Another big step...

Just came back from a trip to Holland. A little vacation packed with activities.
Flying to the birthdayparty of grandma on friday, birthdayparty of a great friend in a castle on saturday, visiting other great friends & kids on sunday... recovering on monday and tuesday, back wednesday..
We have never been in Holland with the kids this time of the year. Stavanger was cold and white with lots of snow and ice. (Not normal for Stavanger. Should be rainy and grey) Holland was rainy and grey with patches of snow.... Like Stavanger should have been..
Anyway.... for children being used to Holland in the summer, there was a little shock..
But, chocolate, sausages, chocolate-drinks etc make up for a lot.. and they had a great time.
Reconnecting with their friends and family. Being the center of attention...

Normally we see changes in Lotte due to being on holiday and around Dutch language only, compared to speaking and hearing Dutch AND Norwegioan all day.
This time we noticed a change that had developed during her absence in Norway... She grew - mentally, socially.

There are 3 girls right next door of the house in Holland. One was 2, one 4 and one 6.
Previously she would play with the 4-year old most of the time. For Lotte, communicating with the 6-year old was difficult and at times frustrating. Also for the other child I'm sure.
Playing with the 4-year old was much easier, and therefore the favorite friend.
But, Lotte got a bit older, the 6-year old became 7, and now they understand each other.
BINGO.. instand friends....

The parents of the girl noticed that Lotte speech is more understandable now. They also noticed that their daughter is adjusting to communicate better with Lotte. Shorter sentences for example..
So, in half a year, these girls grew enough to become great friends. Inseperable. Beautiful to watch.

The visits to Holland of course bring these developments to the surface. One has an image of the situation 1/2 year ago, and easily spots the changes. But the basis for these developments lies in Lotte's school situation. The second year mainstram, making friends, learning to adjust, learning to interpret situations all makes for good communication.

Lotte started with 2 years delay, due to her deafness, and started catching up 5 years ago.

She's not there yet.. But she is adjusting wonderfully and for us who see her every day, and in the same situation, it can be difficult to notice the changes.
Only when the situation changes, one can spot the differences. We can see them when we see her in a new situation, others can see them because they haven't seen Lotte for a while.

So, make sure to create those new situations, and enjoy the progress...

Deaf shame...

Found an interesting post in this blog....

Sure Lotte will experience this as well... not sure to what degree though.... Up to us parents to keep an eye on it.

Yesterday Lotte commented that the children in the first grae (age 6-7) were asking her (Lotte is now in second grade) what "it" is, the BTE's on the shoulders and the coils on her head.

Lotte has no answer for them.....

Lotte explained to us that she did not like being asked all the time. Actually, I have never experienced Lotte explaining her CI to anyone. I think that there is no real explanation to her. It's how it is. I'm sure the questions will come later, but for now, she hears with CI... end of (her) story.

So, we contacted the school, and asked if the teachers in the first grade could do something about it. In itself, this is difficult. Putting focus on it could be a bad thing. In a way, the children just ask what it is. A simple "I need it to hear" would be enough explanation.. We noticed that last year, with Lotte's class-mates. None of them is interested in a 5-minute explanation on CI.... A straightforward explanation is enough to cure the curiosity..

But of course it will be a matter of time before Lotte will start ask questions herself. Will we be ready for it...??? I guess not.... How do you prepare for that... .really..

We notice how she is thriving on sound, but also how there's sometimes a part she's missing. She has her own strategies to cope with it. Guessing answers, ignoring questions, making sure she's the one doing the talking.... Many different strategies....

The best one is of course how she answers a question that ends with ".... , isn't that right?"... Can you guess the answer to that question ....????

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btw.... followup on that site...

One on one...

Today, Lotte has been with a friend from school almost the entire day.. Away from our house..

It went well. She's been with friends before, but never this long. At the end of the day she was tired...

And that's no surprise.

Think of it.. In a situation with many children, it is easy for her to camouflage that she doesn't understand. She watches the other children and whatever she hasn't understood will be filled in by the action of other children.

Playing 1 on 1 - like today - changes that completely. Any communication from her friend is towards her. So, Lotte will have to be more alert. Will have to focus if she doesn't want to ask too often to have a question repeated.

Apparently, it went very well. They played for a very long time, and at the end of the day they were still friends.

Lotte' s mum called the girl's house, and got the girl on the phone.

On my wife's question as to how it was going, the girl said "It is going very well. But we did fight a bit just now, but that is over now.."

Lovely !!!

Ding-Dong

Lotte came to us this morning and said "Ding-Dong" and something we couldn't understand. We figured it out. The "Ding-Dong" is ringing the doorbel. This immediately makes a connection to her new friend. She wanted to go there and see if she was there ... and play..

She hasn't seen he during the week, but Lotte does associate "not going to the kindergarten" with "playing with my friend"

In the end, we checked if they were home, but they were out. Poor Lotte. Perhaps tomorrow.?

A new friend.. continuing story..

Today Lotte went to her new friend.
It's wonderful to see her take the initiative to get all dressed up and trodd out of the house, along the road, and to the neighbours hour......
And they were not at home.
Lotte checked all around the house. A little troll with a big blue "hat" on...

Later on, her friend was at home and they picked up where they left it yesterday.
Playing over there, over here, showing oof their rooms, sharing candy. It was just magic.