Being an attentive mom has involved sacrifices. Instead of playing on the computer, I need to fix my kids breakfast and spend time with them at the table. Instead of traveling this way and that to promote my book, I need to be present at the kids’ parent-teacher conferences, fun fairs, and homeroom parties. To … Continue reading
Filed under My Life with Exceptional Kids …
Is It Safe to Lip Read Your Kids While Driving?
I have a horrible confession to make. While speeding down the highway at lightning speed, I converse with my three kiddos…by watching their lips through the rearview mirror. My oldest son sits up front and has a deep tone to his voice that is easy for my ears … Continue reading
Help! I’ve Got Swimmer’s Ear and Can’t Hear Well
Yesterday, after months of teaching my young daughter how to “doggy paddle,” she finally swam the pool’s deep end. Alone. Not long after this momentous occasion, one of my other children (who will remain nameless) splashed water into my right ear. Hours later, that ear still hurts. Hearing aids are useless when I have swimmer’s … Continue reading
Help! I’m Babysitting and Can’t Hear the Kids
One of my Facebook followers asked: “I have hearing loss and sometimes watch other people’s children. What tips do you have for understanding their voices?” My suggestion: When I have young children over for a playdate, I sometimes show them my hearing aids and point out that my ears are “broken.” I also show them … Continue reading
What Advice Would You Give to Your High School Self?
“Carpe diem! Take your dreams and run with them.” -my words from 1992 The Latin phrase carpe diem (“seize the day”) is advice more than one high school graduate has heard. As a teen accepting my diploma 20 years ago, seizing the day meant moving off my parents’ 80-acre farm and heading for the California … Continue reading
How Does a Mom’s Hearing Loss Impact Her Children? – By Denise Portis
Lipreading Mom’s Note: When I think of an inspiring role model for all of us lipreading moms and dads, I think of Denise Portis. This mom of two not only thrives with a profound hearing loss, but she lives with the balance-affective condition Meniere’s Disease. The first thing I noticed about Denise was her sense … Continue reading
Can You Lip Read the Lorax?
I have often wondered how generations before closed captioning survived animated movies. My memory goes back to the first cartoon I ever saw in a theater. Actually, “Pete’s Dragon” was part animated, part live action. There I was at the age of three with my daddy and big sister, watching a smiling green dragon breathe … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom is No Match for the Little Debater
“Mom, why do I have to take a bath?” My four-year-old son asked this question for the fourth time. It had become a nightly ritual of explaining how the shampoo made his hair clean and how the bubble bath kept his body from being dirty. “You don’t want to go to preschool smelling stinky, do … Continue reading
Can a Baby Learn Sign Language?
When my daughter was eight months old, we took a baby sign language class. Most of the kids there were several months older, but I was insistent that my pint-size girl learn the language early. There’s nothing quite like being a mom who can’t hear her own child clearly. When she cooed and babbled, I … Continue reading
It Was One of Those Days
(Lipreading Mom’s Note: I wrote this story when my oldest son was 4 and my daughter was a baby. Neither one of them is in diapers anymore. My, how time flies…) Maybe it was the sun shining just a little too brightly in my eyes while I tried to sleep in. Or perhaps … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom 