"She hurt my ear!"

"She hurt my ear." That was the reason that Chance gave me when I asked him why he did not want to go to his reading class today. Chance attends a one on one reading class each day to help him catch up with reading. He leaves his kindergarten class about 30 minutes early and heads to his reading class.

I volunteer in Chance's class each Wednesday morning and when I said goodbye to Chance today, he did not want to let me go. Chance has never clung to me like that when I was leaving before, so I tried to figure out what was going on. I asked Chance if he liked his class and he said "yes". I asked him if he wanted to go to his afternoon class and he said "yes". I checked him for a fever, and found nothing amiss. I asked him if he felt sick, and Chance said "no". Then he asked me if he was going to his reading class today. I told him that he was. Chance got tears in his eyes and said , "No, I don't want to!" I asked Chance why he did not want to go to his reading class. He just buried his head in my shoulder. So I started asking Chance questions about reading class. "Is your reading teacher nice?" I asked. "Yes." Chance said. Then I said "Don't you want to learn to read like your brother?" "I just don't want to go to reading today!" Then he got tears in his eyes and said, "She hurt my ear." A rather odd comment, so I thought I should investigate this with Chance further. I asked Chance what happened when his teacher hurt his ear. Then Chance told me "She is so loud! It hurts my ear!" And then he put his hand over his implant.

Well, this was an unexpected dilemma. Who would have thought that my little deaf son would be telling me that his teacher was too loud? I explained to Chance that this situation could be fixed. All we had to do, was tell his teacher that she was talking too loud and could she please be more quiet. I could see that Chance was not real willing to have this conversation with his teacher on his own. We do need to work on helping Chance have confidence to advocate for himself and speak up and tell people what his needs are. For today, I walked Chance to his reading class and told his teacher what Chance had told me. Chance glanced at his teacher and then looked shyly at the floor as I spoke. His teacher was very understanding and said that she was used to talking to kids with hearing aids that needed her to talk a little louder. Apparently, Chance does not need louder any more:)

It was a problem that I enjoyed solving. Chance's teacher was talking too loud. Who would have guessed we'd get to this point?

Thanks to my wonderful, generous, giving neighbors(I can not express throughly enough how these caring women make it possible for me to do what I need to with Chance), I was able to stay through Chance's reading class too. I must say that I was quiet impressed. I had attended Chance's reading class once before and today, I was quite impressed with Chance's progress. He is really coming along with his reading and the expression on his face when he could read some of those words was priceless. I am so grateful for Chance's teachers who truly care for my son and help him learn. Years from now, these women(they have all been women), will still hold a soft spot in my heart as I recall the care they gave my son at a time when he needed their expertise and caring.