June 2013
It's hard to believe a year has slipped by with no BLOG. Despite my best intentions time has gotten away from me.
We have had a busy year at Paddy's Jewel with many changes. From just 2 children when we began Paddy's Jewel we know have 7 ....... with at least 3 more on the waiting list. One of our teachers left after getting married & we have employed another teacher.
Last year I was saddened to hear that two of our children have left Paddy's Jewel. Trinh & Linh have both returned to the Boarding School in Da Nang. Trinh's Mum came to see me to thank us for our assistance. She explained the reason she had taken Trinh out of our school and sent her back to the boarding school was because the family were having so many problems controlling her. Her Mum reported that while Trinh was extremely well behaved while she was at school with us every day the family were not able to control her at home. I wish I had known about this before as we could have looked at some methods of helping the family with their difficulties. Trinh's Mum hopes that when Trinh can behave "normally" we will accept her back at Paddy's Jewel. I had to explain to her that it would depend on whether or not we will have any vacancies at the time. Linh left because her Mum had to go to work in Da Nang & her Dad wasn't able to manage both Linh & her younger sister alone!
We have since accepted four more children into our school. I will post more information on the children in the next BLOG ...... which will not be in 12 months!
Last December we were thrilled to meet Michael Schwartz, his wife Trisha & their daughter Brianna. Michael is a Professor at Syracuse University in the US ...... he is also deaf. We had a wonderful visit with them including taking our children & parents out for dinner. It was such a unique opportunity for our parents to meet someone who is deaf AND has a fantastically successful life. Michael is in the process of, hopefully, organising ongoing contact & support between Paddy's Jewel & Syracuse University. For me personally, it was wonderful to have this family tell me that we are doing great work - I have no experience in education ....... let alone education for Deaf & Hard of Hearing. So it was great to receive such positive feedback from Michael, Trisha & Brianna.
Before I left Hoi An in April I had several families come to me with their two year old children wanting them to join us. For a long time now I have been aware of the need for an Early Intervention Programme but, due to a severe lack of funds, I have pushed it to the back of my mind in the "Too Hard" basket! However, with families now coming directly to me I think the Universe is telling me something & I need to listen. So I am now actively looking for financial help to start this much needed programme. Don't get me wrong ..... I'm not looking for mega bucks. Looking at the figures we can start this programme for $300.00 per month. Due to my commitments with the two classrooms we currently run there is no way I can stretch my budget to include another programme. I'm hoping that if I can't find individuals who will commit to a small monthly donation maybe there are some groups out there who would like to fund this classroom. Groups can be anyone ....... extended family members, work colleagues, friends, classmates ...... the more people in the group the cheaper it is!!! If you are interested in supporting this programme please send me an email at mai@paddysjewel.org Obviously I would love it if you would pass this on to others.
It's hard to believe a year has slipped by with no BLOG. Despite my best intentions time has gotten away from me.
We have had a busy year at Paddy's Jewel with many changes. From just 2 children when we began Paddy's Jewel we know have 7 ....... with at least 3 more on the waiting list. One of our teachers left after getting married & we have employed another teacher.
Last year I was saddened to hear that two of our children have left Paddy's Jewel. Trinh & Linh have both returned to the Boarding School in Da Nang. Trinh's Mum came to see me to thank us for our assistance. She explained the reason she had taken Trinh out of our school and sent her back to the boarding school was because the family were having so many problems controlling her. Her Mum reported that while Trinh was extremely well behaved while she was at school with us every day the family were not able to control her at home. I wish I had known about this before as we could have looked at some methods of helping the family with their difficulties. Trinh's Mum hopes that when Trinh can behave "normally" we will accept her back at Paddy's Jewel. I had to explain to her that it would depend on whether or not we will have any vacancies at the time. Linh left because her Mum had to go to work in Da Nang & her Dad wasn't able to manage both Linh & her younger sister alone!
We have since accepted four more children into our school. I will post more information on the children in the next BLOG ...... which will not be in 12 months!
Last December we were thrilled to meet Michael Schwartz, his wife Trisha & their daughter Brianna. Michael is a Professor at Syracuse University in the US ...... he is also deaf. We had a wonderful visit with them including taking our children & parents out for dinner. It was such a unique opportunity for our parents to meet someone who is deaf AND has a fantastically successful life. Michael is in the process of, hopefully, organising ongoing contact & support between Paddy's Jewel & Syracuse University. For me personally, it was wonderful to have this family tell me that we are doing great work - I have no experience in education ....... let alone education for Deaf & Hard of Hearing. So it was great to receive such positive feedback from Michael, Trisha & Brianna.
Before I left Hoi An in April I had several families come to me with their two year old children wanting them to join us. For a long time now I have been aware of the need for an Early Intervention Programme but, due to a severe lack of funds, I have pushed it to the back of my mind in the "Too Hard" basket! However, with families now coming directly to me I think the Universe is telling me something & I need to listen. So I am now actively looking for financial help to start this much needed programme. Don't get me wrong ..... I'm not looking for mega bucks. Looking at the figures we can start this programme for $300.00 per month. Due to my commitments with the two classrooms we currently run there is no way I can stretch my budget to include another programme. I'm hoping that if I can't find individuals who will commit to a small monthly donation maybe there are some groups out there who would like to fund this classroom. Groups can be anyone ....... extended family members, work colleagues, friends, classmates ...... the more people in the group the cheaper it is!!! If you are interested in supporting this programme please send me an email at mai@paddysjewel.org Obviously I would love it if you would pass this on to others.
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