Starting to read all this at 6 am is really....enthralling.
Some people here have NO idea what they are talking about!
You know what I don't get.. Why is everybody going like: Oh, that kid wasn't really in pain, etc.
No one takes him seriously! Why not? Because he is a child?
Honestly, if my daughter plays with something she shouldn't have and I tell her no she throws a fit and starts crying. So just because it is okay for me, I can't expect her to deal with it in the same way. One thing about children: They are honest! If he says he is in pain in such a situation, no matter if it is "real" physical pain or not, the adults should listen to that and respond.
HE was in pain in that moment and that's that.
I'm late to the thread but I find some of the adults' reactions to the boy in the video confusing and surprising also. I think most kids know when they are in pain. They know the difference between not liking something, or feeling weird or scared, or being in pain and can communicate that.
Especially the boy in the video, I bet he was around 4 or 5 years old. He was old enough to know these basic feelings, and to be able to express them. It's difficult to tell from only 23 seconds of film, but it doesn't seem like anyone was trying to sign with the boy and ask him about his reactions. The adults only seemed to be talking about him, but not with him. He was old enough that I think someone could have been communicating with him. Instead the only direct contact was when the woman in the video (I don't know who she was) was rubbing his back while he was signing that the CI hurt.
We are only seeing a 23 second snippet of what happened. For the boy's sake, I hope he was only in pain because the sound was too loud and not because of a malfunctioning CI, or a bacterial infection. And if so, hopefully, the audiologist lowered the amplification.
IMHO because a CI is not always successfu, I've thought it would probably be best to wait until the child is old enough to be able to communicate before giving them the implant. Old enough to communicate in case there are any problems with the implant which while rare apparantly isn't that rare, yet young enough to get the benefits of learning how to speak while still in the sweet spot for acquiring language -- IMHO that is the preferable option.
No doubt I'm in a minority. Many parents seem to want to implant their children before 1 year of age and I'm guessing many other adults, including Deaf adults, want to want until the child is much older before allowing them to decide for themself if they should get the implant.