CI question - Please help

There are many that say the decision to opt for a CI should be made by the child. I am at a loss as to what is the appropriate age for a child to decide. Please vote on what you believe is the appropriate age between 1 year old and 18 years old. Please factor in how well you believe the child would be able to comprehend the issue and make an informed decision.

Thank you

My opinion is;

12 years old that when they could decide for on themselves whatever they want to. But, also it's parents' choose for their kids since they are wise as long as their kids are happy then Im happy with it. Since, if I am planning to be a mother of a deaf kid, I would rather to dicussion with her/him each age until s/he decide want to get it or not, that's all.

Every child is different... some children are able to think really well at 12 years old, others haven't matured sufficiently until they get older. There would have to be two things to consider about the child:

--emotional maturity
--intellectual maturity

The parent would also need to help the child make an educated decision. It is possible the child may still change his/her mind after learning about CI and other CI users' positive and negative experiences.

A problem with the child being 12-15 years old is that the child is undergoing puberty at that time, and this can also affect their ability to reason. Also, I'm doubtful that a child is mature enough at 11 years or younger.

It would depend on how well the parent knows the child. I decided not to vote at all. I did notice there was a vote for 1-yr-old, but that wasn't me.

I'm posting hypothetically here. If I was of the "wait until the child is old enough to decide" camp I would probably choose age 16, since that is the age that coincides with the age of consent for sex, marriage, driving and so on.

However I also agree with Spock's points that people in puberty don't necessarily really understand all the long reaching implications of the decisions they make. They are also in a reactive stage of life, where they naturally rebel against parents, authority or whatever.

Probably not until someone is truly independent i.e. in the world of work, perhaps a parent themselves, having experienced disappointments in life and so on does a person really get maturity in their decision making process. I think this is why people often mellow when they get older because they realise that the world is not as black and white as they first thought. But that for me doesn't happen until 20s or 30s.

In my opinion.. 18 yrs old is reasonable age to make their own decision to have ci or not...

I voted 12, and to think of this.. I wasn't sure either. I just don't know what the appropriate age decide.. at the age 12.. is where they become a pre-teen and more sociable with friends. Its where they get to the point where they want to be able to hear better and be able to pick up what their friends are saying. however... I'm thinking between 16 to 18... there's a big chance they can miss out alot of sounds.. 15 years of no sounds without hearing aids or with HAs... in order to start kinda early.. would be the best to pick up most of the sounds and get use to it.

I wore hearing aids when I was 9 months old... of course i didn't like it but i've gotten used to the sounds with my HAs...

My boyfriend wore HAs when he was younger and quit wearing it when he was 15.. then he tried it again recently.. and doesn't like the HAs anymore.


so I would think the appropriate age would be 12 or 13 in order for them to decide... whether they want it or not. I would take my kid (if she was deaf) to talk to the people who have CIs and find what are the pros and cons. I would respect her decision if she wants it or not.


I know I don't have CI.. I'm too afraid that it won't work on me. Besides that.. I think I'd just rather stick with my HAs as long as I can..

The sooner they're implanted the better result for spoken language skills since it gives the child the best chance to learn to use sound while language skills are developing, so my vote will be the age of 7 not 12-18 sorry, but I think that's too late...I understand that some wants the child to decide along with the parents but I think the reasonable age would be 7, so that gives a child more time to develope their language skills....

If I had a deaf child, I would do it sooner than waiting until my child get older....I think it will cause alot of deny in my child's spoken language skills etc ....so that's my opinion sorry folks

Angel said:

The sooner they're implanted the better result for spoken language skills since it gives the child the best chance to learn to use sound while language skills are developing, so my vote will be the age of 7 not 12-18 sorry, but I think that's too late...I understand that some wants the child to decide along with the parents but I think the reasonable age would be 7, so that gives a child more time to develope their language skills....

If I had a deaf child, I would do it sooner than waiting until my child get older....I think it will cause alot of deny in my child's spoken language skills etc ....so that's my opinion sorry folks

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That is interesting Angel. If its true that the sooner the better then wouldn't 7 years be at an age where the child has allready missed opportunities? Just curious

rockdrummer said:

That is interesting Angel. If its true that the sooner the better then wouldn't 7 years be at an age where the child has allready missed opportunities? Just curious

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Well you said what is the appropriate age for a child to decide on having a CI, so, IF I were to say the age of 2, will a toddler understand the difference between a hearing aids and a CI?...hmmm I don't think so...

I still feel that children under the age of 7 is wayy too young to made this sort of decision,

Angel said:

Well you said what is the appropriate age for a child to decide on having a CI, so, IF I were to say the age of 2, will a toddler understand the difference between a hearing aids and a CI?...hmmm I don't think so...

I still feel that children under the age of 7 is wayy too young to made this sort of decision,

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I agree with you but my question was on your comment about the earlier the better. If you believe that to be true wouldn't waiting until the child is 7 cause him to miss out on early stage development opportunities? Yes that is a sidebar question but your comment made me curious as to your thoughts on it.

rockdrummer said:

I agree with you but my question was on your comment about the earlier the better. If you believe that to be true wouldn't waiting until the child is 7 cause him to miss out on early stage development opportunities? Yes that is a sidebar question but your comment made me curious as to your thoughts on it.

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Honestly, I can't say a 7 years old would miss out on early stage development when every child is different...Some may do so well, while the others won't....so its 50/50 I guess...


Even I'm aware the earliest they're implant the better the result are, but I will not have my deaf child implant early then the age of 2, no matter how well a child would hear out of these implants....That's how I feel as a mother , it doesn't mean I don't want whats best for my child but the fear of having a child so young to go through a surgery unless it's a life threaten then yeah....but I'm all for the parents to decide, since it not my place to make such a judgement ...

I voted for one year old. Obviously, my husband and I made the decision for our 18 month old, Isaac to have an implant. We chose this to give Isaac options in life. If he gets older and decides he doesn't want to use the implant, we support him. We are learning sign language with him and will continue to learn and teach sign to Isaac. He has only been implanted since October and already is saying 5 words. He is continuing to learn ASL and his vocabulary in sign is amazing at over 150 words. I truly believe that early implantation is better for many reasons. First of all, the ability to pick up spoken language at an earlier age and with greater ease. Another benefit of early implantation is that memory of the surgery will not exist. My first memory as a child came when I was almost 4 years old. Isaac will not remember the surgery. An older child will have to decide on surgery and remember it while possibly experiencing stress and anxiety over the decision prior to the surgery.

Spock said:

Every child is different... some children are able to think really well at 12 years old, others haven't matured sufficiently until they get older. There would have to be two things to consider about the child:

--emotional maturity
--intellectual maturity

The parent would also need to help the child make an educated decision. It is possible the child may still change his/her mind after learning about CI and other CI users' positive and negative experiences.

A problem with the child being 12-15 years old is that the child is undergoing puberty at that time, and this can also affect their ability to reason. Also, I'm doubtful that a child is mature enough at 11 years or younger.

It would depend on how well the parent knows the child. I decided not to vote at all. I did notice there was a vote for 1-yr-old, but that wasn't me.

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Yes I has to agree with you that it depend on children´s maturity. I have seen many children between 7 and 9 years old who are maturity enough to know what they really want. Its about parental´s education. Without parental´s education, the children would act immaturity. I vote 7 years old... Why? because I have seen many children like this here in Germany who are mature enough to understand what they really want... Many parents let their deaf children to mix with CI and HOH children... Let them learn where they come from... Of course the children questions their parents a lot after what they have seen... The parents positive their questions......... until what they really want or not... Yes, the parents will know their maturity development..., if not, then not do that yet.......

When the intention is to make the child part of a hearing family, hearing society, then as soon as possible is the way to go. Deaf-born children will have a delay in perception of sound of allready some months. When deafness is detected this can have ran up to 1 to 3 years.

Again, when hearing is the goal, any delay in receiving sound will affect the later outcome.
Most parents of deaf children (96% are hearing) will want their child to be part of their community. For the child, for the parents, the immediate family, friends etc. The wish will be for the child to be able to interact with these people on their terms.... speech.

Basically, delaying the decision will affect the final outcome, success of CI.

Angel said:

Well you said what is the appropriate age for a child to decide on having a CI, so, IF I were to say the age of 2, will a toddler understand the difference between a hearing aids and a CI?...hmmm I don't think so...

I still feel that children under the age of 7 is wayy too young to made this sort of decision,

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It's funny how we interpret things...
I interpreted the question as "the parents decision at what age the child to be operated"
You interpreted it - correctly - as "the child to decide"...

From your point of view, I would say 7 to 12... depending on the childs ability to make such a decision - and that would be up to the parents to decide if the child is mature enough.

However.... language aquisation skills (speech/hearing) would have been deteriorated....

I vote 7 years old. If I have deaf child, I will never make child have CI. I will allow child to decide about want CI or not after they try a hearing aids. I think they should try hearing aids to see how they feel first. I am pure deaf, I wore hearing aids for many years. I never like it. I didn't want to get CI. I notice that many deaf people got CI when they were small then They hate them. I think Under 7 years olds kids are not good idea to have CI! Sorry

rockdrummer said:

That is interesting Angel. If its true that the sooner the better then wouldn't 7 years be at an age where the child has allready missed opportunities? Just curious

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I has to honest with you that the young children will not MISS the sounds when they have CI.

I have seen a lot of Germans speak real good with HA. My hubby is one of them. A friend of mine wear HA when she was 6 months old. She speak like HOH and can phone to their parents. Of course I suggested her about CI but she said that she is happy with HA. I respect her wish until I learn real alot at 5 weeks spa last October and must say that I´m glad that my friend reject my suggestion. A lot of Germans babies wear HA first until they familiar with their development skills.

I know that age 7 is not too late to learn anything. Plenty of time to develop their speech and language skills.

I withnessed in real life and would do the same as my friends did with their deaf children. (Oh yes some hearing parents as well). If I found my baby is deaf then I would wear HA on my baby at age 6 months and mix my deaf child with CI and HOH children... Let my child see it him/herself... Of course she/he will question me what CI is etc... (You know the children like to ask parents a lot of questions). I will positive their questions about CI... I would not support if my 5/6 years old child with CI yet until I´m able to trust my children´s maturity to 100%. I would wait until they are 7 years old then... because 7 years old is old enough to understand what CI is and pros/cons etc with the help from parental´s positive education.

Example: a child physican suggest us to have ear surgery on my son before he goes his first school... He was 6 years old, that´s time. He said No and want to leave his ears alone. We respect his wish... One year later after his first school, I repeat my suggestion to him about ear surgery. He said No... I respect his wish.... Nearly 5 years later, he asked us for our support to correct his ears at month ago. Of course we are happy to fulfill his wish because we want him happy. I rather to have discuss with my children until we decide together what he/she wants or not.

Isaacsmom said:

I voted for one year old. Obviously, my husband and I made the decision for our 18 month old, Isaac to have an implant. We chose this to give Isaac options in life. If he gets older and decides he doesn't want to use the implant, we support him. We are learning sign language with him and will continue to learn and teach sign to Isaac. He has only been implanted since October and already is saying 5 words. He is continuing to learn ASL and his vocabulary in sign is amazing at over 150 words. I truly believe that early implantation is better for many reasons. First of all, the ability to pick up spoken language at an earlier age and with greater ease. Another benefit of early implantation is that memory of the surgery will not exist. My first memory as a child came when I was almost 4 years old. Isaac will not remember the surgery. An older child will have to decide on surgery and remember it while possibly experiencing stress and anxiety over the decision prior to the surgery.

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Isaacsmom.. I think you missed the question. It's not the age that the parents chose that I asked. Its the age that the child can decide for themselves. I honestly don't belive you think a one year old is capable of making such a decision on their own.. Please correct me if I am wrong..

Liebling, Ghsh1996,
Three things...
#1: When someone is doing well with a HA, there's no need for a CI. I would not even suggest it to that person.

#2:

Ghsh1996 said:

" I wore hearing aids for many years. I never like it. I didn't want to get CI."

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In a way this is part of the problem.
My daughter NEVER liked HA's either, but when she got CI, she NEVER had a problem.
I guess that when you have to wear something that does not help you... you will dislike it..
When hearing-loss is so severe that it's save to say a HA will not help, CI is a good option.

#3

Ghsh1996 said:

"I notice that many deaf people got CI when they were small then They hate them."

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How small/young, how long ago??

rockdrummer said:

...I think you missed the question. It's not the age that the parents chose that I asked. Its the age that the child can decide for themselves. .......

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I missed that as well... Probably because your range started from 0 years old... (I know.. where else to start..)

With that in mind, The "1 year" I entered is not valid... Like you say, a 1-year old cannot communicate in a way to make a decision....
Like I said before

Cloggy said:

..... I would say 7 to 12... depending on the childs ability to make such a decision - and that would be up to the parents to decide if the child is mature enough.

However.... language aquisation skills (speech/hearing) would have been deteriorated....

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