Takîng Control..

Guess I'm not done with this blog after all..

Time flies, and Lotte is almost going to the next phase of the Norwegian Schooling system. after 7 years "Barneskole" (primary school) she will graduate to "ungdomsskole" (lower secondary school) where for the next three years she will work towards a more specific education.

The last couple of weeks there is activity getting to know the new school, teachers and new pupils. 

Lotte was placed in a class without one of her her best friends but after meeting her new classmates, of which some she never met, she was happy and positive about the new classmates.

Yesterday it was the parents that met, and Lottes mum (M) spend a little time explaining to other parents about Lotte's CI. Just a couple of minutes. Enough to inform, not too long to set too much focus on it. 

One of the parents spoke to M about how she met Lotte on a previous activity a couple of days ago and how Lotte had told her that she needed to speak slower because Lotte couldn't understand.

WOW... Great to hear that Lotte is taking care of herself. Making sure she understands what is being said. Making sure she is not missing some essential message.. And this towards a person she had never met... Proud parents here...

It's not often we get this kind of feedback. Obviously from teachers at school we hear how she's doing, but from other parents, unknown parents, this is rare.. Guess that's the "problem" with a child happy at school and with friends... She's fully accepted so nothing is special...

Anyway.... 

So, as said above, I'm far from done with this blog. Mew milestones are pushing buttons that require updating the blog as required I guess..

Sorry Lotte.. :-)

At first I though she could continue on this one, but I decided I want to keep the blog as it is, and Lotte can make her own. In fact, I wasn't ready for the total overhaul of my blog by my wonderful, determined daughter..

So, Please follow Lotte's blog here and share it.

This blog will be available as a resource for us, and anyone else that want to pick our brain. :-)

Passing it on...

First...

 I had two great experiences in Oslo. On Sunday Lotte and I had a meeting people that I connected to via the blog and then the day after a woman stopped Lotte (at the hospital/hotel) recognizing her from the blog when she looked for information about her grandson that was born deaf.

So rewarding to meet people that benefit from the blog... A great feeling.

That said, this is my last entry. Well, the last one solo..

Lotte and I decided that Lotte will continue the blog. I will pass it on tho her, and she will keep you informed about herself. But obviously there will be some supervision.. We will see how it goes.

It's a good time to do this as it also marks that she received her upgrade from the Freedom processor to the newest Nucleus 6 last Monday 13. April 2015. A nice, actually.. great, milestone in her life.

We had to wait quite a while for the upgrade. After 10 years with the Freedom we felt it was her turn, but since it's the Norwegian government that provides the CI, and there are fewer funds available, we needed to be patient. Patience is all OK, but we weren't quiet. We did send some letters requesting the upgrade with arguments why Lotte should be chosen. Reasons ranging from participating in sport to starting a new school with equipment that needs to be in place before she makes that step.

A month or so ago we got the email where we were told the good news. Now Lotte can get used to the new and better sound. Get used to the remote control and any other additional add-ones that are compatible with the N6. 

 

Now, a week later, all is going fine. No hiccups, no surprises... The main difference is now that Lotte is using different programs. The remote makes it so much easier that she is actually using them. Before, with the Freedom, she only used 1 program, one volume.. There was no reason for her to change, or at least it was not worth the trouble.

Or, perhaps she was too young to actually do such technical things. Not physically, but there is a maturity required to realise you can control the way you hear.

In any case, the Freedom has done an excellent job getting her where she is now, and the N6 will allow her to confidently make the next step to the next school and the next phase in her life.

I hope Lotte will start informing all the readers about her journey. And perhaps she will change the audience from parents to children. Or just get more children in here.

Time will tell.