hearing aids or cochlear implants for my 5 year old please advise

richard.henman said:
already she has been through surgery on her heart at 6 months old and has not had to good a time of it and im finding it hard to make a decission about what would be best for her.
i would like the views of your experience as i can see many of you may have been through this yourself.

im not quite sure what is involved in the surgery side of Ci or of any side affects and discomforts not to mention she is still at a school where possibly may get picked on for being different as the Ci seems to be more on display. are they able to hide device under hair and are they waterproof or irittating.
are there more benefits for Ci than Ha to make this an easy dessision. Ha are so advanced now as to even 3 years ago and im sure they will just get better in the future, but is just amplifying sound enough ?.
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I can tell you that the CI surgery won't be as rough on your daughter as her heart surgery was (which I'm sure was quite rough on her). Young children generally bounce back from CI surgeries faster than adults do.

The Harmony (Advanced Bionics) and the Freedom (Cochlear) are both water resistant. I'm not sure about Med-El, as I am not familiar with that company.

I hope that helps.
 
faire_jour said:
This is a very personal decision. The surgery has risks, especially if she has a pre-existing heart condition. I think the key is, what are you willing to do to make your child's speech better. A CI requires hundreds of hours of follow-up therapy. You also may be advised to change your child's school placement to a pure oral enviroment, and drop the signing. are you willing to do that? How does she function with her aids? If she is gaining benefit from her aids, I would think there is no hurry, that you can wait until your child can help with the decision.
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I don't think she should drop the signing.
 
If the hearing aids work and give her benefit, I would think waiting until she can decide would be good.
CI wasn't available as an option when I was a child, but I know I would have been angry and bitter if it had been done to me without me informed consent.
I do not and never will have CI.(even if hearing aids stop being of benefit)
 
Mod's Note:

Threads are merged. (double threads)
 
I have to chime in. Ask her what she wants. Does she want to hear better?
She's old enough so you can ask her that......It's a hard decision. What's her speech reception threshold? It's doubtful that she would get bilateral.........especially with the way the NHS is. Does she have a better or worse ear? If she has a worse ear, maybe it might be a good idea to implant that one, and just go with a powerful digital aid in the other ear.
 
deafdyke said:
It's doubtful that she would get bilateral.........especially with the way the NHS is. Does she have a better or worse ear? If she has a worse ear, maybe it might be a good idea to implant that one, and just go with a powerful digital aid in the other ear.
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Kids In uk have higher chance of going bilateral than adults, I as adult i have to wait to see if my CI is successful then they'll decide if i can go Bilateral.
 
Buffalo said:
I don't like CI just because one death (especially an infant) is too much.
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CI do not cause death. It's the surgery and doctors in the OR. I used to be an OR Veterinary Technician, and we've had several dogs get infections in their knees after knee surgery. It was because one of the technicians were too lazy to really scrub (sterilize) the area. CI do not cause death. People, viruses and bacteria do.

I don't like balloons, because it caused one death in an infant.
 
richard.henman said:
hi im from london uk
i have recently been told my daughter of 5 may benefit from Ci rather than her Ha which she has had since the age of 2.

she is profoundly deaf and gets on withe her Ha very well, always has.
she learns bsl and also spoken english at school but is still missing many silent types of letters / words i.e sh, th, f.
.............
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If she is able to communicate with other even though she is missing those silent letters, then she is doing great. CI might be able to improve on this, but she might be getting by just fine with HA's, lipreading etc..

But find out how well, or bad she is doing.. Is she tired at the end of the day. Retracting in situations with many people / conversation....
It might be difficult to get good info, but with it might be important to focus on it..
And Ci is still a possibility later on. Her brain is already used to sound, so there is no reason to hurry the decision..

Going to read the rest of the thread.... probably already spoken out of turn :)
 
CI will not cause die! I am not going to read this link. I just don't want to hear. She is only 5 years old. She can get CI. I have my third cousin wear CI. He got it when he was 15 months old. He didn't have get any problem.

Buffalo said:
I don't like CI just because one death (especially an infant) is too much.

If you do decide on CI, make sure her vaccinations are up to date.
More on this: US FDA/CDRH: Advice for Patients with Cochlear Implants: New Information on Meningitis Risk
US FDA/CDRH: Cochlear Implants - Benefits and Risks of Cochlear Implants

What does the doctor said about her heart? Is her heart strong enough to undergo another operation?
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faire_jour said:
This is a very personal decision. The surgery has risks, especially if she has a pre-existing heart condition. I think the key is, what are you willing to do to make your child's speech better. A CI requires hundreds of hours of follow-up therapy. You also may be advised to change your child's school placement to a pure oral enviroment, and drop the signing. are you willing to do that? How does she function with her aids? If she is gaining benefit from her aids, I would think there is no hurry, that you can wait until your child can help with the decision.
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Excellent points.
 
does anybody know if Ci are permanent or up-gradeable if newer technoligy comes out and weather or not she loses full hearing by getting the implants
thank you
 
there are 3 types of cochlear implants, Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, and Medel

From what i have learnt is that they are always trying new up grades of the Processor (the external part) to be compactiable with the implant. Cochlear had been around for 20 plus years and had few upgrades without changing the implant, Advanced bionics is similar. I didn't research Medel as i made my mind up beforehand.

She will loose rest of her resusial hearing if she gets the implant as the coil that goes round the cochlear will "flatten" and destroys the cochlear hairs.

Do as much research, just type cochlear,advanced bionics or Med El in google box and you'll have list!

hope this helps
 
The correct spell "Cochlea Hair cell"

overthepond said:
there are 3 types of cochlear implants, Advanced Bionics, Cochlear, and Medel

From what i have learnt is that they are always trying new up grades of the Processor (the external part) to be compactiable with the implant. Cochlear had been around for 20 plus years and had few upgrades without changing the implant, Advanced bionics is similar. I didn't research Medel as i made my mind up beforehand.

She will loose rest of her resusial hearing if she gets the implant as the coil that goes round the cochlear will "flatten" and destroys the cochlear hairs.

Do as much research, just type cochlear,advanced bionics or Med El in google box and you'll have list!

hope this helps
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richard.henman said:
does anybody know if Ci are permanent or up-gradeable if newer technoligy comes out and weather or not she loses full hearing by getting the implants
thank you
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Richard,

Sorry, I just saw this thread as I have been busy the last few days. I am the hearing parent of a 21 year old daughter who recoeved her ci when she was 2. Like your daughter she is profoundly deaf but did not receive any benefits from HAs.

With her cochlear implant, post-ci speech and language therapy and an active and involved family she has developed very good oral language skills, has always been mainstreamed and is on track to graduate college next year.

Honestly, the best advice I can give you is to go out and meet ci users and their families and talk to them about their experiences. It is up to you to weigh the risks involved with ci surgery and to speak to medical professionals about those risks.

As for post-ci therapy, it sounds as if your daughter is already getting S&L therapy and looking back after 21 plus years, the amount of time that my daughter received S&L therapy was insignificant and a very small part of her life. She lived then and still does now a very active social life and S&L therapy never got in the way of academics, sports or social activities.

The most important thing looking back is that as a result of all the time we spent talking to our daughter, today we have a close relationship where we talk about everything--just an additional benefit of S&L therapy :)

Good luck with your decision and if you are still interested in ci related forums there is already a thread started here and Vallee listed some very good ones such as the ci circle which is predomiantely parents of ci kids and no bashing is allowed.

Yes the external devices are upgradable, my daughter is on the 4th or 5th upgrade. Some people report still having residual hearing after the ci surgery but in the case of a profoundly deaf person, the real issue is the viability of that residual hearing in the first place.

Best wishes,
Rick
 
If she is able to communicate with other even though she is missing those silent letters, then she is doing great. CI might be able to improve on this, but she might be getting by just fine with HA's, lipreading etc..

But find out how well, or bad she is doing.. Is she tired at the end of the day. Retracting in situations with many people / conversation....
It might be difficult to get good info, but with it might be important to focus on it..
And Ci is still a possibility later on. Her brain is already used to sound, so there is no reason to hurry the decision..
Click to expand...
Cloggy, just wanted to say.....VERY very down to earth post. It's great to see that a parent of an implantee sees the CI realisticly, as opposed to "It's great for EVERYONE, and EVERYONE eligable should get one!"
Your daughter is doing fine.......most dhh little kids don't have great (clear) speech to start out with anyway. I didn't, at that age and I'm only hoh.
 
deafdyke said:
Cloggy, just wanted to say.....VERY very down to earth post. It's great to see that a parent of an implantee sees the CI realisticly, as opposed to "It's great for EVERYONE, and EVERYONE eligable should get one!"..........
Click to expand...
I've never posted in any other way... hence all the crap I'm receiving....
... you just happen to like this one.... :wave:
 
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