Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants

[rick48]

I found this while browsing around on the subject. It appears to suggest that a CI can actually help with social interactions.

RD,

Validates what I and others have experienced throughout the years--the correlation between oral skills and social interaction with hearing peers. Really don't need a study though to validate the obvious. Hearing kids communicate orally, if you have good oral skills then that just makes the path to social interaction that much easier.

Not saying a ci is a guarantee to good oral skills or that good oral skills is a guarantee to social interaction with hearing peers, just recognizing the obvious. All other factors being equal, a deaf child with good oral skills is going to have an easier time developing social friendships, etc. with hearing children then a deaf child who does not have good oral skills.
Rick

 

[rick48]

Here's a good analogy...Remember when the Cox-2 inhibitors (Celebrex, Vioxx trademark names) hit the market? They were THE ANSWER for people with arthritic pain, right? Turns out, not so much. After being on the market a while we learn that there are also risks, potentially serious. Some people may take them forever and never experience these side effects...others, not so much.

The same with kids with CIs. Some may be mainstreamed and do quite well. Develop friendships, interact and excel academically. Hurray for them!! Others, not so much.

As data comes in, I think it will show that the ones doing so well are not the typical, mainstreamed students, but the overachievers. (Please do not attack me here, I also have one of those...sophomore, plans on attending Duke, becoming Interventional Radiologist)

When CIs first became popular, hearing people (and I am hearing) typically thought that by implanting a child you could make them a "hearing" child...Guess what?! You can, however, they are still deaf. They will always be different. (And, that's OK) But please do not tell me that because they are implanted they will now be the same/ form the same type of peer realtionships as their hearing classmates...I am witnessing this with my own eyes.

Sorry but I disagree, I have been around ci kids and their families for over two decades and the key factor to developing friendships, etc between deaf kids and hearing kids is not whether they are "overachievers" but rather, first and foremost, their oral skills. Another key factor is the personality of the child. My deaf daughter is by no means an overachiever but she has great oral skills and a positive, outgoing personality and that has made all the difference. Whereas my younger, hearing daughter is your typical overachiever but does not have the same personality of my oldest daughter as she is more shy and not as confident in herself as is her older, deaf sister. If I were to reverse their hearing status, I am fairly certain that my younger daughter would not have made the same number or level of friendships with hearing kids that her sister has.

As my wife and I as well as many of our friends were there when cis became popular, we never thought, nor were we ever told that having a ci would make our children "hearing". And who actually believes that anyway? What we thought, saw and were told was that with a ci, and the appropriate post-ci speech and language therapy, our profoundly deaf children would have the best opportunity available to develop the skills necessary to develop and understand spoken language.
Rick

 

[Cheri]

All other factors being equal, a deaf child with good oral skills is going to have an easier time developing social friendships, etc. with hearing children then a deaf child who does not have good oral skills.
Rick

That's very true and I agree.

Welcome back by the way, It's good to see you.

 

[jillio]

RD,

Validates what I and others have experienced throughout the years--the correlation between oral skills and social interaction with hearing peers. Really don't need a study though to validate the obvious. Hearing kids communicate orally, if you have good oral skills then that just makes the path to social interaction that much easier.

Not saying a ci is a guarantee to good oral skills or that good oral skills is a guarantee to social interaction with hearing peers, just recognizing the obvious. All other factors being equal, a deaf child with good oral skills is going to have an easier time developing social friendships, etc. with hearing children then a deaf child who does not have good oral skills.
Rick

It doesn't validate anything. Again, you need to read the entire article and not rely on an abstract. And being able to speak in no way guarantees that you will receive language through auditory channels only, particularly in a school environment where interaction is rarely one on one.

 

[jillio]

Sorry but I disagree, I have been around ci kids and their families for over two decades and the key factor to developing friendships, etc between deaf kids and hearing kids is not whether they are "overachievers" but rather, first and foremost, their oral skills. Another key factor is the personality of the child. My deaf daughter is by no means an overachiever but she has great oral skills and a positive, outgoing personality and that has made all the difference. Whereas my younger, hearing daughter is your typical overachiever but does not have the same personality of my oldest daughter as she is more shy and not as confident in herself as is her older, deaf sister. If I were to reverse their hearing status, I am fairly certain that my younger daughter would not have made the same number or level of friendships with hearing kids that her sister has.

As my wife and I as well as many of our friends were there when cis became popular, we never thought, nor were we ever told that having a ci would make our children "hearing". And who actually believes that anyway? What we thought, saw and were told was that with a ci, and the appropriate post-ci speech and language therapy, our profoundly deaf children would have the best opportunity available to develop the skills necessary to develop and understand spoken language.
Rick

Oral skills are not the first and foremost criterion for peer interaction.

 

[jillio]

That's very true and I agree.

Welcome back by the way, It's good to see you.

And research shows, including the research cited by RD earlier, that oral skills may facillicate communication in some situations, but do not translate to greater peer interaction, or the development of friendships for deaf children in the mainstream, either with or without CI.

 

[shel90]

Oh brother..

"I have better oral skills so therefore I can interact with hearing people better than you."

That is the tone I am getting here and it is why so many deaf people continued to be discriminated. Those who agree to this view are just as guilty of discriminating against so many deaf people especially those deaf chidlren who were unable to develop oral skills. This attitude is really and shows lack of empathy.

 

[samanthasmom]

And research shows, including the research cited by RD earlier, that oral skills may facillicate communication in some situations, but do not translate to greater peer interaction, or the development of friendships for deaf children in the mainstream, either with or without CI.

Jillio - Exactly.

With all due respect to RD and Rick - I have obviously misunderstood the intent of this thread. I thought it was to discuss the "Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants".

Jillio willingly offers up medical studies to support her view. (Thank you again!)

Shel offers first hand accounts of what it is like to teach those with CIs Who are lacking because of only having had an oral education through mainstreaming.

I have offered MY side/MY view of MY child's peer relationships and what I think is behind it.

I am beginning to think that what is really being asked here is to share ONLY your child's success story..

 

[jillio]

Jillio - Exactly.

With all due respect to RD and Rick - I have obviously misunderstood the intent of this thread. I thought it was to discuss the "Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants".

Jillio willingly offers up medical studies to support her view. (Thank you again!)

Shel offers first hand accounts of what it is like to teach those with CIs Who are lacking because of only having had an oral education through mainstreaming.

I have offered MY side/MY view of MY child's peer relationships and what I think is behind it.

I am beginning to think that what is really being asked here is to share ONLY your child's success story..

You are quite welcome, samanthasmom.

And some of are here to share all of the story, not just the successes, as we have much to learn from the stories of those that were not so successful, as well. We need to discuss what doesn't work as much as we need to discuss what does work. Most of all, we need to keep in mind that one success story does not translate to what reality is for the majority.

 

[samanthasmom]

And some of are here to share all of the story, not just the successes, as we have much to learn from the stories of those that were not so successful, as well. We need to discuss what doesn't work as much as we need to discuss what does work. Most of all, we need to keep in mind that one success story does not translate to what reality is for the majority.

Precisely..

 

[vallee]

I have offered MY side/MY view of MY child's peer relationships and what I think is behind it.

I am beginning to think that what is really being asked here is to share ONLY your child's success story..

How is it any different? The age is different, Rick's child is in college now, so he has raised his child to adulthood. Both of you are using your experiences to drive your opinion to this topic. Both have used different methods to education and raise your children. So just because you used different methods to raise your deaf children, how is he wrong and your right??? How are other people who disagree with one method over the other wrong? Each child and each family are unique. It seems no matter what choice, CI, noCI, deaf/Deaf, HA, SEE, ASL, someone has an opinion. Instead of respect we create wrong and right, left and right. Instead of respecting, we create my way or no way. We hide behind "research base" instead of each and every child is unique and wonderful. That each and every child might not adapt to one method and families then need to change the method for what is best for the child.

 

[samanthasmom]

How is it any different? The age is different, Rick's child is in college now, so he has raised his child to adulthood. Both of you are using your experiences to drive your opinion to this topic. Both have used different methods to education and raise your children. So just because you used different methods to raise your deaf children, how is he wrong and your right??? How are other people who disagree with one method over the other wrong? Each child and each family are unique. It seems no matter what choice, CI, noCI, deaf/Deaf, HA, SEE, ASL, someone has an opinion. Instead of respect we create wrong and right, left and right. Instead of respecting, we create my way or no way. We hide behind "research base" instead of each and every child is unique and wonderful. That each and every child might not adapt to one method and families then need to change the method for what is best for the child.

Wow, obviously you misunderstood my point. I originally posted here to give my view on the topic. Granted I may have come across as heated (I prefer passionate) but I never said that any other person's choices/methods were wrong.

My point was that my experience was different and when I tried to express that I was the one being accused of doing things - and or seeing things - the wrong way.

As I stated before, more than once, I am happy for the children that it all works out for. After all, don't we ALL want what's best for them??

 

[Cheri]

How is it any different? The age is different, Rick's child is in college now, so he has raised his child to adulthood. Both of you are using your experiences to drive your opinion to this topic. Both have used different methods to education and raise your children. So just because you used different methods to raise your deaf children, how is he wrong and your right??? How are other people who disagree with one method over the other wrong? Each child and each family are unique. It seems no matter what choice, CI, noCI, deaf/Deaf, HA, SEE, ASL, someone has an opinion. Instead of respect we create wrong and right, left and right. Instead of respecting, we create my way or no way. We hide behind "research base" instead of each and every child is unique and wonderful. That each and every child might not adapt to one method and families then need to change the method for what is best for the child.

Right on!!

I wanted to add too: There is no such of a thing of majority. Every deaf individual is their own individual. There is no universal approach that fits everybody. And You nailed it perfectly Vallee. It's good to see you here, I miss you!

 

[vallee]

Wow, obviously you misunderstood my point. I originally posted here to give my view on the topic. Granted I may have come across as heated (I prefer passionate) but I never said that any other person's choices/methods were wrong.

My point was that my experience was different and when I tried to express that I was the one being accused of doing things - and or seeing things - the wrong way.

As I stated before, more than once, I am happy for the children that it all works out for. After all, don't we ALL want what's best for them??

We do want what is best for the children. That is the bottom line.

I prefer passionate as well.

 

[jillio]

Wow, obviously you misunderstood my point. I originally posted here to give my view on the topic. Granted I may have come across as heated (I prefer passionate) but I never said that any other person's choices/methods were wrong.

My point was that my experience was different and when I tried to express that I was the one being accused of doing things - and or seeing things - the wrong way.

As I stated before, more than once, I am happy for the children that it all works out for. After all, don't we ALL want what's best for them??

Exactly!

 

[vallee]

Right on!!

I wanted to add too: There is no such of a thing of majority. Every deaf individual is their own individual. There is no universal approach that fits everybody. And You nailed it perfectly Vallee. It's good to see you here, I miss you!

You are so right, each deaf individual should be unique. There should not be a universal approach to raising a child, we are raising children not carbon copies.

been busy with teaching.

 

[jillio]

You are so right, each deaf individual should be unique. There should not be a universal approach to raising a child, we are raising children not carbon copies.

been busy with teaching.

And the fact that there is no universal approach for educating deaf children is exactly why we have seen no improvements in performance of deaf students over the last 30 years.

We are talking about educating deaf childen, not raising them. And the best way to raise any child is in an environment where they have access to and are able to develop an understanding of the world around them through language.

 

[shel90]

And the fact that there is no universal approach for educating deaf children is exactly why we have seen no improvements in performance of deaf students over the last 30 years.

We are talking about educating deaf childen, not raising them. And the best way to raise any child is in an environment where they have access to and are able to develop an understanding of the world around them through language.

And they all have every right to have the same access to language just like hearing kids automatically have with spoken language BECAUSE THEY CAN HEAR!!

How stupid this whole thing has become. It is all about individualism...fine, let's put each deaf child thru years and yuears of different approaches before finding the one that fits them therefore wasting years of language development. By all means, if people want that then they are just as guilty for the language deficients so many deaf children suffer from. :roll:

 

[shel90]

Jillio - Exactly.

With all due respect to RD and Rick - I have obviously misunderstood the intent of this thread. I thought it was to discuss the "Peer Relationships of Children With Cochlear Implants".

Jillio willingly offers up medical studies to support her view. (Thank you again!)

Shel offers first hand accounts of what it is like to teach those with CIs Who are lacking because of only having had an oral education through mainstreaming.

I have offered MY side/MY view of MY child's peer relationships and what I think is behind it.

I am beginning to think that what is really being asked here is to share ONLY your child's success story..

Yes, we need to explore all the options that can work for ALL deaf children instead of options that work for a select few. Otherwise, we are going to provide a educational system that fails many while succeeding some. As a teacher, I cant see myself being a party to that.

 

[vallee]

Yes, we need to explore all the options that can work for ALL deaf children instead of options that work for a select few. Otherwise, we are going to provide a educational system that fails many while succeeding some. As a teacher, I cant see myself being a party to that.

I hate to break it to you, but all of us teachers are. It is called No Child Left Behind. The educational system has been broken and it is up to us to fix it.