Rui Yi was diagnosed with profound hearing loss when she was 9 months old. My husband & I were very upset as she being our only child. The thought of my child not being able to call me mummy and we have to communicate in sign language made me feel very hopeless.

We brought her to be fitted with hearing aids at the School for the Deaf In spite of the hearing aids there were no obvious sign of her hearing with the aids.

I happened to see CSHI sign (at the old address at Jalan Jurong Kechil) whenever I travel to my office. So I decided to call the School to check if there was any programme for very young children. After making an appointment to see the Audiologist, I brought my daughter to the school.

That’s how we came to know about Canossian School.

Before going to Canossian School, I was like many others who have the mistaken idea that hearing impaired people do not hear & talk but need to communicate with sign language.

But after taking with the school’s audiologists, Miss Julie & Miss Pwee and seeing the students in Canossian School speak, I realised that hearing impaired people can hear & talk with the help of appropriate hearing aids fitted at an early age.

Rui Yi and I started to have parent guidance sessions every week. During the sessions Julie shown me how to play with her, types of game to play to stimulate her listening skill, etc. I applied what I had learned with her at home too.

After a period of parent guidance sessions, I was advised to let Rui Yi to go for a cochlear implant. We discussed with Julie in detail, and had decided to let her go for it so that she could have a chance to hear well.

Rui Yi had the implant in 1998 in Singapore General Hospital. At that time, she was the youngest implantee (22months old). We were rather worried, but very sure that it’s the best we could give her.

After mapping her speech processor, we let her wear the speech processor every day whenever she is awake. I had quitted my job, and brought her to school for listening skills twice a week. She became more alert to sound; but there was still no speech in the first 6 months after the implant. I started to wonder if the implant worked on her, but Julie kept encouraging me that Rui Yi will speak sooner or later.

When she was 3 years old, she started the school's pre-nursery class. By end of pre-nursery, she started her speech with single words & as time goes by she has phrases & followed by speaking in sentences when she was in K2.

During her pre-school age, we continued to attend listening skills once a week until she was in K2.

My second daughter Rui Lin was born in 1999, and was found to have a profound hearing impairement as well when she was 4 months old. She was fitted with hearing aids & had her cochlear implanted when she was 18 months old.

After the implant, she started listening programme with Miss Tham once a week. I would like to thank Miss Tham by arranging the 7.30am time slot for us, so that I will not late for work.

Now my 2 daughters are with Canossian School. Rui Yi will be P2 in 2004 integrated into Canossa Convent Primary School. Rui Lin will be K1 in 2004.

I would like to thank Canossian School for providing support to my 2 hearing impaired daughters as well as the parents.

For the parents, the school had provided us with parent guidance sessions
in order to guide our child at home to improve their listening skills, speech etc.

After attending parent guidance, listening skill classes, seeing my children progress in their hearing & speech filled me with hope and I no longer feel helpless.

As for the two girls, they are well taken care of by the school with mainstream curriculum & extra support class.

With warmest regards,
Angela Chee
Mother of Rui Yi & Rui Lin