You are their first teacher!

Your child is part of the family

Just like other children, your child needs to feel the joy and safety to be part of your family. That is why you have to involve your child in all family activities. Make effort to always put your child close to any activity that is happening, so that your child can see and try to hear it.

It is very important that you never compare your child with other normal children. On the other hand, you have to try to understand and find small unique aspects of your child.

Please spend time with your child, to speak to your child in a calm surrounding. As you already know, a hearing aid's function is to amplify all sounds, and the most important sound that your child should hear is human voices, their own voice as well as other people's voices.

Make it a habit to always call your child's name to catch his attention. This will make your child understand that there is a connection between your presence and your efforts to catch their attention. It also makes the child understand that every person and also every object - as well as activity- have their own names.

Other sounds besides human voices, should also be recognized. This is very important so that the child is always aware about happenings around him, as well as to hear a warning for danger situations. Flutes, sirens, and the ringing of the phone are some of the noises that the child has to learn to recognize. If your child hears a sound, you have to take the child to the source, and explain. This will make the child understand and it will give meaning to all kinds of sounds around him.

Children's games and songs will enrich the child's hearing experience. Even when the child does not understand the meaning of the words, they will be attracted to the voice and they will try to imitate it. Language will be understood and remembered longer if it is obtained through experiences. Games, that are important in the child's life, is one of the most important tools to learn language.

Every day activities also can be an effective learning process, because these activities are usually always repeated. Among others, to make up the bed, have lunch, brush teeth, and so on. Always accompany these activities with your spoken words, so that the child will understand the connection between words and any of the activities. Automatically the child will learn speech and language.

Learning outside the house, like walking in the park or play at a playground, can become a good opportunity to prevent the child from being bored with lessons. Beside this, you should also introduce the child to rules and customs in the community. Rules in games, exercise, traffic etc, will give the child a broadening of understanding and teach the child to socialize according to their development.

Advise in rearing your hearing impaired child:

1. Be patient
   A hearing impaired child needs more time and training to understand language through listening and lip-reading
2. Keep on trying
   You should always repeat and point out to your child about whatever you are talking about
3. Praise
   Your child needs a lot of support and enthusiasm in the learning process, so, always smile at the child
4. Positive thinking
   You have to have confidence that your child can learn to communicate
5. Acceptance
   Later, as the child grows older, you have to accept whatever your child communication method is preferred, or most appropriate according to the experts for the child, either the oral / audio-verbal communication, the sign language, or the total communication method. Remember, every child is unique, and the most important is that the child is happy, can communicate with whatever method, can learn, and is loved by you and the family