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Belleville News-Democrat | 01/15/2007 | Belleville toddler may be youngest with cochlear implants
When Liam Collins was born Dec. 15, 2005, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, his parents Danny and Liz Collins of Belleville were overjoyed.
Then a hearing screening showed Liam was profoundly deaf.
"Basically, if he was next to a jet engine, he couldn't hear it," said Danny Collins, 24, a Belleville police officer.
"We had no idea where to go, how to start getting help," said Liz Collins, a 23-year-old stay-at-home mother. "We didn't even know cochlear implants existed."
A search for help led through Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital to Dr. Jacques Herzog of St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., and the Moog Center for Deaf Education in St. Louis. After careful study and quite a bit of thought, the couple decided the implants were the right course.
Herzog performed the first implant surgery in September when Liam was 9 months old and the second implant less than a month later.
Herzog said he believes Liam may be the youngest in the St. Louis metro area to ever get the implants. Cochlear implants pick up and translate sound to electronic signals that the nerves in the ear can understand.
Now the toddler is 13 months old and reacts to noise, happily yells when excited and responds to voices. Next summer he will begin lessons at a special school in St. Louis to help him learn to hear.
Herzog said the implants were invented more than 20 years ago for adults. Through the years, the devices have been used in younger and younger children.
"We used to wait until kids were 2 to 3 years old but we found ourselves behind the curve," Herzog said. "This puts them on the same basis as their peers. We feel the earlier we place the device the more likely they are to achieve goals and improve language skills and reading skills."
There is controversy in the deaf community about the devices, which help promote normal speech. Some say they will be the death of sign language and disrupt the heritage of the deaf society.
Herzog said he understands the concern but that studies show higher literacy for children with the device.
Liz Collins said they see nothing wrong with sign language but they are both hearing adults and there is no deafness anywhere in either of their families.
There are two parts to the implants, internal and external. The external part hangs on the ear and acts as a microphone. The signals it sends are converted electronically so an internal part can send them to the nerves in the inner ear.
"We're basically turning their ears on," Herzog said.
Liam initially was slow to respond to the implants. After all, he was hearing for the first time.
"He was like a newborn baby when it came to hearing," Liz Collins said. "But now he is hearing on a normal level. He's more attentive. He knows his name. He responds to toys that make sound.
"He knows what 'no' means," she said, even if he doesn't always like it. "He shakes his head and points his finger."
Herzog said when Liam was in for an exam recently, he emphatically wanted the devices back when they were taken off.
Even though part of the device is embedded in bone behind his ear, Liam won't outgrow his implants. They normally last about 20 years before they need to be replaced. The exterior pieces have to be taken out for baths and when he sleeps. They are water resistant but not waterproof.
Liam has to wear a small battery pack on a strap that wraps around his body to power the devices. When he gets older and his ear is bigger, he can have a hearing aid powered by regular batteries.
Liam will start classes this summer at the Moog Center for two mornings a week in toddler sessions. He will work up to more sessions per week.
"Good audiology is the key," Liz Collins said. "You have a great device but without good support it won't make a difference."
The device beeps and a flashing light appears when the settings are disturbed or when it comes loose.
When Liam received the first device, he would mess with it, Liz Collins said. But he doesn't do that so much now.
"He knows what they are there for," she said. "If one falls out, he hands it back."
"It's more like when he pulls it off, he tries to put it back on," Danny Collins said.
Liam isn't talking yet, but he is doing all the normal things a 1-year-old toddler would do. His parents can interact with him in normal fashion, Liz Collins said.
"He can hear me say 'I love you' and I know he hears," she said.
When Liam Collins was born Dec. 15, 2005, at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, his parents Danny and Liz Collins of Belleville were overjoyed.
Then a hearing screening showed Liam was profoundly deaf.
"Basically, if he was next to a jet engine, he couldn't hear it," said Danny Collins, 24, a Belleville police officer.
"We had no idea where to go, how to start getting help," said Liz Collins, a 23-year-old stay-at-home mother. "We didn't even know cochlear implants existed."
A search for help led through Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital to Dr. Jacques Herzog of St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo., and the Moog Center for Deaf Education in St. Louis. After careful study and quite a bit of thought, the couple decided the implants were the right course.
Herzog performed the first implant surgery in September when Liam was 9 months old and the second implant less than a month later.
Herzog said he believes Liam may be the youngest in the St. Louis metro area to ever get the implants. Cochlear implants pick up and translate sound to electronic signals that the nerves in the ear can understand.
Now the toddler is 13 months old and reacts to noise, happily yells when excited and responds to voices. Next summer he will begin lessons at a special school in St. Louis to help him learn to hear.
Herzog said the implants were invented more than 20 years ago for adults. Through the years, the devices have been used in younger and younger children.
"We used to wait until kids were 2 to 3 years old but we found ourselves behind the curve," Herzog said. "This puts them on the same basis as their peers. We feel the earlier we place the device the more likely they are to achieve goals and improve language skills and reading skills."
There is controversy in the deaf community about the devices, which help promote normal speech. Some say they will be the death of sign language and disrupt the heritage of the deaf society.
Herzog said he understands the concern but that studies show higher literacy for children with the device.
Liz Collins said they see nothing wrong with sign language but they are both hearing adults and there is no deafness anywhere in either of their families.
There are two parts to the implants, internal and external. The external part hangs on the ear and acts as a microphone. The signals it sends are converted electronically so an internal part can send them to the nerves in the inner ear.
"We're basically turning their ears on," Herzog said.
Liam initially was slow to respond to the implants. After all, he was hearing for the first time.
"He was like a newborn baby when it came to hearing," Liz Collins said. "But now he is hearing on a normal level. He's more attentive. He knows his name. He responds to toys that make sound.
"He knows what 'no' means," she said, even if he doesn't always like it. "He shakes his head and points his finger."
Herzog said when Liam was in for an exam recently, he emphatically wanted the devices back when they were taken off.
Even though part of the device is embedded in bone behind his ear, Liam won't outgrow his implants. They normally last about 20 years before they need to be replaced. The exterior pieces have to be taken out for baths and when he sleeps. They are water resistant but not waterproof.
Liam has to wear a small battery pack on a strap that wraps around his body to power the devices. When he gets older and his ear is bigger, he can have a hearing aid powered by regular batteries.
Liam will start classes this summer at the Moog Center for two mornings a week in toddler sessions. He will work up to more sessions per week.
"Good audiology is the key," Liz Collins said. "You have a great device but without good support it won't make a difference."
The device beeps and a flashing light appears when the settings are disturbed or when it comes loose.
When Liam received the first device, he would mess with it, Liz Collins said. But he doesn't do that so much now.
"He knows what they are there for," she said. "If one falls out, he hands it back."
"It's more like when he pulls it off, he tries to put it back on," Danny Collins said.
Liam isn't talking yet, but he is doing all the normal things a 1-year-old toddler would do. His parents can interact with him in normal fashion, Liz Collins said.
"He can hear me say 'I love you' and I know he hears," she said.
