Hello All! I have some ?'s

C

cduskey

New Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone! My name is Courtney. I live in Oregon and am a mother of two boys! My youngest son Evan is deaf. We didn't find this out until about a year ago. Anyhow, we currently have the option of giving him a cochlear implant. Any suggestions, comments, ideas. I am curious if there are any teenage boys out there who have had one for a while and would like to comment on how they like it. Does it affect your life at all? Does it affect your ability to play sports? My son is so active and that's his father's main concern. We are almost leaning towards not getting a cochlear implant for my son but want to view all pros/cons before we decide. Thanks everyone!!!

Courtney
 
Have you gone to an audiologist to test his hearing loss???? sometimes he may be okay with a hearing aid since it takes time to adapt to it... As it just me, I would go toward the natural way first if not possible then you know where you stand smile.. I think there was a big post about CI.. I've respect people having it but personally I wouldn't do it.. There's sooo many deaf play sports and most are professionals... if it's not bothering him then it's cool as it's a permanent and your decision you have to live with.. Hang in there!!!
 
Well, we have been trying hearing aids for about 8 months now and he is hearing at 55 dBs with them on. He has a profound hearing loss in his right ear and a severe loss in his left. We found out because at 22 months, he still wasn't talking. However, he's a smart little bugger. We didn't realize how much we used gestures to tell him what to do or what his older brother would help him do. The audiologists have done several tests over the last year including an ABR. We started learning sign language as soon as we found out. We have a private tutor that teaches our whole family and there is a deaf lady who comes to our house once a week to meet with us. So, we are getting a hang of it. Anyhow, I have been trying to read all of the posts about CI's. I don't know what I want. His dad does not want him to get it. We are gonna do some more research and talk to doctors then make the decision that's best for all of us. Well, thanks for all of your guys input! This website has A LOT of useful stuff on it. I am so glad I found it.
 
He has a profound hearing loss in his right ear
Click to expand...
Is he unaidable in that ear? If he is, or the hearing aid is giving him very very minimal benifit, I think implantation would be a good thing.
Its hard.....I mean it sounds like he's getting a lot of benifit from hearing aids. I mean he can hear with his aids, as well as I can without mine...Is this one of those "ambigious" cases? Is his speech developing?
You could ask him what he wants. It does sound rather ambigious, since he is hearing at hoh levels already. If he was getting little to no benifit, I'd say "go for it!" He can learn to talk at that hearing level. I did, and so did many others.
Here are some VERY good resources for you: American Society for Deaf Children
and Archives of PARENTDEAF-HH@LISTSERV.KENT.EDU
 
Oh, and are you hooked up with the Oregon School for the Deaf? I know that it's not exactly the best school for the Deaf, but Deaf School EI programs tend to be WICKED good!. Oregon School for the Deaf: Welcome to OSD!
I was doing a bit of research, seeing if there were any oral programs. Only one is Tucker-Maxon. They might be able to help with speech therapy etc.....but, they can be extreme. On campus there's a rule about not tapping dhh kids on the shoulder to "call" them. You have to use your voice.
 
:welcome: to AD Cduskey!!

I suggest u read several posts under "Our World, Our Culture" and "Hearing Aides and Coclear Implants"

Some kids dont benefit from CIs while others to. I think a lot of factors play a role in whether a CI would be successful or not such as family involvment, the child's motivation with speech therapy, and the child's learning styles.

I am glad u are learning ASL. It is important that your son has a full access to language whether it is visual or auditority. In my opinion, having both increases the child's chances for a full development in language. :)
 
Hello and welcome to Alldeaf!

The more you search, the greater the chances that all of you will be happy with, no matter what decision you do make, apparently, it does seem like your son is adapting quite well right now with his hearing-aid, giving it 'time' to see how he does progress with that is a good option as well as choosing the option to have a C.I.,....Obviously it does show how much you love your son, I do wish you all the very best, just continue to give all your support, guidance as he grows up. You see, at my parents' 25th anniversary celebration party, when it was my turn to speak up, I made a note of the fact of how much I was very fortunate to have my parents, the choices that they did make for me, I simply told everyone if they hadn't done some things, I wouldn't have been standing there, speaking to all in the manner I was doing so, in other words, I have been very grateful for all they have done. I'm HoH, can lipread quite well, knows A.S.L., speak and hear well. Continue to search, do the research, to give loving support...you all will be fine! ;)
Also, hope you'll enjoy your stay here in AD as well!

Have a great day! :wave:





~RR
 
:welcome: to Alldeaf! Have fun browsing and posting! :)
 
Hello,

Welcome to Alldeaf and enjoy your stay here :)...
 
Back
Top