Deja Vu

Déjà vu -is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined.(wikipedia)
I titled this post Deja Vu because at this time last year we were facing the same questions and challenges. What program will Amelia need to be in next year, how will we pay for it, how will I balance everyone and everything, etc. Amelia will continue to need lots of school, therapy, help....whatever you want to call it. We were told that the first years are critical if our dream is to have her "mainstreamed" and attending school with her brother and sister in the future. It has been not only important to keep her in hearing aids but to get her language and speech at the speech school. After two recent hearing booth tests, Amelia has lost a little more of her hearing. They turned up her aids. We know that she could eventually lose it all because the cause of her hearing loss is genetic and therefore can be progressive. This is also why we have sacrificed and focused on getting Amelia all the help she can get in these beginning years because her hearing is unstable.
Speaking of dreams....Kelly Jenkins, a mother of a little girl in Amelia's speech class, is spear-heading a new program. Let Georgia hear. The website will be up soon and you can join on facebook the group now. Here is what the group is about: "Let Georgia Hear is a parent-led initiative working to get insurance companies in Georgia to cover children's hearing aids. Many Georgia parents are unable to provide hearing aids to their children in order to treat hearing loss. Hearing aids can cost as much as $6,000 per pair and must be replaced every 3-5 years. This is the equivalent of roug...hly $42,000 per child who requires hearing aids before they reach the age of 21 – a hardship for any Georgia family regardless of household income. Currently, 18 other states have passed legislation requiring insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children. We want Georgia to be the next state to take this important step." Kelly and some other speech school moms met with Representative Edward Lindsey and he has agreed to jump on board and start the bill process. I know that all our friends and family will stand behind us and support us as they always do. HEARING IS A RIGHT. Most people have been asked in their lifetime would you rather be blind or deaf. I think the question should become why do these kids have to stay deaf when we have the technology for them to hear? I love the quote that Comer Yates, head of speech school, told us.
ABE LINCOLN: "This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men -- to lift artificial weights from all shoulders -- to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all -- to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life."
--July 4, 1861 Message to Congress-Lincoln

Here's too a better Deja vu experience this year!!
Scarlett Giles