Elijah and my partner were out walking around the block today when they saw a garage sale. They decided to stop and look to see what they had. Elijah found a typical red digital display alarm clock and wanted it. My partner said he could buy it, so they went home and got the $1.00 to purchase it. I arrived home later and he showed me his alarm clock. He said he had it set to go off at 7:00 am. I told him how much I liked it. Later, my partner asked if I had seen what Elijah had bought, and I told her I had. She said she realized he couldn't HEAR the alarm going off in the morning, but he wanted it so badly that she just couldn't say no.
I was just now putting him to bed and he told me again that he had his alarm clock set for 7:00 am. I asked him how he would hear it in the morning and he just looked at me. I could see the realization hitting him that HE WOULDN'T be able to hear the alarm clock, because his processors would not be on his ears. I asked him if he was deaf and he shook his head no. I told him that he was deaf when he wasn't wearing his ears. I then told him that there was a special alarm clock made for people just like him. I told him it would vibrate to wake him up in the morning and we could put it under his pillow. I also told him, he didn't quite need one yet, since he was still living at home, but that we would get him one soon.
Elijah is almost 13 years old and I think it is time to be more honest with him about his hearing. He needs to be able to explain that he is deaf to others when I am not around. This is the reality of raising a child with a disability and I need to prepare him for the real world.
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