Thursday, May 7, 2009

First Day at Speech Therapy

Yesterday was Harper's first day of speech therapy at Children's Hospital. They have a special clinic called the HEAR Center specifically for children with hearing loss. After we found out that Harper had hearing loss, we decided to proceed with a plan called Auditory-Verbal Therapy (AVT). This will allow Harper to be mainstreamed in school and live the most "normal" life possible. This approach teaches the child to learn to listen rather than lipread or use sign language. It seems that AVT is pretty rigid. We have to cover our mouth while talking to Harper because she is already such a great lipreader. This week we are working on Ahhhhhhh (airplane), Bu bu bu (bus), *raspberry sound* beep beep (car), and choo choo (train). We are also working on her understanding taking turns making the sounds.
The therapist said that they compare her to a two month old baby's development since she has only been aided for two months. We are so impressed by her progress so far!

2 comments:

  1. Harper is soooo lucky to have you and Luke as parents! She is one blessed little girl!

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  2. As shocking as it may have been to find out about Harper's struggle, I have no doubt that you and Luke will be phenomenal parents who provide her with more love and more support than she could ever need!

    Praying for ya'll as you walk this road!

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