Many school districts have been back in school for a week or more, but Fairfax County Schools began classes this week.  As everyone finds themselves slipping back into those school day routines, it a good time to take a look at what our own expectations are for our children.  Parents need to help their children build the skills they will need for life-long success.  It’s up to us to set the goals high.  As much as we want to, we can’t make everything easier for our kids.  We have to teach our kids to work hard, set high goals of their own, and we also have to teach them to cope with disappointments when they occur. 

As parents we can’t leave everything up to our kids though.  We need to be there to smooth the transitions and make sure everything is in place to kick-off a successful school year.  As a parent we need to take an active role in our children’s education.  We should meet their teachers and set up a method for an open and ongoing dialog.  We need to make sure all the technology our children need is working optimally.  Don’t leave anything to chance.  Make sure the school has tested any assistive devices you child will be using.  Has your child had a hearing test?  Have their hearing aids or cochlear implants been tested?  Have you communicated any changes or needs to the school audiologist?  Are there back up batteries available to your child during the school day? 

Parents also have to remember that their actions are the most important models in their children’s lives.  Look at your own reading habits.  Do you make reading a part of your day?  If you don’t, what message does that send to your child?  Whether your children are preschoolers or teens, they need to see that you take reading as seriously as you tell them to take it.  A recent report from the National Endowment for the Arts, shows that “Americans in almost every demographic group were reading fiction, poetry, and drama – and books in general – at significantly lower rates than 10 or 20 years earlier.”  What impact does this have?  The data from the study suggests that reading transforms the lives of individuals.  Reading correlates with financial and job success, it correlates in fact with almost every measurement of positive personal and social behavior.  Deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.  So, while the majority of Americans are taking less interest in reading, as the parents of  hearing impaired children, it is incumbent on us to strive to do better. 

As the parents of children with a hearing impairment, it’s going to take more work on our part to foster a positive attitude toward reading.  This of course, is where Cued Speech plays a very crucial role.  The Cued Speech system enables those who are deaf or hard of hearing to visually absorb language (English in our case).  This includes all the phonemic structure of the English language.  Cueing provides visual access to phonemic structure, which leads to phonemic awareness and phonemic decoding skills necessary to decode language and become proficient in reading.  Cueing provides those building blocks that give our hearing impaired children the vocabulary and language interaction they need to become proficient readers.  Remember to read to your children and remember to cue to them too; and not just during reading time, but all the time.  Remember to allow your children to see you reading for your own enjoyment.  You’ll both benefit.  Have a great school year!