My 2-month old son has severe hearing loss
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The Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf, Belleville Ontario, and there's also Robarts School for the Deaf in London. Contact them. Deaf schools overall tend to have AWESOME AWESOME early intervention programs and services (better then the general EI services which tend to be targeted towards more developmentally and phsycially delayed kids)
Hello,
My daughter was born in 2005 and currently has Bilateral CI's. She is doing fabulous.
Anyway, I found out when my daughter was 2 days old that she was not passing her hearing screening at the hospital. I took her to the Iowa School for the Deaf and there they rean more tests and we fould out she was severe to profound in both ears. She was then fitted for hearing aids and had those until she was a year old. They helped at first and then her hearing was completely profound and our choice then was whether to have her get CI's or not. She had her surgery on the 11th of December in 2006 and had both ears implanted that day. My daughter at this time is 2 years old. She is attending Iowa School for the Deaf, wears her CI's from morning to evening and also is learning sign. We have teacher that comes into the home and helps us to learn sign also. We really enjoy having her do both and we are learning so much.
My only suggestion to you is go with what you want to do. Everyone has their own opinions and there were a lot of nasty emails and posts that I received because of the steps I took for my daughter.
Good Luck!!
My daughter was born in 2005 and currently has Bilateral CI's. She is doing fabulous.
Anyway, I found out when my daughter was 2 days old that she was not passing her hearing screening at the hospital. I took her to the Iowa School for the Deaf and there they rean more tests and we fould out she was severe to profound in both ears. She was then fitted for hearing aids and had those until she was a year old. They helped at first and then her hearing was completely profound and our choice then was whether to have her get CI's or not. She had her surgery on the 11th of December in 2006 and had both ears implanted that day. My daughter at this time is 2 years old. She is attending Iowa School for the Deaf, wears her CI's from morning to evening and also is learning sign. We have teacher that comes into the home and helps us to learn sign also. We really enjoy having her do both and we are learning so much.
My only suggestion to you is go with what you want to do. Everyone has their own opinions and there were a lot of nasty emails and posts that I received because of the steps I took for my daughter.
Good Luck!!
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I am sorry that you got lots of nasty emails and posts for getting your daughter implanted.
That's great that she is thriving!
Welcome to Alldeaf1
believer that sucks. I think too many Deafies are venting on the instrument rather then the philosophy associated with it. Please know that things are slowly but surely changing. Just remember when HA was first introduced, Deafies saw them as bad. Total acceptance will take time, but it WILL come!
To the OP:
I'm going to assume your son's hearing loss was diagnosed through an ABR/ASSR. Do not be surprised when he's old enough to give behavior responses (raise hand when he hears a tone), that his hearing is more in the Moderate range than Severe. At 2mos, you way ahead of the curve in terms of aiding him, so you have plenty of time to adjust. 9/10 you cannot tell the difference between a infant who's hearing and a infant who's deaf or HOH. The will both behave in the same manner, coo, babble, ect. It's not until 12mos and older that speech will begin to emerge from the hearing baby and the deaf baby will just continue to babble. This is why it is a law that hospitals do newborn infant hearing screenings. The average age of identification of a deaf baby 20 yrs ago was 2yrs old and even older if the child had a unilateral (one ear) hearing loss. To put things in perspective, 80% of what we learn about speech and language occurs by the time we are 4yrs old. So that 2yr old newly identified child is really put behind the 8-ball.
In terms of wearing his hearing aids. Some kids don't even know they are there, some kids will protest and keep ripping them off. No, he does not need to wear them every waking hour at 9weeks old. 2-4hrs a day is a good start though. If you and/or your wife have the time, it would be invaluable to take the opportunity to read to the baby 30min out of the day with his hearing aids on. There is a good chance that putting the aids on sooner rather than latter will allow him to develop speech and language pretty close to his same age hearing peers. I would also encourage you to look at sign classes for him and the rest of the family (I don't recall reading if you yourself have hearing loss and know sign as well). That is unless you want to put all your eggs in one basket on him hearing well with hearing aids and learning speech.
If you have any question on how an audiologist treats kids this young, feel free to PM anytime.
I'm going to assume your son's hearing loss was diagnosed through an ABR/ASSR. Do not be surprised when he's old enough to give behavior responses (raise hand when he hears a tone), that his hearing is more in the Moderate range than Severe. At 2mos, you way ahead of the curve in terms of aiding him, so you have plenty of time to adjust. 9/10 you cannot tell the difference between a infant who's hearing and a infant who's deaf or HOH. The will both behave in the same manner, coo, babble, ect. It's not until 12mos and older that speech will begin to emerge from the hearing baby and the deaf baby will just continue to babble. This is why it is a law that hospitals do newborn infant hearing screenings. The average age of identification of a deaf baby 20 yrs ago was 2yrs old and even older if the child had a unilateral (one ear) hearing loss. To put things in perspective, 80% of what we learn about speech and language occurs by the time we are 4yrs old. So that 2yr old newly identified child is really put behind the 8-ball.
In terms of wearing his hearing aids. Some kids don't even know they are there, some kids will protest and keep ripping them off. No, he does not need to wear them every waking hour at 9weeks old. 2-4hrs a day is a good start though. If you and/or your wife have the time, it would be invaluable to take the opportunity to read to the baby 30min out of the day with his hearing aids on. There is a good chance that putting the aids on sooner rather than latter will allow him to develop speech and language pretty close to his same age hearing peers. I would also encourage you to look at sign classes for him and the rest of the family (I don't recall reading if you yourself have hearing loss and know sign as well). That is unless you want to put all your eggs in one basket on him hearing well with hearing aids and learning speech.
If you have any question on how an audiologist treats kids this young, feel free to PM anytime.
Cloggy
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Hi Jesse,
Welcome to AD.
I'm the father of a beautiful daughter that was born deaf. Coming from a hearing family, having no experience with deafness, her deafness came as a shock to us as well...
(You can meet her - and watch her progress on the blog I made for her.. see below)
You found a place with lots of information, and with strong feelings.
Not too many hearing parents here with a deaf child, but I see some have already responded.
Do your research, that's the best way to get rid of "shell-shock" :P and make the best decision for your child, and his family.
It really depends on the ABR system and what that office has documented for norms on their equipment, but yes, generally ABR thresholds are 20dB poorer than behavioral thresholds.
They could have gotten a ABR threshold to a click (measures 1000-4000hz) at 90dB (profound) and already done the correction to classify him as one with a severe loss.
I have a now 25 yo daughter who's used HA's since 4th grade. The first ABR she ever had (she is in a trial) showed better hearing then any of the other testing she had done. I thought that was kinda weird but thats what they told her the results were.
jillio
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Excellent post. Thanks for providing such ressponsible information.
The ABR was done 2 yrs ago. It showed better hearing then the response test. She has an inherited hearing loss which will get worse as she gets older. The testing was done by the U of MN. It included that, without HA's and with HA's. She's in the Envoy trials.
faire_jour
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My daughter just turned 5 and she has a progressive loss. She was born hearing but now has a "severe" loss, around 85 db. She wears hearing aids and has since she was 18 months. We are raising her with access to speech and ASL, but she prefers ASL so she is in a bi-bi school for the Deaf.
I know as a hearing parent it is tempting to believe that you can use technology to "fix" your child. Often, that just doesn't happen. I feel like the most important thing to consider is your whole child. Are the hundreds of hours of auditory training and speech therapy the best thing? Maybe they will learn to speak and listen, but maybe not. I believe those therapies sessions are not best for MY daughter. Failing breaks her spirit, and she is just not good at it. I would rather put her in situations in which she can succeed, and for us that meant an ASL enviroment.
Please do your own research. Doctors have a viewpoint, but they do not have the same perspective as someone who has lived it. PLEASE speak to deaf adults, both oral and ASL users. Ask them what their parents did and what they would do with their own deaf children. They are a resourse whose point of view is the most vaild.
Something like 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and almost ALL are raised orally, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice. Learning ASL was difficult for us, but learning to listen has been infinatly MORE difficult for my daughter. I have access to 100% of the visual information, she doesn't have that kind of access to speech. Plus, I am the mother, she is the child, it is my job to bring language to her, not force her to learn my language because it is easier for me. I must meet her needs, even if it is hard.
I have a very different perspective than most hearing parents, and I learned it by talking to deaf adults. We are discussing a CI with our audiologist and my daughter, so I have no problem with the technology, my issue is with the rest. I do not believe that a deaf child should be raised oral only, no matter what. I think that they need visual language. Listening is their weakness, it isn't fair to force a child to learn all information using their "handicap". They never have 100% access through listening...NEVER. And that is not ok with me.
Again, I know this is an overwhelming time and you have many decisions to make, but I wanted to add another viewpoint. I congratulate you on the birth of your child!
I know as a hearing parent it is tempting to believe that you can use technology to "fix" your child. Often, that just doesn't happen. I feel like the most important thing to consider is your whole child. Are the hundreds of hours of auditory training and speech therapy the best thing? Maybe they will learn to speak and listen, but maybe not. I believe those therapies sessions are not best for MY daughter. Failing breaks her spirit, and she is just not good at it. I would rather put her in situations in which she can succeed, and for us that meant an ASL enviroment.
Please do your own research. Doctors have a viewpoint, but they do not have the same perspective as someone who has lived it. PLEASE speak to deaf adults, both oral and ASL users. Ask them what their parents did and what they would do with their own deaf children. They are a resourse whose point of view is the most vaild.
Something like 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and almost ALL are raised orally, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice. Learning ASL was difficult for us, but learning to listen has been infinatly MORE difficult for my daughter. I have access to 100% of the visual information, she doesn't have that kind of access to speech. Plus, I am the mother, she is the child, it is my job to bring language to her, not force her to learn my language because it is easier for me. I must meet her needs, even if it is hard.
I have a very different perspective than most hearing parents, and I learned it by talking to deaf adults. We are discussing a CI with our audiologist and my daughter, so I have no problem with the technology, my issue is with the rest. I do not believe that a deaf child should be raised oral only, no matter what. I think that they need visual language. Listening is their weakness, it isn't fair to force a child to learn all information using their "handicap". They never have 100% access through listening...NEVER. And that is not ok with me.
Again, I know this is an overwhelming time and you have many decisions to make, but I wanted to add another viewpoint. I congratulate you on the birth of your child!
rick48
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"My daughter just turned 5 and she has a progressive loss. She was born hearing but now has a "severe" loss, around 85 db. She wears hearing aids and has since she was 18 months. We are raising her with access to speech and ASL, but she prefers ASL so she is in a bi-bi school for the Deaf.
I know as a hearing parent it is tempting to believe that you can use technology to "fix" your child. Often, that just doesn't happen. I feel like the most important thing to consider is your whole child. Are the hundreds of hours of auditory training and speech therapy the best thing? Maybe they will learn to speak and listen, but maybe not. I believe those therapies sessions are not best for MY daughter. Failing breaks her spirit, and she is just not good at it. I would rather put her in situations in which she can succeed, and for us that meant an ASL enviroment.
Please do your own research. Doctors have a viewpoint, but they do not have the same perspective as someone who has lived it. PLEASE speak to deaf adults, both oral and ASL users. Ask them what their parents did and what they would do with their own deaf children. They are a resourse whose point of view is the most vaild.
Something like 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and almost ALL are raised orally, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice. Learning ASL was difficult for us, but learning to listen has been infinatly MORE difficult for my daughter. I have access to 100% of the visual information, she doesn't have that kind of access to speech. Plus, I am the mother, she is the child, it is my job to bring language to her, not force her to learn my language because it is easier for me. I must meet her needs, even if it is hard.
I have a very different perspective than most hearing parents, and I learned it by talking to deaf adults. We are discussing a CI with our audiologist and my daughter, so I have no problem with the technology, my issue is with the rest. I do not believe that a deaf child should be raised oral only, no matter what. I think that they need visual language. Listening is their weakness, it isn't fair to force a child to learn all information using their "handicap". They never have 100% access through listening...NEVER. And that is not ok with me.
Again, I know this is an overwhelming time and you have many decisions to make, but I wanted to add another viewpoint. I congratulate you on the birth of your child!"
I too am a hearing parent of a deaf child, however, we never viewed the use of technology such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, braces, corrective shoes, etc. that she has had or still has as attmepting to "fix" our child. What we viewed the technology that we chose to give to her as, were opportunities for her to develop and grow to her fullest potential.
Personally, I find the use of the term "fix" when applied to children such as my child offensive and as to parents of these children disrespectful of our choices. Choices that you obviously have no idea the time, effort, research and anxiety that went into them.
The "hundreds" of hours spent in auditory training for our child are most likely no different then the "hundreds" of hours you have devoted to teaching sign to your child. If you think that the choice to expose profoundly deaf children to oral language is made because it is"easier" then you are woefully mistaken. If you think that giving our daughter the opportunity to learn to hear and to speak was done by "force" then it really is demonstrative of how little you know and understand about those who have chosen to raise their deaf child orally.
Amazingly, just like you, we chose to do what was in our daughter's best interests. Unlike you, as my daughter is now 21 and makes her own choices, not only do my wife and I know, but most importantly, our daughter knows we made the right choices for her. You still have years to go before you will know if you made the right choices for your 5 year old. I hope for her sake that you have.
Yes, you do have a different perspective then most of the hearing parents of deaf children that I know for they, like my wife and I, acknowledge the fact that there is no one "best" or "right" way to raise any child, even a deaf child. They, like we, know that what is best for our child is not necessarily best for other children.
To the parents of the child who posed the original question, I would advise you to learn as much as you can, to speak to as many deaf adults, children and parents and spouses of deaf people as you can. Ultimately, do what you think is in your child's best interests but do not feel that your decisions are set in stone. Keep an open mind and be willing to change to meet you child's needs at all times.
Best of luck,
Rick
I know as a hearing parent it is tempting to believe that you can use technology to "fix" your child. Often, that just doesn't happen. I feel like the most important thing to consider is your whole child. Are the hundreds of hours of auditory training and speech therapy the best thing? Maybe they will learn to speak and listen, but maybe not. I believe those therapies sessions are not best for MY daughter. Failing breaks her spirit, and she is just not good at it. I would rather put her in situations in which she can succeed, and for us that meant an ASL enviroment.
Please do your own research. Doctors have a viewpoint, but they do not have the same perspective as someone who has lived it. PLEASE speak to deaf adults, both oral and ASL users. Ask them what their parents did and what they would do with their own deaf children. They are a resourse whose point of view is the most vaild.
Something like 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and almost ALL are raised orally, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice. Learning ASL was difficult for us, but learning to listen has been infinatly MORE difficult for my daughter. I have access to 100% of the visual information, she doesn't have that kind of access to speech. Plus, I am the mother, she is the child, it is my job to bring language to her, not force her to learn my language because it is easier for me. I must meet her needs, even if it is hard.
I have a very different perspective than most hearing parents, and I learned it by talking to deaf adults. We are discussing a CI with our audiologist and my daughter, so I have no problem with the technology, my issue is with the rest. I do not believe that a deaf child should be raised oral only, no matter what. I think that they need visual language. Listening is their weakness, it isn't fair to force a child to learn all information using their "handicap". They never have 100% access through listening...NEVER. And that is not ok with me.
Again, I know this is an overwhelming time and you have many decisions to make, but I wanted to add another viewpoint. I congratulate you on the birth of your child!"
I too am a hearing parent of a deaf child, however, we never viewed the use of technology such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, braces, corrective shoes, etc. that she has had or still has as attmepting to "fix" our child. What we viewed the technology that we chose to give to her as, were opportunities for her to develop and grow to her fullest potential.
Personally, I find the use of the term "fix" when applied to children such as my child offensive and as to parents of these children disrespectful of our choices. Choices that you obviously have no idea the time, effort, research and anxiety that went into them.
The "hundreds" of hours spent in auditory training for our child are most likely no different then the "hundreds" of hours you have devoted to teaching sign to your child. If you think that the choice to expose profoundly deaf children to oral language is made because it is"easier" then you are woefully mistaken. If you think that giving our daughter the opportunity to learn to hear and to speak was done by "force" then it really is demonstrative of how little you know and understand about those who have chosen to raise their deaf child orally.
Amazingly, just like you, we chose to do what was in our daughter's best interests. Unlike you, as my daughter is now 21 and makes her own choices, not only do my wife and I know, but most importantly, our daughter knows we made the right choices for her. You still have years to go before you will know if you made the right choices for your 5 year old. I hope for her sake that you have.
Yes, you do have a different perspective then most of the hearing parents of deaf children that I know for they, like my wife and I, acknowledge the fact that there is no one "best" or "right" way to raise any child, even a deaf child. They, like we, know that what is best for our child is not necessarily best for other children.
To the parents of the child who posed the original question, I would advise you to learn as much as you can, to speak to as many deaf adults, children and parents and spouses of deaf people as you can. Ultimately, do what you think is in your child's best interests but do not feel that your decisions are set in stone. Keep an open mind and be willing to change to meet you child's needs at all times.
Best of luck,
Rick
R2D2
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Since your daughter is already 5, I completely understand your decision. It would be a huge amount of work for her to become orally fluent from a basis of where she has demonstrated a preference for ASL. In your shoes I too would want to strengthen the language skills she already has and just get on with her grade work. I'm not really that keen on older children/adults without oral skills getting implants as the result is more variable but that's just my viewpoint.
You are very wise to recommend that parents of deaf children considering their options should speak to us deaf adults - not just those in deaf culture but also those not in the culture. We have a very wide range of viewpoints as you can see just in this forum and some prefer ASL whereas others like myself prefer English and value our oral skills greatly. Also not all of us spent hours in speech therapy to get our oral skills, there are different approaches. I never went to speech therapy - it was more like a play therapy.
My sister also made the same choice as you back in the early 1990s and now has an intelligent well adjusted teenager who has done well at his deaf school, he got the best exam results ever at their school! Now that he has left, he is interested in learning how to lipread as he is coming across more hearing people. Hearing aids were no good for him and he stopped wearing them at 3 years old.
Good luck! Your daughter is fortunate to have such an involved mother as you.
faire_jour
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Actually, I have never taught my daughter any sign language. She acquired it natural just as a hearing child learns spoken language. She was exposed to it and just picked it up. No lessons or therapies needed.
jillio
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Exactly!! Thank you!
Cloggy
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Sounds like they way my daughter picked up speech... by being exposed to it.
Btw... how does your daughter communicate with her grandparents, and friends of yours?
Have they all learned sign?
I'm glad you found good support in the Deaf community. It's wonderful that you and your daughter have such good communication. Like you said. THAT's the most important of all.
I find it sad that you have the idea that children are "fixed" and that "Often, that just doesn't happen" (success with technology). That sounds like the point of view of a society that is opposed to CI and tries to find arguments to oppose it.
Point is, that with the communication you have with your daughter, CI would have grea potentioalt. And none it does not have to exclude sign-language. On the contrary. That will be a great asset.
You said "Something like 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and almost ALL are raised orally, but that doesn't mean it is the right choice. Learning ASL was difficult for us, but learning to listen has been infinatly MORE difficult for my daughter. I have access to 100% of the visual information, she doesn't have that kind of access to speech. Plus, I am the mother, she is the child, it is my job to bring language to her, not force her to learn my language because it is easier for me. I must meet her needs, even if it is hard."
I disagree with this statement... It's a vision of the Deaf world (I found it in books by Harlan Lane) At first, when the child is deaf, of course this is the case when establishing communication. But for us parents it is the task to give our children all the tools to be successful. For me that included for our daughter to being able to communicate with her grandparents, friends of us, friends of her siblings, people in the street. Not to expect that all these people would adapt to her. She has the disability. We have the responsibility to prepare her for dealing with it.
Adapting only to the childs abilities will in the long run limit her capabilities. It will limit the child in the choices it can make later in life.
I recall you are / were investigating the possibility of CI.
I hope you base your decision NOT on previous (bad) experience where your child needed to speak without being able to hear, but that you base your decision on expanding the possibilities for your child - reducing her limitations.
And perhaps you come to the conclusion that it is best for your child to grow up deaf, in a Deaf world. That's fine. As long as you have looked from different perspectives.