How to Decide on Cochlear Implant Surgery for Children

[jillio]

I've worn one HA over my left ear for many years. The sound in my right ear is so distorted that I can't make any sense of it. I have not worn anything over my right ear since I was 14.

My son, as well, doesn't wear his right HA for the same reason. Sure it amplifies the sound, but it is so distorted that he is unable to use any discrimination he can get from the left. These are the nuances that parents are not told about. But they are very important when it comes to the advantage anyone gets from any form of assistive devise.

 

[jillio]

Putting deaf children at risks for language delays for the sake of oralism is something I would never ever do and I cant believe that there are people who accept this.

Exactly what I mean by working toward the betterment of education for the deaf. We need changes, and those changes need to be insituted based on the way that deaf children perceive and process external stimuli. Methods need to be specific to their needs. The same old, same old has not proven successful, and it is absurd to continue to promote it. Sacrifice neurological, phsycological, educational, and linguistic development for the sake of a spoken word? The risk is too great.

 

[faire_jour]

Putting deaf children at risks for language delays for the sake of oralism is something I would never ever do and I cant believe that there are people who accept this.

It is not "for the sake of oralism". Parents choose spoken language for many reasons.

 

[jillio]

It is not "for the sake of oralism". Parents choose spoken language for many reasons.

Do the reasons really matter when the results are the same?

 

[shel90]

It is not "for the sake of oralism". Parents choose spoken language for many reasons.

Sorry, it still puts deaf children at risks for delays. That is something that's not acceptable to me and I will never support it. As a deaf person, we are the ones who suffer not the hearing parents.

 

[faire_jour]

Sorry, it still puts deaf children at risks for delays. That is something that's not acceptable to me and I will never support it. As a deaf person, we are the ones who suffer not the hearing parents.

There are pros and cons of every choice.

 

[shel90]

There are pros and cons of every choice.

As long as there are cons, why is that acceptable especially when it comes to the education of deaf children? That's a terrible thing to do that to deaf children.


Language deficits are the worse thing for people to allow in deaf children. It will affect them for the rest of their lives.

 

[jillio]

As long as there are cons, why is that acceptable especially when it comes to the education of deaf children? That's a terrible thing to do that to deaf children.


Language deficits are the worse thing for people to allow in deaf children. It will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Exactly. What people fail to ask is, "Is this con affecting me, or is it having a lasting impact on my child?"

 

[faire_jour]

As long as there are cons, why is that acceptable especially when it comes to the education of deaf children? That's a terrible thing to do that to deaf children.


Language deficits are the worse thing for people to allow in deaf children. It will affect them for the rest of their lives.

There are cons to both sides. Parents are trying to make the choice that will be best for their child long term.

 

[shel90]

There are cons to both sides. Parents are trying to make the choice that will be best for their child long term.

denying full access to language, communication, and information is a con that I would never dream of imposing on any child whether deaf or hearing. It is just not acceptable to me. U wont find me supporting an educational program that puts deaf children at those kinds of risks.

 

[faire_jour]

denying full access to language, communication, and information is a con that I would never dream of imposing on any child whether deaf or hearing. It is just not acceptable to me. U wont find me supporting an educational program that puts deaf children at those kinds of risks.

I know that you do not believe that there are cons to having ASL as the first language of a child, but other people do not see it that way.

 

[shel90]

I know that you do not believe that there are cons to having ASL as the first language of a child, but other people do not see it that way.

It is like asking what are the cons of having spoken English as the first language of a hearing child.

Seriously? ASL is a language that is fully accessible to all deaf/hoh/hearing children when spoken English is not fully accessible to deaf/hoh children because of the auditory issues.

 

[A]

It is like asking what are the cons of having spoken English as the first language of a hearing child. >>>>> definitely. People would not like that at all if we treated their language that way. ... you know, listing all the reasons why we should not use English at all.

 

[shel90]

It is like asking what are the cons of having spoken English as the first language of a hearing child. >>>>> definitely. People would not like that at all if we treated their language that way. ... you know, listing all the reasons why we should not use English at all.

No kidding! It just doesnt make sense.

 

[GrendelQ]

ASL is a language that is fully accessible to all deaf/hoh/hearing children .

Shel90, I know what you are getting at in terms of it being something a deaf child can physically do, and I agree with that. But unfortunately, in practical application, ASL is not accessible in many environments and to many families that have no connection to Deaf culture. It's not taught as a second language in most schools and colleges (across all of the Harvard Schools, it's ridiculous, but there's not even one ASL class), and aside from schools for the deaf, which are dwindling in number, there are few teachers available in public or private schools with ASL skills. ASL instructors -- good ones -- are few and far between, most often you get someone who learned ASL as an adult and is far from fluent.

To provide my child with an ASL immersive environment, I've got to argue a need for ASL, despite her ability to test into a mainstream environment without accommodation (and we all know that testing is very different from real life application), I've got to make our case against the two auditory / oral focused schools for the deaf within a hour of our home, swing the $55-60k annual tuition/transport cost with the help of our state/local school district, and a put my child on a van for 4 hours a day. We can't leave our home, our jobs (I can't afford to go part time to spend more time with my child), or we forfeit an arrangement we consider to be the best possible educational environment for Li-Li.

And I'm lucky in that this is possible for us, that this wonderful school is -- though far -- still within reach, that our administrators are in favor of this, and we have the resources in our state and at home to make it happen. I've spoken with many parents for whom there's just no option to include ASL, and for their children, ASL is about as accessible as Tagalog is in the US: similar # of speakers/users, places exist with high concentrations of native speaking population, but very sparse in most places. And even if your child (and hopefully your immediately family) becomes fluent in Tagalog (or ASL) there's still a language barrier with extended family, friends, and people you encounter in everyday life.

I'm invested in making certain my daughter communicates as fluidly with ASL as with spoken English, but it's by far more difficult for us to make that possible than it is to provide English immersion.

 

[kokonut]

Shel90, I know what you are getting at in terms of it being something a deaf child can physically do, and I agree with that. But unfortunately, in practical application, ASL is not accessible in many environments and to many families that have no connection to Deaf culture. It's not taught as a second language in most schools and colleges (across all of the Harvard Schools, it's ridiculous, but there's not even one ASL class), and aside from schools for the deaf, which are dwindling in number, there are few teachers available in public or private schools with ASL skills. ASL instructors -- good ones -- are few and far between, most often you get someone who learned ASL as an adult and is far from fluent.

To provide my child with an ASL immersive environment, I've got to argue a need for ASL, despite her ability to test into a mainstream environment without accommodation (and we all know that testing is very different from real life application), I've got to make our case against the two auditory / oral focused schools for the deaf within a hour of our home, swing the $55-60k annual tuition/transport cost with the help of our state/local school district, and a put my child on a van for 4 hours a day. We can't leave our home, our jobs (I can't afford to go part time to spend more time with my child), or we forfeit an arrangement we consider to be the best possible educational environment for Li-Li.

And I'm lucky in that this is possible for us, that this wonderful school is -- though far -- still within reach, that our administrators are in favor of this, and we have the resources in our state and at home to make it happen. I've spoken with many parents for whom there's just no option to include ASL, and for their children, ASL is about as accessible as Tagalog is in the US: similar # of speakers/users, places exist with high concentrations of native speaking population, but very sparse in most places. And even if your child (and hopefully your immediately family) becomes fluent in Tagalog (or ASL) there's still a language barrier with extended family, friends, and people you encounter in everyday life.

I'm invested in making certain my daughter communicates as fluidly with ASL as with spoken English, but it's by far more difficult for us to make that possible than it is to provide English immersion.

I think GrendelQ outlined some of the realities quite clearly and knows the challenges that she and her child have to face. And fortunately she has resources close by. Many parents aren't as fortunate.

 

[shel90]

Shel90, I know what you are getting at in terms of it being something a deaf child can physically do, and I agree with that. But unfortunately, in practical application, ASL is not accessible in many environments and to many families that have no connection to Deaf culture. It's not taught as a second language in most schools and colleges (across all of the Harvard Schools, it's ridiculous, but there's not even one ASL class), and aside from schools for the deaf, which are dwindling in number, there are few teachers available in public or private schools with ASL skills. ASL instructors -- good ones -- are few and far between, most often you get someone who learned ASL as an adult and is far from fluent.

To provide my child with an ASL immersive environment, I've got to argue a need for ASL, despite her ability to test into a mainstream environment without accommodation (and we all know that testing is very different from real life application), I've got to make our case against the two auditory / oral focused schools for the deaf within a hour of our home, swing the $55-60k annual tuition/transport cost with the help of our state/local school district, and a put my child on a van for 4 hours a day. We can't leave our home, our jobs (I can't afford to go part time to spend more time with my child), or we forfeit an arrangement we consider to be the best possible educational environment for Li-Li.

And I'm lucky in that this is possible for us, that this wonderful school is -- though far -- still within reach, that our administrators are in favor of this, and we have the resources in our state and at home to make it happen. I've spoken with many parents for whom there's just no option to include ASL, and for their children, ASL is about as accessible as Tagalog is in the US: similar # of speakers/users, places exist with high concentrations of native speaking population, but very sparse in most places. And even if your child (and hopefully your immediately family) becomes fluent in Tagalog (or ASL) there's still a language barrier with extended family, friends, and people you encounter in everyday life.

I'm invested in making certain my daughter communicates as fluidly with ASL as with spoken English, but it's by far more difficult for us to make that possible than it is to provide English immersion.

When I say accessible I mean from a receptive standpoint when communicating. Nothing about where and how much it is being provided.

 

[faire_jour]

When I say accessible I mean from a receptive standpoint when communicating. Nothing about where and how much it is being provided.

But isn't that a concern? If the child never has any fluent language models around them, how can they ever learn it?

 

[shel90]

But isn't that a concern? If the child never has any fluent language models around them, how can they ever learn it?

Of course it is and that is another subject that needs to be addressed.


I was speaking from a linguistic point of view on the accessibility of the languages in this thread.

 

[rick48]

I think what Rick was saying is in comparison to his perception of Jillio's view. Not to deaf people without CI's. I would leave it to him for clearification though.

Basically correct. My experiences with the implant community have given me that impression that they are generally more optimistic than others hearing and deaf.