OK, I am hyped up from drinking a mocha on an empty stomach, so I am going to go ahead and ramble away and share as I continue to use Twitter as a way to become more comfortable with sharing my hearing loss experiences with others. Today I had an audiology appointment because+

+one of my hearing aids completely cracked open. I was due for a check up any ways so it all worked out. First bit of information to share. Did you know that most health insurances do not cover hearing aids at all? With talking to the audiologist today, she said that is was+

+probably because Medicare doesn't cover them. And then I said, that is probably because so many Medicare patients need them that they would run out of money (for reference my aids cost about $5000). She did say that occasionally a plan will cover part of them, but never all.+

The next thing I would like to share about today is my actual hearing test I took. A few years ago I had a great DM with a few friends on here where I had a whole bunch of Ah-HA moments in an analogy between me taking a hearing test and what some of our students probably feel+

+like in school. I'm not sure how many of you have every had a hearing test done, but typically, you go into a small, sound proof room, the audiologist puts headphones on you, leaves the room and you are left facing a wall and listening to the doctor via the headphones. You then+

go through a series of test where you have to raise your hand if you hear a beep, listen to someone say words and repeat what words they are, etc. You are even told to just make a guess at what you think the word is, even if you don't know. So, the ah-ha moments I had is this+

During these hearing tests, I know I am going to fail. There is absolutely no way at all that I am ever going to pass them. No matter how hard I guess, or trying to figure things out, or even try to manipulate the tests(like just randomly raising my hand whether or not I hear+

+anything at all). I know ahead of time I am going to fail. And no matter how many times I have these tests and know that this is the way it is going to go, I still have all sorts of feelings of failure, frustration, being defeated, and just plain awful. And the ah-ha moment I+

+had a few years ago is the fact that so many of our students feel this exact same way all day, every day they are in school. That no matter how hard they try or what they do, they are simply not going to pass whatever sort of test is put in front of them or is expected of them.+

+And the truth is, I don't have any real solutions for us to make it so students don't ever feel the way that I do, because the truth is, even with the very best hearing aids I could possibly have, I am still not ever going to get a 100% on any of those tests, but I have to+

+believe that there are ways for us to make sure that our students have confidence in the skills they do have versus focusing on the ones they don't.+

+The Mocha kick is starting to wear off, so I will end there. One more thing to add though, I am so thankful that every audiologist and office I have worked with has been top notch-patient, kind, authentic, just all around great to work with. Today everyone was in mask as one+

+would expect. When I told the audiologist I couldn't understand her, she put on a face mask immediately. It's those little things that make such a huge difference.