When will she just grow up?! Putting emotional development in perspective

Parents often feel frustrated and even exasperated when their child with hearing loss behaves in an immature or inappropriate way. Most children easily figure out how to press their parents’ buttons and can just set us off sometimes. Parents have called me at such a point of stress that they are frantic, even hysterical about [...]

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Volunteering: A Win for Everyone

Gabriel’s teacher called his parents in for a meeting. Mr. Michaels was concerned that Gabriel was starting to view himself as a victim. He explained to Gabriel’s parents that recently, when challenges came up in class, Gabriel would sigh and mutter that “its too hard for a kid with hearing loss anyway, what is the [...]

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Celebrate the Successes!

As the school year comes to an end, I find myself filled with emotion: stress about the last book report when the book is lost, anxiety about the letter from the library about HOW MANY books are lost, relief that the children (and their parents) got through it, excitement about the beach and summer vacations, [...]

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Siblings: Our most enduring relationships!

I made a mistake*. In a previous post, I discussed siblings in the way that everyone always does: how to minimize feelings of jealousy and rivalry between brothers and sisters. But I was wrong in only focusing on that negative aspect of sibling relationships. Perhaps I am influenced by TV and other media where fighting [...]

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Encouraging Friendships for Kids with Hearing Loss

Some kids seem to make friends with ease. They always seem to have someone to play with, and they have no trouble navigating the social world of their classroom or neighborhood. Other kids need more support and may need parents to play a more active role in their effort to make friends. All of the [...]

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High Expectations and Realistic Situations: A New Motto

There is a very tender, delicate balancing act that parents of children with hearing loss find themselves in. It is really a fundamental issue that lies beneath the surface of so many of the other issues that come up parenting children with hearing loss – so lets address it head on: On the one hand [...]

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How am I supposed to know what is “normal” and when my child needs help?

The parents of a 11-year old boy realized that their son was having so much trouble with the other children at school. He was getting help from an itinerant teacher three times a week. She was making a big difference in his academic life, his grades were good and he was following what was going [...]

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“ I love you so much but you need to pick up your dirty clothes off the floor:” A challenge for 2011

This sentence is probably the parenting message that goes through my mind the most often! I am not sure why my children do not ever seem to pick up their dirty clothes without me nagging and I am not sure why it drives me so absolutely crazy. But they don’t and it does. While preparing [...]

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Imagine Speaking Greek: Why I Don’t Think Sign Language Helps Most Children with Hearing Loss

Imagine: you and your spouse have given birth to the most beautiful baby girl. She is perfect, with 10 tiny fingers and 10 tiny toes and a little dimple on her chin – just like her dad. Everything went smoothly and as you prepare to leave the hospital and take your baby home, there is [...]

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Understanding Your Teenager

Teri and Bob had been very involved in their daughter’s education and her life from the start. When they found out that their beautiful baby girl Emily (she is their second child) was deaf, it shook up their whole world. Teri took a leave of absence from her job in order to give Emily all [...]

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