Much has happened since the last time I posted.  I know it was only a few days ago and tomorrow will mark one week that I've been here, but there has been so much going on!  I am REALLY enjoying the family that I am staying with.  They are extremely welcoming and I'm starting to let my real personality (which mostly consists of sarcasm) surface.  

Wednesday- I spent the day at Fort Royal Special School with an educational audiologist named Leslie.  We spent the entire day conducting hearing/speech tests.  I was able to see an extreme range of students with special needs, from Downs and attention problems to confining wheelchairs and spastic muscle disorders.  I really enjoyed seeing all of the techniques that Leslie used to test the children.  Much like I did with Margaret, we had to turn the assessment into a game.  Leslie has this small wooden boat with 10 holes in it and when the child heard a noise they placed a little wooden man in it.  It was so cute! She also had peg boards, stuffed animals, and important equipment like sound level measurers, a machine that ran tests on hearing aids, etc

Thursday- Caught the train to Malvern Link and met up with a teacher of the deaf named Jane.  We saw these adorable deaf twin girls who are in year 2 and have cochlear implants.  They requested that I bring pictures of my house and family to the next session.  I met some other children too, but all of the kids and days start to blur together because I am not with just one teacher.  Had dinner at Sarah's last night with her two sons and Kylie as well.  Good times because Sarah's sons are hilarious and love having two older girls as their audience.  After Sarah's, Claire picked me up and we went to her friend's house for tea, etc.  I entertained Meg and her friend Hannah. Good times.

Friday-Took the train to Kidderminster and met Geoff, another teacher of the deaf.  He then dropped me off with another ToD named Pat and we went to see two students.  I am pretty sure the one girl on Pat's caseload is the worst case I've ever seen.  She is an 8 year old Bangladeshi student that has the vocabulary (some spoken, mostly BSL) of a two year old.  She was implanted at the age of 2 per her parent's request and her relatives didn't even know she had had the surgery until 2 years after!  Like many parents with deaf children, they must have thought the cochlear would "fix" their child.  She has never learned to properly use it (and by that I mean wear it long enough and learn sound discrimination).  Her mother takes her receiver off when she gets home from school, on the weekends, and during holiday.  This child is so far behind and from what I hear its a boarder-line case of neglect because social services have been involved and the mother refuses to pick up the phone or answer the door when they visit or call.  The hearing team has made a request that the child go to the Birmingham School for the Deaf but the parents refuse to send her.  The team is trying to make it mandatory that the student attends and is providing transportation as well.  The child also has poor hygiene and a consistent case of lice, which I witnessed first hand today because she would not stop scratching her head.  It was really quite sad.  I seriously hope she gets a chance to go to a deaf school so that she can communicate with children her own age and acquire a strong and appropriate language base.

So I know many of you might not find this interesting, but to those involved in the field, I want to know what you think about the following.  Almost every child that the hearing team has (maybe 70+ students?) has at least one cochlear implant.  All of the students were candidates, meaning their loss was profound.  For the most part, the language of these students is age appropriate and about every implant is being used appropriately (minus one or two cases).  The success rate has been phenomenal. The hearing team finds it strange that I have not come in contact with many deaf students in the US who have implants.  I can't give a definitive answer.  Is it because most of them are in deaf schools?  Are implants not pushed as much by doctors?  Was their just a lack of children in western PA with cochlears? Is it because the health system in the UK pays for everything?  They were surprised here because they thought that in the US MANY deaf students had CI's and felt as if their country was actually behind.  I just find all of this incredibly interesting because the equipment and approach used towards deaf students with CI's is much different than what I am used to.  AND I've now been exposed to BSL and I have to say its quite different.  It honestly is so weird.  It seems like it just doesn't make as much sense as ASL.  Yes, thats me being biased, but seriously!  The two-handed alphabet is so confusing and the signs in general just don't seem practical.  I don't know if it is because I actually "see" the sign I am doing when using ASL and most of the signs actually look like the word you are trying to sign.  Catch my drift?  Probably not if you don't know ASL.  I have picked up some basic signs but I just wish it was ASL. (Again, I am favoring America. Oh well.)

I love the fact that I am able to experience another side of Deaf culture.  I learn something new everyday and I think it is giving me incredible exposure to deafness in general.

ANYWAY.  Going out to dinner with Kylie tonight to one of the one jillion Indian restaurants in town.  Tomorrow Claire is taking us to Stratford (home of Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare) and also to Warwick Castle. So excited!  Then at night we are going to Keystones Pub to see a band that Dave knows. 

Well, leave comments if you wish. Bye!