I really am not a fan of parents evening - not because I'm worried what they will say about my boys but in the way that it's been run. I feel quite intimidated but also overwhelmed because the teachers are usually all in a hall, in my case two halls and maybe the odd room and they are sat at desks and we have a limited time in which we can go up and chat - it's all scheduled beforehand so there's sometimes a rush. My husband never usually finishes work on time so it's usually me who goes. And the NOISE!!! Imagine a hall full of parents and children and scraping chairs and people chatting.... My hearing aid does not like this! All I can hear is the background noise and usually very little from the earnest teacher sat in front of me. I was thrilled to discover that one of my son's math's teachers had a wonderfully loud voice and was so easy to lipread - easily my favourite!! But he was the only one, I remember struggling with other teachers who were softly spoken. It doesn't help that I'm already anxious before I go and then when I bump into other parents I know, the stress to trying to hear what they are saying and worrying about missing out on some news - well, you get the gist.
Anyway, covid comes along and what happens? We have parents evening via a screen - its like a zoom call. We have slotted times and we wait for the screen to pop up and there is the teacher, in a quiet room. We are in a quiet room. I can see their faces and what they are saying. It's just brilliant! We were stood up by one teacher, which may have been an IT blip of some sort, but otherwise it went swimmingly. I was so excited! We even had a countdown to our next appointment, I felt so much more at ease with this way of doing things. I really want them to continue doing parents evening in this way, it makes it so much more accessible to me and definitely more hearing aid friendly!
Also in the past week, I have applied for an Access to Work grant via work. We do overnights and I am not able to at the moment because I can't hear the person at the other end of the phone or the intercom and when I'm sleeping, I need something that will wake me up should the doorbell go or the smoke alarm or the fire alarm. I can hear the fire alarm when it goes off at work, yes, it's pretty loud but I don't know how much I'll hear if I'm in a deep sleep. Mind you, doing something like this reminds me of when the kids were tiny, you don't really sleep that well if you're listening out for sounds. I've found these watches that alert you to smoke and fire alarms - anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing how we can navigate this! I think it'll be a learning experience for everyone! So I'll keep you posted!!