Is it true that you have to have speech therapy when you have a CI?

coolgirlspyer90

coolgirlspyer90

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My mom and I were talking about this earlier today at dinner. I'm going back to school tomorrow, And i have been telling her that I don't want to go to speech therapy anymore since I have been going to speech therapy since I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom tells me that I have to go to speech therapy due to having Cochlear implants. I think its pretty dumb, I mean, I already talk pretty well and my hearing friends understands me when I talk. I just don't get it, Why is it so important for the hearing world to have people with CI's get speech therapy? We aren't some kind of science experiment. I think 15 years of speech therapy and being fluent in ASL is enough for me.
 
CIs don't give you "normal" hearing though. Maybe it's to help compensate for that?

I also think, though, that they may not think you're best candidate if you have an attitude of questioning their expertise. They do this every day, they know what they're talking about. If they say you need speech therapy, there is a reason for it.
 
coolgirlspyer90 said:
My mom and I were talking about this earlier today at dinner. I'm going back to school tomorrow, And i have been telling her that I don't want to go to speech therapy anymore since I have been going to speech therapy since I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom tells me that I have to go to speech therapy due to having Cochlear implants. I think its pretty dumb, I mean, I already talk pretty well and my hearing friends understands me when I talk. I just don't get it, Why is it so important for the hearing world to have people with CI's get speech therapy? We aren't some kind of science experiment. I think 15 years of speech therapy and being fluent in ASL is enough for me.
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Welcome to the world. :) I think you already know what you want.

The problem with many parents is simply this; they invested soooo much into their deaf children, time, money, headaches, etc. It may be upsetting when the parent finds out that the kid does not want to continue the things they put so much energy into. From their perspective it's like "We did all this... For what?"

I thought you would like to have that in the back of your head while dealing with the situation.
 
I never had speech therapy, until I got implanted, had to have speech therapy for 2 years which I doubt worked. My main issues were saying s, sh, ch and other stuff. Who cares!!
 
I wondered if it is part of IEP as well.

What did you have to work on the last time you had speech therapy?
 
coolgirlspyer90 said:
My mom and I were talking about this earlier today at dinner. I'm going back to school tomorrow, And i have been telling her that I don't want to go to speech therapy anymore since I have been going to speech therapy since I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom tells me that I have to go to speech therapy due to having Cochlear implants. I think its pretty dumb, I mean, I already talk pretty well and my hearing friends understands me when I talk. I just don't get it, Why is it so important for the hearing world to have people with CI's get speech therapy? We aren't some kind of science experiment. I think 15 years of speech therapy and being fluent in ASL is enough for me.
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it's part of "maintenance". Every skill does decline over time if you don't practice it regularly. Your speaking skill will gradually decline if you stop going to speech therapy but now that you're going to be 18 - an adult with legal rights to make a decision for yourself. Your mom shouldn't be telling you what to do. You should be free to go back to speech therapy if you ever need to at later time.
 
coolgirlspyer90 said:
My mom and I were talking about this earlier today at dinner. I'm going back to school tomorrow, And i have been telling her that I don't want to go to speech therapy anymore since I have been going to speech therapy since I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom tells me that I have to go to speech therapy due to having Cochlear implants. I think its pretty dumb, I mean, I already talk pretty well and my hearing friends understands me when I talk. I just don't get it, Why is it so important for the hearing world to have people with CI's get speech therapy? We aren't some kind of science experiment. I think 15 years of speech therapy and being fluent in ASL is enough for me.
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I am the parent of a child with a ci and while I do not know exactly how old you are, by the time my daughter was in high school her speech therapy was on the average once every 2-3 weeks and not in the summer and she stopped completely at the end of 11th grade. Best advice, talk to your Mom (calmly and politely) and suggest why not at least try stopping for a few months and then reassess where you are and how you feel.

Good luck,
Rick
 
coolgirlspyer90 said:
My mom and I were talking about this earlier today at dinner. I'm going back to school tomorrow, And i have been telling her that I don't want to go to speech therapy anymore since I have been going to speech therapy since I was 3 or 4 years old. My mom tells me that I have to go to speech therapy due to having Cochlear implants. I think its pretty dumb, I mean, I already talk pretty well and my hearing friends understands me when I talk. I just don't get it, Why is it so important for the hearing world to have people with CI's get speech therapy? We aren't some kind of science experiment. I think 15 years of speech therapy and being fluent in ASL is enough for me.
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You're right, 15 years is a long time. It's about the same # of years I went through speech therapy myself. It came to a point where I balked at going anymore. I just flat-out refused and they changed the IEP at that point where I could just go to study hall instead. (My speech therapy time was during the same time as foreign language/band of which neither I was taking.) Maybe have the speech therapist talk to your mom about where you are at.
 
I was never "offered Speech Therapy" at Sunnybrook/Toronto after my Implant operation in July/07. Seems to be unusual from reading the above.

Does one's age seem to count?

Implanted A B Harmony activated Aug/07
 
coolgirl,

I should have said the best advice I can give you. I did not mean that what I said is the "best" advice there is. :) Also, be honest with your Mom and ask her to be honest with you too, if your heart is not in it, then how productive will these speech therapy sessions really be?
Good luck but remember that your Mom is coming from a good place and has good intentions so be kind!
Rick
 
I been attended all speech therapy and tired of it. CI is helping to help you to "hear" like hearing people so wanted be sure if you hear enough from your voice in any vowels and sounds in voice, noise alike hearing.... have to go speech again into advance level.

That what I am doing now, I not attend to speech since 1991! I learn alot about talking with hearing with my accent. I can understand better than I used in past.

It is your choice. You can go back anytime.
 
Buffalo said:
I wondered if it is part of IEP as well.

What did you have to work on the last time you had speech therapy?
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It's probable. But she is 18 now and can make the determination as to whether it is included in her IEP.
 
drphil said:
I was never "offered Speech Therapy" at Sunnybrook/Toronto after my Implant operation in July/07. Seems to be unusual from reading the above.

Does one's age seem to count?

Implanted A B Harmony activated Aug/07
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Yes. You are not a child, nor were you a child when you were implanted.
 
Coolgirl, been there and done that. Let me guess......you're doing the boring bits of speech right now right? I was in the same sitution in high school. My parents had it stuck in their heads that I could IMPROVE my speech. The trouble is, that stuff like enunciation, modulation, pitch, volumne etc is really boring and really hard. I HATED it, and wanted to drop it. I think there's only so much you can do to improve the mechanics of a "deaf" voice/accent.
 
Buffalo said:
I thought she is not 18 yet. If she is 18, then time had flew by so fast!
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I thought she had mentioned somewhere else that she was turning 18. Maybe I'm confused.

Hey, coolgirlspyer...how the heck old are you, lol?
 
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