Unfortunately, I could not watch the video, for some reason, my computer will not open it.
But, Tariq, I 100% agree with your quote
"I liked how the program showed how much people benefit from speech therapy. I don't believe we have enough stress on how important speech therapy is in the Deaf community, so I'm really glad to see how he showed how much his life improved from speech therapy, as well as his dedication"
In fact, at my daughters schoold (C.I.D), I am one of the parents that are really involved in everything. I attend regular meetings with other parents, deaf counslers, admin, and guest speakers. Near the end of the school year, last year, we (the regulars at these meetings) were asked what areas we would like to see more education/lectures/workshops etc. on. The first thing out of my mouth was more info relative to speech therapy. While this is an important issue for any person undergoing speech therapy, I (for obvious reasons) had a particular emphasis on the incredible amount of speech therapy after a child is implanted. Throughout the entire process of evaluation for my daughter, and talking to doctors, audis, and anyother professional, no one ever made a single mention of the incredible amount of speech. I was however aware of the importance, and time investment of the amount of therapy because I did my research about every aspect of CI involving my daughter.
This problem really became obvious for me when in one of these meetings, I met a mother of a deaf girl about 2 years old. SHe learned that Lilly had just undergone surgewry and activation. She obviously was interested this. The first question out of her mouth was "Did they have to cut much of her hair?" the second question was " SO can she anderstand you and talk now?"
I was absolutely shocked to learn that she had decided to have her daughter implanted! This showed me that she made this decision without doing any research at all. She just decided to do this because people said she should.
My first comment to her was along the lines of "Why does the hair matter? It will grow back" Then "Were you born knowing english and speaking to your parents?"
I see this lady occasionally, and her daughter. She will not say a word to me even though I say Hi to her everytime I see her. I guess I insulted her. Well, her lack of research and preparation has shown over the last year. Her daughter has a CI and while she is making progress, it is quite obvious that she is not gettin the speech time at home.
The benifits of speech therapy is obvious, the hard part is keepin git fun for a kid. My wife and I get VERY creative when doing speech.
In fact, as I am typing this, I am listening to my wife and Lilly ding the "this littel piggy" game with Lillys toes. And Lilly is repeating it back almost perfectly! Sweet music.
If you havent noticed yet, some of my posts can get pretty lengthy
