I'm already thinking about what next year will look like in terms of my children's listening and language learning. Although we love, love, LOVE Ohio Valley Voices, I'm just not sure we can keep up with it financially. OVV has offered generous financial aid, but we still owe money for both kids' tuition. Even though we only owe a fraction of the total tuition, we really just don't have it. We can barely keep up with the car repairs now that my 10 year old car is traveling over 1,000 miles each week.
Sooo, we are considering putting both kids back in AVT and sending Lily to a mainstream preschool next year. This option makes me really nervous since the success of AVT depends on the family working on goals during the week. We did a great job at this when Lily was a baby because there was no one else who needed our attention. I'm not sure how well we could make it work now. We need to do at least 1 hour of focused therapy everyday with both kids. What will Alexander do while we're working with Lily and what will Lily do while we work with Alexander? Both of my kids want ALL the attention ALL the time! :)
Those of you with children in mainstream preschool: did you continue AVT? Have your children been successful in the mainstream?
We live in Australia, so things are a little different here. Matilda has had one hour of AVT per week since she was six months old, as well as a monthly playground. Everything else we do. This year she has fortnightly AVT and is doing 2 days per week at a mainstream preschool where they have never had a child with hearing loss. I also have 2 other kids, one with significant medical needs. We cope. Matilda is doing well. We don't have specialist schools for hearing impaired kids, so there aren't a great deal of other options. Honestly, I think Lily and Alexander will do fine. You are dedicated parents, and you'll source extra help if they need it.
ReplyDelete