My mentor, Debbie, and I talked a lot about going on a home visit and I was able to go on one on Friday. I even ate my lunch in the car to go, haha. Anyways, I wasn't really expecting for anything crazy or over the top awesome home visit, because I have never been to one, but it was nice.
When we got there, they were really nice. The daughter, who had cochlear implants, was super sweet. Debbie told me their story in the car on the drive there and back, too. She said Diana, the 2 & a half year old girl, went into surgery when she was around 6 months old. Cochlear ear implants are basically extremely powerful hearing aids that destroys whatever is left of the person's hearing. It then uses a computerized device that sits on the outside of the person's ears with magnetic things that are placed onto the hard part that is about an inch or two behind the person's ear.
I learned from watching Switched at Birth that although these are ideal and usually work extremely well, there are extreme risks and emotional things to go through. Daphne, the girl who is deaf on Switched at Birth, decided to not get cochlear implants. The reasoning behind this is because it would place her out of the deaf community and into the hearing world. Yes, although this would make her life easier, it would definitely be different.
Anyways, back to the home visit. I really enjoyed it. It gave me a perspective on a potential career in helping the deaf. Debbie was continuing this profiling on which they keep track of Diana's progression in different caterogies such as being able to talk, comparing things, signing and/or talking, drawing, motor skills, etc. I think it is important to do this things because for a deaf child, it is different than raising one of hearing. In comparison to my little sister who is just 2 months older than Diana, she does a lot more. That's because with hearing, the child takes in whatever the people around them are saying or what they hear on tv, much more than a deaf child does.
Which brings me back to those lectures that my S.E.E. signing teacher gave about the hardships of being a deaf child or a deaf child's parent with or without previous knowledge of the deaf culture.
During the home visit, at first Debbie would play with Diana and show signs of animals. She was trying to see if Diana would remember which animal she hid or took away from the board, but Diana usually never guessed. It was so cute though because when it came to her own playtime, she made the animal noises of the animals she was matching with the pictures.
I hope to go more frequent or work with some kids or be able to sign with a deaf child fully or completely because I think that would make my project even more, I guess, seem worthwhile.
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