Newbie - Opinions re: CI for 2yr old son

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mom2jace

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Hi all:

I'm new to this forum. I have an almost-2yr old boy who was born totally deaf in his right ear and has progressively lost hearing in his left. He is now a candidate for the CI (55-75dB threshold in left ear), and I just came from the ENT consult. She doesn't have a preference on AB or Cochlear, and she's ready to implant him now. I know there's a huge brand war between the two, which I'm not interested in. I just want to know what is the best for my son, and what I can expect over the next 6 months during recovery.

I'm not shy or overly opinionated, so feel free to ask me questions if you think it will help me.

Thanks!
Kari

Edited to Add:
I guess I should add that, while I totally understand the debate about implanting or not implanting a young child, I have had nearly two years of research and debate which have led me to the firm decision that we will be implanting my son's deaf ear, which has been aided for nearly a year. He is very well aided on his good ear, and we are hoping to keep it that way for some time. I don't intend to be rude, but I don't want a vicious debate about implanting a child when I'm just looking for advice on the device and what i can expect. :) Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
mom2jace said:
Hi all:

I'm new to this forum. I have an almost-2yr old boy who was born totally deaf in his right ear and has progressively lost hearing in his left. He is now a candidate for the CI (55-75dB threshold in left ear), and I just came from the ENT consult. She doesn't have a preference on AB or Cochlear, and she's ready to implant him now. I know there's a huge brand war between the two, which I'm not interested in. I just want to know what is the best for my son, and what I can expect over the next 6 months during recovery.

I'm not shy or overly opinionated, so feel free to ask me questions if you think it will help me.

Thanks!
Kari
Click to expand...


HI,
Right now the brand I have for my implant is Cochlear. Cochlear is a great company, you can call them and ask them questions by phone or by VRS or TTY. Cochlear has a brand new thing where if you have a broken part of your cochlear implant, like you would go online, order a new part for your implant like a new processer, and when that processer comes in you can send the broken processer in the mail back to the company and they can fix it. You can get a new part in like a week.

Cochlear is a good company. I have been a cochlear customer for about 8 or 9 years. And i'm almost 16 years old. They're really friendly and they're available on phone 24/7. Some Cochlear implant audilogist knows sign langauge to communicate with a deaf person to get a cochlear implant. They have some really good featured programs on the implant, and they help alot.

sorry if i am off topic.
 
I think you should use a powerful hearing aid with your son until he's old enough to make his own mind up.
 
mom2jace said:
Hi all:

I'm new to this forum. I have an almost-2yr old boy who was born totally deaf in his right ear and has progressively lost hearing in his left. He is now a candidate for the CI (55-75dB threshold in left ear), and I just came from the ENT consult. She doesn't have a preference on AB or Cochlear, and she's ready to implant him now. I know there's a huge brand war between the two, which I'm not interested in. I just want to know what is the best for my son, and what I can expect over the next 6 months during recovery.

I'm not shy or overly opinionated, so feel free to ask me questions if you think it will help me.

Thanks!
Kari
Click to expand...

Have your son wear powerful hearing aids? Is that help him to hear a sound? I offer you go to Cochlear: World leader in advanced hearing solutions. Nucleus cochlear implants and the Baha system. and Advanced Bionics: The world?s best performing, most reliable cochlear implant systems I think She don't understand. It's your decide for CI brand not her.
 
thanks :) Congrats on your activation! when do you begin mapping? or have you already begun? how is the recovery?
 
mom2jace said:
thanks :) Congrats on your activation! when do you begin mapping? or have you already begun? how is the recovery?
Click to expand...

Thank you and you're welcome. :)
I am done with activation in 2 days ago. It's my first time sound. My recovery done as well. My surgery last month ago. Look at my signature. I am using Nucleus Freedom. I love it! I am still learning more sound.

Wish you have a good luck for your son. Keep it up for CI journey. Did you get my last message? Have your son wear hearing aids before?
 
My son has been aided on both ears for about 8 months now. I edited my original post at the end to clarify my intentions.

Does the activation and mapping happen at the same time? I don't know the step by step process except what i've been told by other people.
 
I can't answer your questions because I don't have a cochlear implant, but I do have a question for you, does your son sign? Are you planning on continuing with sign language after he's implanted? I hope you don't mind me asking you those questions. ;)
 
Cheri - I don't mind at all! I'm very open minded.

My son and I are actively learning sign. In Colorado, we have a program through the school for the Deaf and Blind that allows a Deaf-Signing Instructor to come to our home once a week to teach us. We also have a Speech/Language therapist who comes once a week.

I plan to continue using sign, and to ALWAYS use sign!
 
I would Advise you to sit down and write pros and cons of each device, Ask to view/feel dummy real processors and since your little boy is so little ask for babyworn of both devices and see what you are most comfortable with. Research the practicalites for each device, durablity, toddler proofness.

I have many reasons for having Cochlear. It suited my life style better, 4 ways of wearing it, LCD screen to see where the problem is, 3 different batteries choices, Direct input for accessories, It's quite tough thing as i experinced a silly boy flicking my magnet off my head many times and it fell 4 times on to concerate ground but still works fine. But each device is brilliant as each other and there is no proof which is best since most of us haven't tried other device obviously! Or in anycase are a CI user.
Each person is very different in hearing, some were late deafen could get the best out of either, same with ones who were born deaf and implanted very late (30 years old in my case) had done well as, I have few friends of AB and Cochlear they are very happy with what they had chosen. There is no what ifs.
I am hearing well in noisy environment, I have every day program, quieter program, music program and Old program in case i don't like the first 2 programs which i never use. I use the everyday program in everything... Music is for when I use Ipod to block background sounds a little.

Have you looked into CICIRCLE? It's forum for parents of kids with CI or parents looking into CI for their child.

cicircle : Pediatric Cochlear Implant Circle

Good luck.

PS, do let us know how you are getting on.
 
Welcome to AD! I don't have an implant but I work with children who have implants in a BiBi prgram. I think go with the brand that fits your needs. Good luck!
 
Welcome to AD. I have had my cochlear implant for the last 2 years. I use Advanced Bionics. I suggest you check out deafvillage.com. It contains blogs from parents, children and adults with hearing aids and cochlear implants. Many are around the same age when implanted. Phi gave a great suggestion of hearing journey also check out CI circle. I can give you advice, but you really need to hear from other parents and children. Good luck
 
have had nearly two years of research and debate which have led me to the firm decision that we will be implanting my son's deaf ear, which has been aided for nearly a year. He is very well aided on his good ear, and we are hoping to keep it that way for some time.
Click to expand...
Awesome!!! I was just coming in to say that. It does seem like the implantation debate is a bit less acrebic when there's an ear that has NO benifit from HA, and when the parents and kid signs. Hopefully his loss in his hoh ear will be stable for a few years.
 
I second the suggestion to check out the yahoo group CICircle. That is a group for parents of CI kids, and this is a question that comes up quite often. You can search the archives and find TONS of info that can help you to decide which implant would be right for your son.
 
mom2jace,

I am the parent of a child implanted at the age of 2 however that was 20 years ago and at that time Cochlear corp was the only approved devce for children.

I will second what others have said about getting over to the cicircle as it is an excellant resource for any parent considering the implant for their child.

As for the device, while the decision may seem hard the reality is that all the devices are very good and you really cannot make a bad decision. Just keep in mind that what you decide to do post-implant in order to take advantage of the cochlear implant and to give your child the best opportunity to develop his oral language skills is, in the long run, just as if not more important than the device choice itself.

Good luck your son and your family are about to embark on an amazing journey.

Wishing you all the best,
Rick
 
mom2jace said:
Cheri - I don't mind at all! I'm very open minded.

My son and I are actively learning sign. In Colorado, we have a program through the school for the Deaf and Blind that allows a Deaf-Signing Instructor to come to our home once a week to teach us. We also have a Speech/Language therapist who comes once a week.

I plan to continue using sign, and to ALWAYS use sign!
Click to expand...

That's awesome about using sign language. ASL is a beautiful language! :)
 
mom2jace said:
Cheri - I don't mind at all! I'm very open minded.

My son and I are actively learning sign. In Colorado, we have a program through the school for the Deaf and Blind that allows a Deaf-Signing Instructor to come to our home once a week to teach us. We also have a Speech/Language therapist who comes once a week.

I plan to continue using sign, and to ALWAYS use sign!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your time in answering my question, I think that's great that you will continue with signing after his implant, some people would tell you not to use signs anymore, just ignored them because a strong communication between you and your son is very important, it builds a strong bridge between you and your son. ;)
 
Hi Kari,
I have 2 teenagers that are deaf and have cochlear implants. I am also a preschool teacher for children with cochlear implants who"s parent have decided to raise them with oral language. As a parent I would choose Cochlear Americas as would most professionals although they cannot tell you this. The failure rate with AB is much higher. Also Cochlear Americas has been on the market a lot longer then AB. Also Cochlear Americas is approved is FDA approved water resistance.

mom2jace said:
Hi all:

I'm new to this forum. I have an almost-2yr old boy who was born totally deaf in his right ear and has progressively lost hearing in his left. He is now a candidate for the CI (55-75dB threshold in left ear), and I just came from the ENT consult. She doesn't have a preference on AB or Cochlear, and she's ready to implant him now. I know there's a huge brand war between the two, which I'm not interested in. I just want to know what is the best for my son, and what I can expect over the next 6 months during recovery.

I'm not shy or overly opinionated, so feel free to ask me questions if you think it will help me.

Thanks!
Kari

Edited to Add:
I guess I should add that, while I totally understand the debate about implanting or not implanting a young child, I have had nearly two years of research and debate which have led me to the firm decision that we will be implanting my son's deaf ear, which has been aided for nearly a year. He is very well aided on his good ear, and we are hoping to keep it that way for some time. I don't intend to be rude, but I don't want a vicious debate about implanting a child when I'm just looking for advice on the device and what i can expect. :) Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
 
You are so right their customer service is great. I have called in the morning that I need a part for my children's implant and the next day by noon I have the part at home.

coolgirlspyer90 said:
HI,
Right now the brand I have for my implant is Cochlear. Cochlear is a great company, you can call them and ask them questions by phone or by VRS or TTY. Cochlear has a brand new thing where if you have a broken part of your cochlear implant, like you would go online, order a new part for your implant like a new processer, and when that processer comes in you can send the broken processer in the mail back to the company and they can fix it. You can get a new part in like a week.

Cochlear is a good company. I have been a cochlear customer for about 8 or 9 years. And i'm almost 16 years old. They're really friendly and they're available on phone 24/7. Some Cochlear implant audilogist knows sign langauge to communicate with a deaf person to get a cochlear implant. They have some really good featured programs on the implant, and they help alot.

sorry if i am off topic.
Click to expand...
 
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