I was just reading the getting to know you thread and wanted to comment on something, but didn't want to bring back a dead thread.
About your niece getting teased for HAs...it may not be as bad as you're expecting. When I was young, I got teased a ton. BUT, things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. Think about how many people/kids have blue tooths, IPods, etc etc now. It's becoming much more common to see other people with SOMETHING in their ears that I think HAs stand out less than they used to
AND, now they make HAs much more stylish than they used to, if she's confident enough to draw attention to them. She can get bright blue or pink or swirly colored ear molds made and the other kids may actually think it's cool!
Not to say that she WON'T get picked on. But if you prepare her ahead of time on how to respond if it does happen and encourage her to be confident, I think she'll be juuuust fine
