STUPID!
You need to give the baby a form a visual communication. If you want the baby to grow up in the Hearing world, fine, but teach the baby something. Don't depend on the cochlear implants for everything. What if his auditory nerve goes bad. Are you gonna' give him an auditory brainstem implant and depend on that? STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! If the baby takes off the processor, he's still a deaf child.
The baby should learn some form of visual communication, such as ASL, SEE, or Cued Speech. If they want the baby to grow up in the Hearing world, fine, teach him Cued Speech, and let him socalize with Deaf people to learn ASL and have a second language. He can teach them Cued Speech, and he can learn ASL. Give him an identity. Don't let him become some sort of synthetic Hearing person!
I totally agree with you, the doctor was even saying that they dont even know that he can hear any sort of actual speech or that he can make sense of anything or that hes really even responding at all.
My mother always used to say 'dont put all your eggs in one basket' and I think thats what this woman is doing. Shes putting sole responsibility on the CI. I think CIs are an amazing tool, and that we should in every way embrace whatever new technology to improve the quality of life that we can. But I also believe that we are a world that is becoming so dependant on other people and technological devices to allow us to communicate.
I think that she should be hopeful that the CI will work, but since he is young right now, and has every opportunity to both learn sign language and possibly hear to some extent I think both aspects should be focused on. Equally.
It sounded to me like the mother was just really distraught when she found out her son was deaf, and that rather reluctantly she was learning sign language because she saw it as a last resort or her only option. But now that with the CI, her son is showing signs of possibly being able to hear some sort of sound she has just given up at all on allowing him to experience the amazing world of sign language.
Hes just at such a young age that he needs to be learning certain things such as whats allowed and what isnt, this is the age that parents start teaching their children a little bit of what is expected from them. And if you give up on the ability to communicate effectivly with you child, for the ability for your child to just be able to hear I think you have your priorities wrong. Its just like how that book Deaf like me really rubbed me wrong at first. The parents were focusing so much on their daughter to be able to hear, that they totally lost focus of being able to communicate yes and no with her, or any sort of discipline or vital information.
I think thats where it starts to cross the line, when youre so desperate for a child to be 'normal' to be able to hear, that you forget that your first duty is to be a parent and have whatever form of communication possible with the child, because first and foremost you have to teach your child right from wrong.
sorry thats my little rant.
I was curious what they say. 