Three year old Noah Bright who is deafblind and his mother, Nicola from Bristol feature in this month’s national Practical Parenting magazine. Noah was born with a rare chromosome disorder and has hearing loss in both his ears, as well as sight impairment. Noah’s actual age is three years but his developmental age is approximately nine months.
In Practical Parenting magazine Nicola explains that through support from Sense the family are all learning together. “My husband and I communicate with Noah using Makaton, which is a form of simple sign language – even Noah’s grandparents are learning. It’s going really well and now he can sign simple words like milk, fish and car.”
Once a week Noah goes to the Sense Woodside Family Centre in Kingswood near Bristol. Nicola says: “It really makes a difference to our lives, Noah can use the facilities there including music sessions and this encourages him and motivates him by stimulating his senses. Plus at Woodside, we have been able to meet other families in similar situations and we’ve built up some really good friendships.”
Nicola is optimistic about Noah’s progress. She says: “Chris and I want the best for Noah and we want to give him all the opportunities that we possibly can so that he will live a very fulfilled life”.
Sense produced a short film about Noah to raise awareness of some of the challenges faced by deafblind people and their families every day. You can view the short film and leave your comments on our website.
Read a part of their story on the Practical Parenting website.
