Working with Chance to gain his confidence

Chance in Gymnastics Class

Chance is hearing more and more and his world is opening up. One thing we have begun to realize is, we need to now work on helping Chance build his confidence. Chance has always been a little go-getter. He has never let his hearing loss hold him back. I have always admired that about him.
However, I think that Chance has become accustomed to people not listening to him. That is heartbreaking to me. There is not a lot of awareness of what deaf children are capable of, and many people just don't understand what they can expect of a child with hearing aids.
We were asked several times, "Can Chance hear me?" Even from people that Chance has known since he first got hearing aids. People just are not aware of how capable these kids can be. And with his hearing aids, sometimes Chance did not hear people, but many people did not expect him to hear, and acted accordingly. Chance tended to talk quietly and I had watched several times as he tried to talk to people and they would not realize that he was talking to them and would not respond, or walk away. I don't think that many people expected him to talk to them honestly. We spent a lot of time explaining to people that Chance had the ability to talk and that was actually his prefered method of communication.
Now, we need to help Chance see that he will be heard and that he should continue to approach people. This week while Chance had a cousin visiting he said to me, "I want her to help me." I told him to go tell her that he wanted help. Chance was a little nervous about this, but I hope that we can help him see that what he has to say is important and that people will listen. As Chance's abilities grow, I think his confidence will follow.