3 year old with cochears

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i'm new here, can someone fill me in on the issue here with cochlear implants?

my son recieved his in august, he is almost 2.
he has a profound hearing loss.

i think i have somewhat of an understanding of the opinion from the deaf community about CIs but i would like to know more..

my son is deaf, and there is nothing wrong with that, and he is still deaf with his implants, so the surgery was not about "fixing" anything, it was about giving him the opportunity to experience things he otherwise would not be able to experience. he will always have the option of not using the implants, and so i don't believe i have changed him, just provided him with more options than he was born with.

we have just started the long process of getting him to wear his implants, but he is never in any pain, and at the first sign of discomfort or fear i put them away. but lots of new things are scary and uncomfortable for little ones, so i'm not sure why CIs are so frowned upon..

my intentions are not to start a battle on here,
so i apologize if my post is seen as 'stirring things up'

ETA: i wanted to add that my son is being taught sign language by a teacher from a school for the deaf, so that when he is older he has the choice to not use his CIs and still be able to communicate..
 
taylorjade. said:
i'm new here, can someone fill me in on the issue here with cochlear implants?

my son recieved his in august, he is almost 2.
he has a profound hearing loss.

i think i have somewhat of an understanding of the opinion from the deaf community about CIs but i would like to know more..

my son is deaf, and there is nothing wrong with that, and he is still deaf with his implants, so the surgery was not about "fixing" anything, it was about giving him the opportunity to experience things he otherwise would not be able to experience. he will always have the option of not using the implants, and so i don't believe i have changed him, just provided him with more options than he was born with.

we have just started the long process of getting him to wear his implants, but he is never in any pain, and at the first sign of discomfort or fear i put them away. but lots of new things are scary and uncomfortable for little ones, so i'm not sure why CIs are so frowned upon..

my intentions are not to start a battle on here,
so i apologize if my post is seen as 'stirring things up'
Click to expand...

Why don't you introduce yourself first? Make a thread. Then another with your concerns?
 
taylorjade. said:
i'm new here, can someone fill me in on the issue here with cochlear implants?

my son recieved his in august, he is almost 2.
he has a profound hearing loss.

i think i have somewhat of an understanding of the opinion from the deaf community about CIs but i would like to know more..

my son is deaf, and there is nothing wrong with that, and he is still deaf with his implants, so the surgery was not about "fixing" anything, it was about giving him the opportunity to experience things he otherwise would not be able to experience. he will always have the option of not using the implants, and so i don't believe i have changed him, just provided him with more options than he was born with.

we have just started the long process of getting him to wear his implants, but he is never in any pain, and at the first sign of discomfort or fear i put them away. but lots of new things are scary and uncomfortable for little ones, so i'm not sure why CIs are so frowned upon..

my intentions are not to start a battle on here,
so i apologize if my post is seen as 'stirring things up'
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with the way you are handling it. Some parents think it is the end of the world if a child doesn't hear.
 
Bottesini said:
Why don't you introduce yourself first? Make a thread. Then another with your concerns?
Click to expand...

well it wasn't really a concern, it was just more of an interest in the opinion of the community, but sorry for not introducing myself, i will make a new thread
 
Jiro said:
:giggle:

I used to do same. I really hate the FM system with extreme prejudice.
Click to expand...

Me too. I did poke the tiny hole in the middle of FM system box and lost two receivers. My bitch speech teacher complained to my parents about me doing some damages on my FM system. I got yelled at by my dad. :giggle: I was supposed to shell out $600 to replace defective FM system, but I was told that school took care of it.

Speaking of two receivers, I lied to that speech teacher that I already paid for it, but I never did. LOL :laugh2:
 
faire_jour said:
fig_endbulbstudy03.jpg
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That poor cat is not very happy with CI. :roll:
 
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_mCA3mVkA]YouTube - Walter Lowell 's story about removed cochlear implant on Dec 2010[/ame]:barf:
 
deafgal001 said:
There's nothing wrong with the way you are handling it. Some parents think it is the end of the world if a child doesn't hear.
Click to expand...

For that matter, some people think it is the end of the world if a deaf child DOES hear. Goes both ways!
 
Etoile said:
For that matter, some people think it is the end of the world if a deaf child DOES hear. Goes both ways!
Click to expand...

I understand... I am not one of those people. I believe in offering the child both toolboxes and go with the flow from there.
 
This may be the dumbest question ever and may belong in a thread with a similar name..BUT....

What if a small child refuses a hearing aid, say from infancy up, and perpetually tosses the aid, hides it, damages it, etc... even cries pitifully when made to wear a well fitted, perfectly programmed aid and the parent continues to put the aid on the child "for their benefit" but the child keeps saying NO!
So, the parent decides the exterior aid is worthless. The parent has the child fitted with a CI, and the same thing happens? Now the child has a well mapped, etc, interior hearing aid costing thousands and lots of maintenance. Would that parent be forced to defend his/her decision vehemently, even blaming or coercing the child?

Just asking, really.
 
Etoile said:
For that matter, some people think it is the end of the world if a deaf child DOES hear. Goes both ways!
Click to expand...

I agree, but I also think it is unfair to alter a child. I couldnt imagine sending my baby under the knife unless her life depended on it, any type of surgery should be a persons choice and their parents rob them of that choice.
 
lost my hearing at 11 and realize what i gained from that period of being able to hear. you can add signing to his language development. but even with that i feel it depends on the kid himself. what does he react to most favorably? not everyone will fit in a square hole of life. giving your kid as many options as possible is the most sensible.
Click to expand...
Excellent post!!!! Heck, we even have some postlingal posters who are pro ASL and are really into the whole Deaf culture thing. Every kid is different!
To the OP, That rocks that you're signing with your kid! Sorry this got so OT, but we can get really debate-y here.
Taylorjade, I think that as long as you have the "give dhh kids a full toolbox" approach, most Deaf cultural people will be OK with CIs. Welcome, BTW!
 
KristinaB said:
Yes - I took needle and thread, and scissors, opened up the side of the box springs fabric, stitched the HA's to the fabric inside and then re-stitched the seam closed. I was 7 the 1st time I did it.
Click to expand...

Wow! I'm impressed. That was pretty sophisticated for a 7 year old!:lol:
 
taylorjade. said:
i'm new here, can someone fill me in on the issue here with cochlear implants?

my son recieved his in august, he is almost 2.
he has a profound hearing loss.

i think i have somewhat of an understanding of the opinion from the deaf community about CIs but i would like to know more..

my son is deaf, and there is nothing wrong with that, and he is still deaf with his implants, so the surgery was not about "fixing" anything, it was about giving him the opportunity to experience things he otherwise would not be able to experience. he will always have the option of not using the implants, and so i don't believe i have changed him, just provided him with more options than he was born with.

we have just started the long process of getting him to wear his implants, but he is never in any pain, and at the first sign of discomfort or fear i put them away. but lots of new things are scary and uncomfortable for little ones, so i'm not sure why CIs are so frowned upon..

my intentions are not to start a battle on here,
so i apologize if my post is seen as 'stirring things up'

ETA: i wanted to add that my son is being taught sign language by a teacher from a school for the deaf, so that when he is older he has the choice to not use his CIs and still be able to communicate..
Click to expand...

Welcome. I do hope that you will stick around and understand that no one is militant against CIs. People, quite simply, are relating their personal experience of being deaf. Whether they would or would not choose a CI for themselves or their child is dependent upon what they have experienced living as a deaf person. They are the experts on the topic.

Frequently around here, when someone states the actuality and the drawbacks of a CI, they are labeled anti-CI. Nothing is further from the truth. I do hope you don't buy into that. It will interfere with the ability you have to learn from the deaf.

Try and see it this way: You say you have provided your child with the opportunity to experience things he would not be able to experience. That is understandable, because you experience your world through your auditory sense. However, that is only true for those that have experience with experiencing the world that way. A deaf child is not "missing the opportunity" to experience everything this world has to offer without a CI or an HA or any artificial devise to compensate for their lack of auditory sense. They experience life as fully as a hearing child does...they simply experience the same thing in a different way. Hearing is important to your perceptions because you are hearing. If you loose it, you will miss it, and will have to find alternate ways to experience your world. But a deaf child just naturally adapts, and experiences their world in a different way just because they have the need to do that. But their world is not missing anything. Nor are they missing opportunity. They simply experience things differently. The problems arise for deaf children when that natural adaptation is not respected, and we try to force them into a facsimile of a hearing child.

When one states that a child does not have the opportunity to experience fully the world around them, it also says that hearing is superior to not hearing. That is what people object to. There are many other statements that communicate the same message. And it is offensive to be told that you are not as complete a person as one with hearing is. I'm sure you can understand that.

So rather than saying "giving an opportunity to experience something he cannot" perhaps you could say, "providing an opportunity to experience something in the only way I know to experience it." Because the actual truth of the matter is, a deaf child, or a deaf adult, can have any experience that anyone else can have. They just experience it through a different sensory channel.
 
Wirelessly posted

the CI does give a child the opportunity to experience something they could not experience before, the ability to hear. While it is true that a person can be successful and function perfectly fine without hearing, the implnat does, in fact, provide something they didn't have before.
 
A deaf child "hears" with their eyes and their kinesthetic sense. Hearing is nothing more than processing information to meaning. The same thing can be processed to the same meaning in another way. Not hearing doesn't equate to not being able to create meaning. And meaning is the goal of processing all stimuli. Hearing is only one way to accomplish the task, and in general, is not even the most efficient way...even for those who have hearing. One can have no hearing and still have meaning. It is only important to those that have become so reliant on it.
 
Wirelessly posted

jillio said:
A deaf child "hears" with their eyes and their kinesthetic sense. Hearing is nothing more than processing information to meaning. The same thing can be processed to the same meaning in another way. Not hearing doesn't equate to not being able to create meaning. And meaning is the goal of processing all stimuli. Hearing is only one way to accomplish the task, and in general, is not even the most efficient way...even for those who have hearing. One can have no hearing and still have meaning. It is only important to those that have become so reliant on it.
Click to expand...

i didn't say it was the only way to process things or find meaning. I didn't say that life couldn't be experienced in another way. I simply said that giving a child a CI gives them hearing that they didn't have before. That is what the mother said she was doing, giving her child the opportunity to experience something he didn't have before.
 
LDNanna said:
This may be the dumbest question ever and may belong in a thread with a similar name..BUT....

What if a small child refuses a hearing aid, say from infancy up, and perpetually tosses the aid, hides it, damages it, etc... even cries pitifully when made to wear a well fitted, perfectly programmed aid and the parent continues to put the aid on the child "for their benefit" but the child keeps saying NO!
So, the parent decides the exterior aid is worthless. The parent has the child fitted with a CI, and the same thing happens? Now the child has a well mapped, etc, interior hearing aid costing thousands and lots of maintenance. Would that parent be forced to defend his/her decision vehemently, even blaming or coercing the child?

Just asking, really.
Click to expand...

I know.. I asked that question and view my signature... quite sad actually.
 
faire_jour said:
Wirelessly posted



i didn't say it was the only way to process things or find meaning. I didn't say that life couldn't be experienced in another way. I simply said that giving a child a CI gives them hearing that they didn't have before. That is what the mother said she was doing, giving her child the opportunity to experience something he didn't have before.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but each child's experience is different. Who is to say that one experience is better than another, even the majority? The act of cutting a child open to fix it speaks volumes about that perspective. What is wrong with being deaf?
 
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