I am a new hearing person with a deaf son

Aww cute baby! welcome to AD :)
 
gnulinuxman said:
:welcome: to AllDeaf! You seem to be one of the few hearing parents I am not mad at here (the other one being jillio at the moment). Learning ASL for your kid is a GREAT thing you can do for your child. Best of luck to you.

(I am hearing myself and plan to adopt deaf children later on...)
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Ok
Now.... what would I have to do to make you mad?
I want to make sure I stay clear of conflict here.....
No really,, tell me about the "other hearing parents" that come here and why they upset people?

Just curious.....
thanks
s
 
ButterflyGirl said:
Awww you do have beautiful looking children, Sherri RN4u2 :)
I will keep your son in my prayers as he goes for his surgery on this Thursday. Keep us updated.
I will also say a prayer for your husband and you :hug:
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Thank you....... thank you

hugs
s
 
Demise said:
Hey... what do you know, men are such hard headed, sometimes. Your kids are sweet. I'm glad to hear that your son's fine, but your husband will realized in one day he will need to accept the fact and love his son as he is.
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don't get me wrong, i do not doubt his love for Nicholas...
He is a great daddy to all 3 kids, i am very lucky...
i just wish that he were more open to the idea of things being different, and embracing the ASL the way that i have...

He is a good guy, with a great big heart and means well but has a hard time with change...
and having a child with a sydrome with some special needs is a change....
I feel bad bad mouthing him, that was not my intention.. i was just venting.
 
deafdyke said:
Oh does he have a syndrome or is he multiply handicapped?
That's great that you're already hooked up with TLC......maybe he'll go there when he is old enough for school! That's also good that he is responding well to the Sign......indicates that no mental issues or anything like that.
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Nick was born with a rare genetic disorder called BOF, Branchio Oculo Facial Syndrome, this syndrome has many dfferent characteristics ranging from mild to severe.
Nick has a mild case of it, but his challenges were that he did not want to breath when he was born, he did not want to eat, he was 6 weeks premature.
He had what they call "dysmorphic features", nothing that bad, or nothing that i noticed. Since he was born early and was born not breathing or moving, he had a million dollar Neonatal Intensive Care Work up which showed some the following
Low set ears, posteriorly rotated
Wide spaced eyes
Nose flat , no nasal tip
Microform cleft, pseudo cleft lip
small chin
tongue large but rolling back and sticking to the roof of his mouth.
poor eating
periods of apnea where he would stop breathing
failure to thrive
large thumbs
large big toes
branchial cleft ( on his neck )
failed hearing test both ears
there is a small chance of mental retardation... but i don't think he is.

His hearing loss classified as moderate to severe...
If you go here www.carepages.com
and go to this page "PrayersForNick" all one word, i have an info page on him with pictures...
I have not updated it in about a month, but this will force me to do so...
 
loml said:
http://www.tlcdeaf.org/abouttlc/mssn_faq.htm#reading and writing

I totally support inclusion. My question is this, how successful is inclusion if the child is not recieving a complete language?

.

http://www.tlcdeaf.org/abouttlc/mssn_faq.htm#reading and writing

I wonder what the literacy statistics are?



How is it inclusion if you do not use the same language?




How have the staff been trained in ASL? Are they native users?

*inquiring minds want to know*
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thank you for all of the information.....
 
samantha kennel said:
hi sheri I am also a monthe of a hearing impared son, If your son only has moderate to severe hearing loss he is not deaf. he can hear alot..even with out aides. my son started out mild to modreate then severe to profound when you get to severe to profound you are considered legally deaf. does your son have hearing aides??my son had them at 6 weeks.. what a differece it made in him.He now has a cochlear implant and a hearing aide and is doing amazing. Let me know how your son is???I am sorry your son has gone through so much I know whats that like. My husband was very accepting of everything ...we cried together,prayed together. now we are moving forward and doing the best for our baby.My husband even had a fundraiser to help another child receive the gift of hearing. and was able to raise over 2,000 so a child who cant afford hearing aides can get a pair.Its hard thing to go through but God will get you through it. samanta
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Yes....
He seems to hear my voice more than anyone elses, although when I talk I do ASL and he watches my hands.

He was just fitted for a bone conduction hearing aid. He has extremely stenosed ( tight ear canals )
it is hard for the doctors to even visualize his ear drum when looking in.
He hates his hearing aid, he has to wear a head band to hold the old clunky thing in place...
here is a picture of the little guy wearing it.
he can only tolerate the hearing aid for about 1 hour at a time and he pulls it off and tries to eat it...
When he first had it put on , he cried so hard, he was so scared. I felt so bad for him.... I tried it on to see what was so bad and it was so noisy... all of the background noise was so amplified, no wonder he cried.
He gets so fatigued wearing it...

He had a CAT scan to evalutate his ear bones and he has some gross internal ear deformities causing his hearing loss. I am meeting with the ENT doctor do go over the results of his tests in detail. THe preliminary results were that he would need to have each ear drilled out to make the ear canals bigger as well as having some bone reconstruction in both of his ears. Doctor already told me that they would not operate on his ears until he was 8 years old.

More later... i gotta go to bed.....

thanks for listening again....
s
 
picture of nick with hearing aid on

whoops
here is the picture of the little guy with the hearing aid on.
 

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He was just fitted for a bone conduction hearing aid. He has extremely stenosed ( tight ear canals )
it is hard for the doctors to even visualize his ear drum when looking in.
He hates his hearing aid, he has to wear a head band to hold the old clunky thing in place...

He gets so fatigued wearing it...

He had a CAT scan to evalutate his ear bones and he has some gross internal ear deformities causing his hearing loss. I am meeting with the ENT doctor do go over the results of his tests in detail. THe preliminary results were that he would need to have each ear drilled out to make the ear canals bigger as well as having some bone reconstruction in both of his ears. Doctor already told me that they would not operate on his ears until he was 8 years old.
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Oh wow!!!!! :jaw: I actually have the same kind of loss as your son! I don't wear a BCHA thou. (always worn BTEs) I remember when I was little when I would get ear infections, the docs would try to look in my ears with the otoscope.....my parents would always have to say " Ummm you're not going to see anything in there!" :mrgreen:What ENT are you looking at? Go see Dr. Eavy at Mass. Eye and Ear....He is the grand high poobah of stuff like this!
I had the surgery, and while I can hear better in my left ear I still have to wear hearing aids. Oh well.....it's fun to be able to turn my hearing off whenever I want ! :mrgreen:
 
Sherri RN4u2,

Nick is a brave boy! I admire your strength and wish you and your family every success! :)
 
Hello and welcome to Alldeaf Sherri RN4u2! First off, obviously you have beautiful children, being a 'great' mom for their well-being, etc.,....It's an useful tool to learn ASL as well as being able to explore all the possibilities you and your husband can be able to provide for him, for that, I'm confident just from reading your posts that the two of you will there for him as he grows up, along with the guidance from above. ;)

It can be somewhat understandable whereas your husband may shun out of participating in a 'new' learning process right now, although, given time, with the big heart that you've described him, he'll come around--and have that wonderful 'father/son' connection. :)

You have a beautiful family and I do hope you'll truly enjoy your stay here in AD!

Have a great day! :wave:
 
What is that suppose to mean?
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What do you mean what is that supposed to mean? It's an example of the typical high powered overprogrammed family that values money, and superfical acheivement such as going to an Ivy League college, or the biggest house or the flashiest car or whatever. There are very few average suburban families who have a dhh kid, who are involved in the Boston SHH or the Boston AG Bell......Trust me, that population is all about superfical yuppie acheivement.....:barf: Like most Boston AG Bellers and SHHHer's are conservative Republican types, who want designer "perfect" kids, and who just can't accept that using ASL isn't going to put the Mark of the Beast on their dhh kids!
 
deafdyke said:
No, not at all. However, what I meant by that is the type of family who gives their kids toys that will increase their SAT scores so they can get into an Ivy League college, and become a high powered yuppie type.
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deafdyke,

Exactly what kind of toys are there that increase SAT scores?
 
deafdyke said:
What do you mean what is that supposed to mean? It's an example of the typical high powered overprogrammed family that values money, and superfical acheivement such as going to an Ivy League college, or the biggest house or the flashiest car or whatever. There are very few average suburban families who have a dhh kid, who are involved in the Boston SHH or the Boston AG Bell......Trust me, that population is all about superfical yuppie acheivement.....:barf: Like most Boston AG Bellers and SHHHer's are conservative Republican types, who want designer "perfect" kids, and who just can't accept that using ASL isn't going to put the Mark of the Beast on their dhh kids!
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This increases the STAT scores how?
 
Welcome to AD from Ireland!!

Your son is Lovely. I have never heard of BOF. It was interesting to learn such new words that i have never heard of. I have 3 Deaf children myself. The baby is 17 months old Deaf wearing hearing aids too. What involve in the BOF? Can you tell me more about it, please? I am very interesting in knowing more about it. I hope you don't mind me asking! :cheers:
 
I wish my "hairy" Hubby was open to ASL... he is in such DENIAL about Nicholas. I mean he talks to him like he can hear.. I keep saying and showing him how to talk and sign at the same time.... he keeps saying that I know he can hear me.....
He reminds me of the person who talks really LOUDLY to the Russian person thinking that if they talk loud enough that the language barrier will go away. We always talk louder to them expecting them to understand what we are saying.... IT's like WAKE up you BOZO, the Russian lady is not deaf !!!
I feel like this with my husband....I feel like my husband and I even have a language barrier between us at this time in our lives. We just can't seem to agree on Most things...
What's a MOm to do ? :dunno: I am doing the best I can. I took this year off from work to be with him and learn all I can.

Nicholas has had 8 surgeries in the first 9.5 months of his life.
He is having his 9th surgery this Thursday.... For those of you spiritual folks, please send prayers.
The only other thing that he needs to have done this year is have his feeding tube removed, which will be done in August.
This Thursday my little guy will be having his tear ducts created in both of his eyes. He was born without tear ducts. We originally thought that his ducts were just blocked but when he had a surgery to attempt to open them, the EYE surgeon said that we would have to reschedule as there was nothing to open, he doesn't have ducts, they will need to be created with Tubes that will be sewn into place for the next 3 months.


The good news is.... My other two kids (Rachel 6 and Lauren 4) really enjoy learning sign language. I am teaching them how to sing/sign the ABC song, which the little guy LOVES...
It is so amazing the way that he studies my hands when I am doing this with him. He loves it...
I have seen him "babbling" in ASL to him self.. AND today he finally signed "more" to the yummy blueberry applesauce that i was giving him tonight at dinner. (this is a first) but it made me feel so good to see him do it and then when I got all excited, he got all excited and started smiling and got all squirmy in his seat.... It was sooooo cute!
The Learning Center for the Deaf is part of Nicks early intervention process. We are having in home classes this summer with the two girls to learn how to play with him and sign with ASL. If you all have any suggestions as to how to get through to my husband, I am open to your suggestions. (We are already seeing a counselor)

Thanks for listening... GOD BLESS[/QUOTE]

Awwww a cute baby! Give his Daddy more time. Try a handsign "I love you" to him more often ... Hopefully that will help him to accept more. Or even play ASL games etc. His two older sisters must be very proud to have a little brothah! I love TLC school, Framingham. It has a nice and warm environment. I grew up oral and started learning ASL at Gallaudet when I was 18 or 19. Even I had some hearing with my hearing aid, I wish I had learned ASL back then because I missed out alot. Nick's very blessed to have you because he goes to the TLC where he can pick up signs and makes friends! Trust me .. no bullying, fightings etc there. I went thru myself in the hearing school and it was horrible! Good luck!
:ily:
 
Sherri RN4u2 said:
VENTING TIME......

I wish my "hairy" Hubby was open to ASL... he is in such DENIAL about Nicholas. I mean he talks to him like he can hear.. I keep saying and showing him how to talk and sign at the same time.... he keeps saying that I know he can hear me.....
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Welcome!
You will notice that some Deafies are very open about their opinions! It's just part of the culture.
That's sad your hubby doesn't really want to learn sign - but - I would advise to not let this put a barrier between the two of you. As your son grows up and your hubby sees the close bond you have with your son, he will start to want the same thing then he will probably start having the desire to learn sign better. It just takes time and a lot of patience!
BTW your son is soooo cute!! :angel:
 
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