for CI in Malaysia.
The criteria for CI candidacy in Malaysia is probably the same as anywhere else in the world.The child has to be diagnosed to be between severe to profoundly hearing impaired.The audiologist will then put the child on hearing aid trial (between 3-6 months)to see whether any benefits can be obtained from the device.from the ongoing assessment (including mri and ct scan) they will determine whether CI is necessary or not.

In our country,some private hospitals do perform CI surgery for self pay candidates.But the pioneer for this technology in Malaysia would be the National University Hospital (HUKM) who also provides funding for eligible candidates.Our ministry of health has also recently established a CI team that moves around the country providing funding and surgeries for the candidates in general hospitals.So you have to get in touched with these hospitals to learn of ways to get funding.If you work for the government you can apply through the JPA though it might take some time to be approved.So there are many ways to get the first ear implanted.Bilateral implantation is not yet available here.

The problem is,chances are very slim that you will be funded for the second ear that will cost u RM58K currently (for nuchleus 5).So what most people did (we are trying too)is to try to get donations from generous companies.In return,these companies will get tax exemption for the amount donated.There are some who appeal through the media too.You'll be surprised to see how generous people are in our country...