any advice would be wonderful!

With the staring at his hand thing, have his doctors suggested he might be on the autism spectrum?

You have your work cut out for you, that's for sure.
 
they said hes not, and i agree..all this stuff aside, he is VERY loving and outgoing..he doesnt know a stranger..its almost like hes discovering his hands, like a little one does.
 
dogmom said:
:wave:frankiesmom,

thoughts of mine - to connect with the local deaf/hard of hearing center to find classes, socials <get-togethers> role models and a wide variety of information.
Also, an interpreter training program <American Sign Language> at a local university may be able to give you further resources in the community.

There is this:American Society for Deaf Children <American Society for Deaf Children> which has a resource listing.
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Love that site.

Good job!
 
:wave:Berry and frankiesmom!
:ty: Berry!

frankiesmom ..... when I saw your post from this morning describing the head cocking, motor skills, the focus on certain things - I honestly also thought of the spectrum.
Many times people on the spectrum are openly loving and socially attentive but still have traits that point to high functioning autism or Asperger - and mild/borderline involvement can be missed by doctors.
If you haven't already done so, perhaps you can consider at least having a discussion with someone who actually specializes in pediatric autism; there are also support groups of parents for their kids on the spectrum and maybe you could find another parent whose child displays similar signs and see if they have any advice or contacts to offer you.

best wishes!
 
The waiting for him to make his own decision bit... that is masking the truth. That means that you're really making a decision, and the decision is no CI. That's a perfectly fine decision to make, but as parents, it IS a decision. This choice lives in the present, and you can't kick the can down the road, because down the road will be a completely different set of circumstances.
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Iowaboy, I think almost everyone here is pro implant when there's very little benifit from HA. (ie deep profound cases) But when implantation is ambigious, that is when we're a bit iffy. It really is VERY hard to tell exactly how well a kid can hear even with a hearing aid, and you really can't get a clear picture of how well they can hear until they can parcipate in a traditional soundbooth audiogram, which is around toddler age.
 
Oh and just to clarify that I'm not attacking you or anything.....I think the important thing with CI, is to go full toolbox, especially with deep profound congential losses........
 
deafdyke said:
Oh and just to clarify that I'm not attacking you or anything.....I think the important thing with CI, is to go full toolbox, especially with deep profound congential losses........
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Nah, it's all good. Sounds like this little tyke has 3 months of hearing aids and a few other thing to sort out before it's CI decision time. Hopefully the data isn't conflicting or ambiguous.

I see passive decisions quite a bit in my line of work and sometimes its the right thing to call them what they are. The whole "let the kid make the decision" bit is the parent deciding "no", which can be the right thing sometimes- it varies case to case and you have to respect the decision. But, I've seen passive decision makers wake up and realize their passive stance was a "no" decision and be quite upset about it in hindsight.
 
The whole "let the kid make the decision" bit is the parent deciding "no", which can be the right thing sometimes- it varies case to case and you have to respect the decision. But, I've seen passive decision makers wake up and realize their passive stance was a "no" decision and be quite upset about it in hindsight
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Which is why we're pro full toolbox!
I do think that if a kid is around traditional soundbooth test age, that they should help make the decision. I know of a few cases where the parents asked their toddler or preschooler if they wanted a CI.....
 
shel90 said:
Any mentor from the local Deaf community who is fluent in ASL.
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This purpose would be to give your little one access to language. Right now, he is probably not getting anything unless you sign to him. A deaf mentor would help.
 
yay!!! i called the deaf preschool and by some miracle, they have a spot for his age! we are going to look at it on wednesday and fill out the forms if we like what we see..the best part is that early intervention pays for 3 out of 5 days a week, and they said that if cost is an issue, they never turn away a child who needs their services!! they can even accommodate his delays!!!
the place we looked at today was awesome, but i dont think they focus a lot on the hearing issues, and that is what we want to work on right now..i am hoping by immersing him this environment, it will help him catch up..at the very least, he will be around other kids like himself. we had him fitted for his hearing aids after that..he liked the stuff they put in his ears. :lol:
they had a bunch of color choices too, which was nice..they told me to think about the implants, but if the aids work, i dont see why we shouldnt just stick with that..thanks everyone for the awesome advice! seriously, it has helped me understand all of the new things i am learning with this whole situation..its definitely been different!
 
Good Luck!!! Hope it all works out for you and the family.
 
thanks, i do too! i want my sweetie pants to do as well as he can in life.
they gave me a dvd on the implant and although i think it looks pretty cool, with the remote control and all..i dont know. if the hearing aids work, then i will stay with that.
but yes, i have learned so many things from this website and talking to everyone here.
 
frankiesmom said:
ok..i just spoke with the place who will be doing his hearing aids..they said that if he is not benefiting from them after 3 months, they would refer him to get implants..would this be a good idea? my husband is against it and says he wants to wait until he is older to make his own decision..i dont know though. will either of these aid him in talking and hearing normally, or will he still have trouble?
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Isn't 3 months too short for a child who may be delayed??

My hearing loss is severe to profound and I use hearing aids which help alot. My family didn't sign but I believe it would help me tremendously if they had.
 
Buffalo said:
Isn't 3 months too short for a child who may be delayed??
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That's very true. Even hearing children with just learning disabilties may be delayed in spoken language. I would be a bit more conservative....ACTUALLY WAIT!!!!!! It's 100% awesome you're concentrating on the hearing bit, but have you talked with someone at say United Cerebal Palsy or the ARC? They might be able to give you a better idea of the speech development timeline for kids with cognitive issues. Maybe he could go to school the other couple of days at a UCP style preschool. It's kinda too bad you're not here in MA. There is a school, Beverely School for the Deaf that also offers ASL/augmentive and alternative communcation for both hearing kids and dhh kids with disablities.
 
Buffalo said:
Isn't 3 months too short for a child who may be delayed??

My hearing loss is severe to profound and I use hearing aids which help alot. My family didn't sign but I believe it would help me tremendously if they had.
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Absolutely, that is too short a trial period.
 
we decided against the implant anyways..i feel *for us anyways* that the time we would spend having him recover from surgery, and all the other stuff that goes with the implants could be better spent learning sign language and just being a kid! i dont care if he talks or not..as long as he can express himself, we are happy! yes, it would be great if his hearing was restored 100 percent and everything went back to "normal" but its not going to happen, and we need to adapt to his sense of normalcy.
 
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