Singing Pia's Praises

I have never felt so proud of Pia's hard work as I have today. Despite the many challenges that she faces everyday, and of course, having to deal with me day in and day out, she has, yet again, leaped past our expectations.

Today was the parent teacher conference before Spring Break, and I went in, as I usually do, a little apprehensive about what would be waiting for me. Her Deaf Ed teacher, one of her primary interpreters, and her mainstream teacher were in attendance and looked very excited to speak to me. Over the years, they've always told me how well she is doing, and how much she has improved since the beginning of the school year, and for the most part, never compared her to the other kids in her classes. While it was true, she did improve and she had many moments of clarity, she was still so very far behind her peers, I wondered when...when would she catch up, when would she "get" it, when would she decide it was too hard and give up? That's why I always push her, I never want her to give up. I always want her to try, to practice, to do it again, and again...

Now, I know Pia is a smart little girl. She is most definitely not like most children her age. I'm not just biased, either. I am always looking at the other children in her age group, deaf and hearing, reading as many articles that I can find, and joined online parent groups (mostly as a lurker) to see where she was compared to these other kids. I understand all children are different, especially, special needs children, and that you should never compare them, but it does help me see her progression.

She and I both work hard at completing her homework, especially reading. This semester, I think, that reading has finally "clicked" for her. I noticed she spent more time doing it independently. She would take books everywhere, in the car, to the store, to the bathroom. Her new favortie books were comics of "Calvin & Hobbes".

Pia went from identifying about 90 words when this school year started, to actually reading at second grade, four months! Her Deaf Ed teacher said that she was losing interest in the books that she had to read with the deaf children in her age group, and that they would like to move her with the older deaf children who were reading at a slightly higher level because it would challenge her. (Try it out, see how she adapts, you know, make sure she can hang...of course she can!) Her mainstream class is at second grade, eight months; she is only a few months behind them!

I was shocked! I knew she was improving, of course, I work with her everyday, but this? I never dreamed it could happen so fast. I prayed that she would catch up eventually, and I worried that it would just get harder next year in the third grade, and that she could fall further behind because the vocabulary would also get harder, but she did it!!

It used to hurt my heart so much, to think, to imagine that she would be behind, that she wouldn't "get" things the other kids were saying, that her speech would not improve and that she would be ignored because she could not be understood. Now, I know that that is not the case. Yes, it is still difficult to speak, but she is doing it, and now, finally starting to grasp doublemeanings and jokes; things most children her age have been doing for years!

There was so much they told me that this post could get really long, but I just wanted to share this with you...this truly amazing child of mine, is catching up to her hearing peers. She really has made me proud, she did this and she knows now, too, that she should be proud of herself most of all.