Part 1
How does hearing loss change the lives of the members of the Holland family?
A disabled child born in any family can change how that family functions. Mr. Holland’s Opus movie proves this statement when the family gets a kid suffering from a hearing impairment. The kid’s weakness initially becomes apparent to his parents when he does not show a reaction to the noise of a fire truck. In addition, he makes sounds and grunts to talk with his parents as an alternative of speaking. To achieve his parents’ responsiveness he throws the fits so that they can understand what he actually wants.
Many changes take place in the family after they realize that their child is suffering from hearing impairment. The companionship that existed between Holland and his spouse begins to fade, as Holland tends to neglect their child disability instead of assisting his partner to provide for the needs of this incapacitated child. Moreover, there are general frustration feelings that arise in the family because of this. The involvement of parents essentially accounts for approximately 10 to 20% of variance in the success of a kid in school (Grant and Ray 2007). Moreover, the parental anticipations of success of their children achievement in school are likewise related to the education achievement of a child.
Though it is uncertain why parents mainly the father does not actively engage in the school life of his child, an explanation for this is provided by Ray and Grant. According to them, the main reason why a parent might not assist their off springs is due to the absence of confidence in his ability to create a positive impact or difference in the life of a kid.
In fact, the functioning and structure of the family is adjusted as revealed by the above discussion. It is thus crucial that family members re-organize their lives to accept and accommodate the new family member suffering from hearing impairment (Grant and Ray 2007)
Part 2
Letter on the Parent’s Perspective
Dear Families,
As parents having babies with hearing loss, you need to understand that you can bond in many diverse ways through smell, touch, sound, and sight. Thus, it is important that you to understand that you can be able to communicate with your children hence there is no any need of being shocked and stressed. A number of communication models that can help you bond with your hearing-impaired children exist (Pattan.net, 2008). Total communication (TC) is among these effective models. Total communication means that you learn sigh. It can be very frustrating to both study and teach a language at a similar time and on top of this realize that your hearing-impaired child is not in a position to get all verbal input you give them. Under this model, you will learn Cued Speech and the better sources for learning this is through researching. I hope that with this model you will have a better chance of teaching your deaf children your language within a short period. I personally believe in this perspective since it has proved successful in some families and it is my dream that Cued Speech will be a road that will make the difference. The fears and uncertainties related with this viewpoint is that some parents might see this as a very hard task, but I assure you that after you have started researching CS, you will easily learn it and eventually start cueing hence this will be important in giving language to your children.
I wish you all the best in your efforts to bond with your children.
References
Getting Started: Resources for Parents and Families of Infants and Young Children with Hearing Loss - PaTTAN Publications - PaTTAN. (2008). Retrieved October 23, 2013, from http://www.pattan.net/category/Resources/PaTTAN%20Publications/Browse/Single/
Grant, Kathy B, and Julie Ray. Home, School, and Community Collaboration: Culturally Responsive Family Involvement. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2010. Print.
Spinelli, C. (2007). Year 2007 position statement: Principles and guidelines for early hearing detection and intervention programs. American Academy of Pediatrics, 120(4) , 898-921.
