Alana's story
"We arrived in Alderton in 2012 and within a couple of months our first child made a rather speedy arrival into the world. Alana was perfect and beautiful and captivated our hearts, but at 6 weeks old we were shocked and devastated to find that she was deaf. I lay awake and wondered if she would ever hear me tell her I loved her? What would it be like never to hear music? Where would she go to school?
Alana was fitted with hearing aids at 3 months old and her face was a picture of delight – she was definitely hearing something! Then followed the game of pulling them out and seeing if she could get them in her mouth before Mummy came running. They were perfect for teething on you see! Unfortunately they are choking hazards and the button batteries are poisonous so I hardly left Alana’s side. For a time, her car seat went in the front rear facing and I dashed to and from the toilet at full speed! Some days after putting them back in 100 times I gave up and felt guilty that I was depriving her of sound. How would she learn to talk?
We discovered AVUK in 2014 when I repeatedly came across mentions of Auditory Verbal therapy on international Facebook groups for parents of deaf children. They claimed to work with 0 – 4 year old deaf children to help them develop their listening and spoken language skills so that they could start school with the same communication skills as their typically hearing peers. We decided to travel over to the Bicester centre for a trial session to see if there was anything they could do to help Alana. In the first trial session I watched in amazement as she began attempting to say “up up up” and “down” and we committed to the therapy in a heartbeat. During the following 6 months we drove to Bicester fortnightly often to the screams of Alana in the back seat who always hated being in the car back then. It was worth it! Not only did Susie our therapist work with Alana in that hour a fortnight but she taught us how to do the therapy with her at every opportunity each day at home in our everyday lives. We took videos of the sessions home and goals to work on in the ensuing fortnight. It was hard work and at times extremely frustrating for Alana but her language just exploded. At the time I was taking a sign language course but her speech was improving faster than my sign language! In 6 months her language rocketed by 17 months. By the time she was assessed a year later her language was in the 95 percentile compared, not to deaf peers, but to other hearing children. It was quite incredible to watch and although not everyone at AVUK does quite as exceptionally as Alana, 80% of children on their program are able to start at mainstream school with speech and language levels on a par with their peers. When I wish my daughter would please just be quiet for a minute and stop talking, it makes me smile inside :) My girl is profoundly deaf!
Many other things have contributed to Alana’s oral success from well fitted and programmed hearing aids early on, to the miracle of cochlear implant technology as her hearing declined further, but if I were facing this again with another child my first call would be to AVUK – their support and belief in deaf children fulfilling their true potential and having the same opportunities as any other child is above and beyond anything I have experienced, and most importantly the therapy techniques work! Other countries offer this as standard to deaf children and my hope it that one day every child diagnosed as deaf in this country can be offered Auditory Verbal therapy free and locally. I believe then the statistics on deaf children’s underachievement at school, lower employment prospects and higher risks of bullying and social exclusion would make happier reading.
As for Alana, she is now 5 years old. She is currently snuggled up in bed reading a book. After that she’ll take off her special ears, put the batteries to charge and sleep through her little brother yelling in the night! She is having her second cochlear implant operation in February – but I have no doubt that within a few weeks she will be back at school and gradually learning to listen with her new “ear”, talking to her friends and listening to her Frozen CD! Yes - she goes to our local school with no 1 to 1 support, she listens to music and she hears me tell her I love her every day. She has challenges to face but the world is her oyster and I can’t wait to watch her live her life. As AVUK say, her future is bright."
Amanda, Will, Alana and Mark Burton
Alderton, Dec 2017
TO HELP US IN OUR FUNDRAISING FOR AVUK PLEASE COME ALONG TO SUPPORT THE ALDERTON CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH ON SAT 3OTH DECEMBER AT 11AM, ALDERTON PLAYING FIELD
MORE INFO HERE:
http://www.aldertonvillage.co.uk/charity-football-2017.html
Alana was fitted with hearing aids at 3 months old and her face was a picture of delight – she was definitely hearing something! Then followed the game of pulling them out and seeing if she could get them in her mouth before Mummy came running. They were perfect for teething on you see! Unfortunately they are choking hazards and the button batteries are poisonous so I hardly left Alana’s side. For a time, her car seat went in the front rear facing and I dashed to and from the toilet at full speed! Some days after putting them back in 100 times I gave up and felt guilty that I was depriving her of sound. How would she learn to talk?
We discovered AVUK in 2014 when I repeatedly came across mentions of Auditory Verbal therapy on international Facebook groups for parents of deaf children. They claimed to work with 0 – 4 year old deaf children to help them develop their listening and spoken language skills so that they could start school with the same communication skills as their typically hearing peers. We decided to travel over to the Bicester centre for a trial session to see if there was anything they could do to help Alana. In the first trial session I watched in amazement as she began attempting to say “up up up” and “down” and we committed to the therapy in a heartbeat. During the following 6 months we drove to Bicester fortnightly often to the screams of Alana in the back seat who always hated being in the car back then. It was worth it! Not only did Susie our therapist work with Alana in that hour a fortnight but she taught us how to do the therapy with her at every opportunity each day at home in our everyday lives. We took videos of the sessions home and goals to work on in the ensuing fortnight. It was hard work and at times extremely frustrating for Alana but her language just exploded. At the time I was taking a sign language course but her speech was improving faster than my sign language! In 6 months her language rocketed by 17 months. By the time she was assessed a year later her language was in the 95 percentile compared, not to deaf peers, but to other hearing children. It was quite incredible to watch and although not everyone at AVUK does quite as exceptionally as Alana, 80% of children on their program are able to start at mainstream school with speech and language levels on a par with their peers. When I wish my daughter would please just be quiet for a minute and stop talking, it makes me smile inside :) My girl is profoundly deaf!
Many other things have contributed to Alana’s oral success from well fitted and programmed hearing aids early on, to the miracle of cochlear implant technology as her hearing declined further, but if I were facing this again with another child my first call would be to AVUK – their support and belief in deaf children fulfilling their true potential and having the same opportunities as any other child is above and beyond anything I have experienced, and most importantly the therapy techniques work! Other countries offer this as standard to deaf children and my hope it that one day every child diagnosed as deaf in this country can be offered Auditory Verbal therapy free and locally. I believe then the statistics on deaf children’s underachievement at school, lower employment prospects and higher risks of bullying and social exclusion would make happier reading.
As for Alana, she is now 5 years old. She is currently snuggled up in bed reading a book. After that she’ll take off her special ears, put the batteries to charge and sleep through her little brother yelling in the night! She is having her second cochlear implant operation in February – but I have no doubt that within a few weeks she will be back at school and gradually learning to listen with her new “ear”, talking to her friends and listening to her Frozen CD! Yes - she goes to our local school with no 1 to 1 support, she listens to music and she hears me tell her I love her every day. She has challenges to face but the world is her oyster and I can’t wait to watch her live her life. As AVUK say, her future is bright."
Amanda, Will, Alana and Mark Burton
Alderton, Dec 2017
TO HELP US IN OUR FUNDRAISING FOR AVUK PLEASE COME ALONG TO SUPPORT THE ALDERTON CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH ON SAT 3OTH DECEMBER AT 11AM, ALDERTON PLAYING FIELD
MORE INFO HERE:
http://www.aldertonvillage.co.uk/charity-football-2017.html
