FRIENDS TOGETHER: The Bear Buddies

Having lived most of her life in the African wilderness with elephants literally on her doorstep, but now settled in Cambridgeshire, UK, Tanya Saunders is a writer, artist, lover of wild places and mother to twin daughters, one of whom is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants (her 'magic ears'). Tanya believes that deaf children deserve the same opportunities in life as everyone else; it is not for us to set limits on what they can achieve but rather to give them the platform they need to learn, grow, and attain their goals as equals alongside their hearing peers. Tanya is a Parent Ambassador for Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK), an aspirational organisation that teaches deaf children to listen and speak. Her writing is inspired by her own family's speech and language journey with AVUK, alongside the numerous other specialists, friends and family members who, as a team, have made such life-changing contributions to her daughter's odyssey into the hearing and speaking world. Although not a professional therapist herself, as a 'parent practitioner' of auditory verbal therapy traveling this road alongside her daughters, Tanya's personal experience and observations can provide helpful insights for other families on the same path. Her vibrantly illustrated stories encourage deaf children to reach for the stars and reassure them that, while it may not be easy, all the hard work involved in learning to listen and speak will be worth it in the end. Tanya blogs about parenting a deaf child alongside a hearing sibling at: www.avidlanguage.com/hearsay-blog