Daria Shumenkova

Letter of parents (06.08.2012)

Good afternoon,

Our family would like to address your Charity Foundation Chance with the request for help. We happen to know about your Foundation from the parents who have faced similar problem. Our long awaited for daughter Daria was born as a healthy little girl. At the age of three she went to the kindergarten, and I started to notice that Dasha develops a speech delay and was avoidant and unsociable. We started to address different medical institutions, where Daria was diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of 2-3 degree. We were referred to a special group for children with hearing difficulties. Daily classes with specialists and newly made friends have awakened different interests in Dasha. She reads well, is keen on sport: attends eurhythmics classes. In the summer she does in-line skating, in the winter — ice skating.

The first hearing aid that we had was Sonata. Constant noise and squeaking were very annoying for the child. We could not simply hug our daughter as the device started to squeak. We have collected some money and went for medical examination to Minsk, where were offered two hearing aids OTIKON GO (September 2010).
With the help of these devices Dasha became more sociable and was wearing them from the early morning to late night. We were relieved to know that these aids have fitted. However, we did not know that this type of hearing aid is only suitable for the initial phase of child`s development. We were advised to go to Moscow for a more qualified medical examination and device screening. Dasha cannot distinguish between many sounds, she does not hear the ending of the words that end on breath consonant, cannot hear the whisper. We have gone to Minsk several times for the device tuning, but the results were always the same. We are afraid that child development remains on the same level. Unfortunately, we do not have the means to purchase two hearing aids of good quality. Our family resorts to your Foundation for help. We want our child to go to regular school and be able to socialize with other children.

We thank you in advance for efforts. It is a pleasure to know that Foundations like yours exist and may support people in difficult moments. We kindly rely on your understanding and help.

Sincerely,