Happy World Hearing Day! In honor of this day, I thought it would be interesting to list everyone who is on our daughter’s support team. We’re based in Norway, where the support structure probably looks different from yours. As an American, I would love to hear what your support team looks like! After reading mine, feel free to leave a comment.

Our daughter, Esther, just turned 3 years old this month. She’s an amazing child, and has really adapted to her cochlear implants. At first, she took them off quite a bit. But now, she’s wearing them an average of 12 hours a day. Because we’re an international family, she’s learning how to speak both Norwegian and American English, as well as their sign language counterparts! Her sign language is mostly in Norwegian (norsk tegnspråk), with some ASL interspersed.

About every six months, we have a meeting with most of those in our support team. These are individuals and organizations who either have a direct impact on Esther’s development as a child with profound hearing loss with cochlear implants, or who provide the resources we need.

1. The Parents

I think we can all agree that we as the parents have the most influence on our children’s development. In our case, we are both hearing parents. Se we are learning the sign languages along with Esther (although maybe at a faster pace). We’re not at the point yet where we are using signs all the time, but we do try to support what we’re saying verbally with signs.

We believe sign language is very important for Esther, even though she has the cochlear implants. There are times when she does not have them on, or we are in a noisy environment where it might be difficult for Esther to hear us. It’s in these situations that we use sign language most.

Apart from sign language, we’re also helping Esther to develop her speech. I’m happy to say that in the past year, her speech development has skyrocketed! She loves to talk (prefers it, actually)! She can now tell a full story, whereas a year ago it was up to about 5 words at a time. She can also differentiate between her two mother tongues, switching from Norwegian with her mamma and brother to English with me. Many times, she’ll repeat the same things in both languages.

2. The Special Educator

So I’m not sure what title to give this person that would match what she might get in the States. Maybe you can help me? However, this person has been instrumental to Esther’s development! She meets with Esther on a weekly basis both at home and in Preschool to help her learn signs and pronounce words correctly. She uses a variety of resources, and has even made flashcards in both ASL and norsk tegnspråk.

What used to be three times a week has unfortunately been reduced to once a week thanks to COVID. But what she manages to pack in to their times together is phenomenal.

3. 1-on-1 preschool teacher

Esther also has an adult who follows her in preschool, making sure she’s receiving the right communication, is included in the activities, and that the overall environment is best for her. This teacher is learning tegnspråk, so she’s able to support what is being communicated with some signs.

What I also like about this individual is that she doesn’t hover over Esther. When she’s playing, this teacher gives her the space she needs so that she can interact with the other kids. Believe it or not, Esther is a model of communication for her classmates!

4. Preschool Staff

I gave the 1-on-1 her own section because she is so close to Esther. But really, all of her classroom teachers as well as the superintendent a very helpful. They are active in Esther’s development by attending the meetings, learning and using some signs, and making sure the preschool’s facilities are the best they can be for Esther’s needs.

5. Pediatrician

Esther’s pediatrician knows her situation and attends these bi-annual meetings. She’s been there to answer questions, and even offer some counseling for us as parents navigating this new journey.

6. Audiologist

The audiologist and audio engineer are both at the hospital in Oslo, which we literally have to use a plane, train, bus, and car to reach! So no, they aren’t in our meetings. But we do travel to meet with them for mapping the implant processors and assess Esther’s development. We are now only seeing them once per year, and I get the sense that it is more frequent for CI kids in the States. Is that true?

Local, regional, and national support

These are governmental offices that provide assistance in some form or another, and each of them have a representative at our team meetings.

7. Municipal Support

We receive assistance locally through an office in our municipality called PPT, which in English stands for Pedagogical Psychological Service. Our contact in this office is the one who receives our requests for help, and passes it on to the correct people or organization. She has contact with our special educator and the preschool.

8. State-level Support

We don’t exactly have states here in Norway, of course. They are more like counties. But for the sake of comparison to the United States, we’ll call it state-level support. This is through an office here in Norway called SAPT, which stands for Vision and Audio Education Service. They make sure we have the technology we need both at home and in preschool, and more.

9. National Support

Through a national organization in Norway called Statped (national special education service), we are offered tegnspråk training for both us as parents and the preschool staff, as well as general training in the development of deaf children, etc. We typically attend a week of sign language training every quarter. For our region, these courses are in our town (lucky us!) Some parents travel as much as a couple of hours by car to be with us. I do wish we had weekly or bi-weekly courses rather than these intensive week-long courses that are spread so far apart.

This organization has also regularly visited us at home or Esther in preschool to record our interaction on video. We then meet some week later to discuss her development as seen in these clips. This has actually been very helpful and encouraging! We’re able to see her growth over the last couple of years, see what things we’re doing right, and get advice on areas we could work on.

What does your child’s team look like?

Now that you’ve seen our team, I’d love to hear what your team looks like! Are there similar pieces to the puzzle, or do you have additional team members not listed here? Leave a comment below and let me know what is working well for you and your family!