Son's CI surgery

[SxyPorkie]

Fragmenter..... I can understand how you feel about your son... I am positive he will be fine real soon...
SxyPorkie

 

[ismi]

Also, do you let him Sign at home? I know that the experts out there reccomend speech only b/c it's "better", but that's only based on a "Sign is a crutch" mentality. Try to find a really good balance....

IIRC, Fragmenter doesn't speak, nor does he lip read (at all? much?). So I would guess that he does sign with his son.

 

[netrox]

Fragmenter is deaf?

Loss of balance is common after CI surgery and it goes away once the brain learns to readjust to changes.

It is true that many deaf people have balance problems due to their deafness (most don't realize that ears are responsible for balance, not just for hearing) but the brains are pretty good at adapting to changes.

 

[greema]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll hopefully improve his speech and hearing skills....I do know that even today, quite a few kids still NEED TC. Probaly won't give him oral skills on a par with hearing kids......I know that tends to be kind of rare, but it's still good to know that he might aquirre some speech skills.
Quick word of advice.....don't go into overkill when he's activated. Keep therapy to reasonable amounts but don't think "oh if some therapy is good, therapy 24/7 will be even better" Therapy is good, but kids do need some time to just be kids. Also, do you let him Sign at home? I know that the experts out there reccomend speech only b/c it's "better", but that's only based on a "Sign is a crutch" mentality. Try to find a really good balance....

Actually DD I think Fragmenter has every intention of using ASL at home and we are VPing a lot and we use ASL all the time. As a matter of fact when I entered Frag in the infant program at CID (he was about a year old at the time) and the teacher and I argued about him using sign language at home and I told her I was NOT going to "interpret" between my deaf son and his deaf father! I won -- about a month later we decided it was a waste of our time and money and put Frag in the special school district where they had TC. Don't forget I was raised oral and my husband went to the state school for the deaf so there is a good variety in our family.

 

[greema]

Regarding therapy; I feel that the best therapy is actually life. The official therapy is needed as guidance, but the learning process is in communication with others.
That's why sign is not recommended. The learning proces is so much quicker with specch only.
Have to add that we used sign through the whole proces with Lotte since communication comes first. The amount of sign just got less.

Cloggy, I am just fine with this -- guess it does not really matter -- the important thing is WHAT KIND of environment the child is destined to grow up in -- and to better fit in...

 

[greema]

ismi:
IIRC, Fragmenter doesn't speak, nor does he lip read (at all? much?). So I would guess that he does sign with his son.

netrox:
Fragmenter is deaf?


That is right, ismi -- excellent memory! You are right that Fragmenter will continue signing with his son and he encourages his hoh daughter to sign to him too.

And netrox, yes Fragmenter is 2nd generation deaf, I am 1st generation deaf and my darling grandson is 3rd... Cool isn't it? My deaf husband and I VP Fragmenter and his family a lot and we all use sign language. Great isn't it? Otherwise I would most probably miss them a lot as they live a good 5 hours from us and our deaf daughter, her deaf hubby and their hoh 5-month old girl live about 15 hours from us! I'm SO happy with VP!

Actually Fragmenter is the "silent type" like his father and our daughter is talkative like me -- LOL

 

[SxyPorkie]

ismi:
IIRC, Fragmenter doesn't speak, nor does he lip read (at all? much?). So I would guess that he does sign with his son.

netrox:
Fragmenter is deaf?


That is right, ismi -- excellent memory! You are right that Fragmenter will continue signing with his son and he encourages his hoh daughter to sign to him too.

And netrox, yes Fragmenter is 2nd generation deaf, I am 1st generation deaf and my darling grandson is 3rd... Cool isn't it? My deaf husband and I VP Fragmenter and his family a lot and we all use sign language. Great isn't it? Otherwise I would most probably miss them a lot as they live a good 5 hours from us and our deaf daughter, her deaf hubby and their hoh 5-month old girl live about 15 hours from us! I'm SO happy with VP!

Actually Fragmenter is the "silent type" like his father and our daughter is talkative like me -- LOL

I thought everyone know Fragmenter is deaf.. I assumed wrong...
SxyPorkie

 

[greema]

I thought everyone know Fragmenter is deaf.. I assumed wrong...
SxyPorkie

Maybe they haven't read the posts all the way through or are just latecomers who don't know the "history"?

 

[Fragmenter]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! It'll hopefully improve his speech and hearing skills....I do know that even today, quite a few kids still NEED TC. Probaly won't give him oral skills on a par with hearing kids......I know that tends to be kind of rare, but it's still good to know that he might aquirre some speech skills.
Quick word of advice.....don't go into overkill when he's activated. Keep therapy to reasonable amounts but don't think "oh if some therapy is good, therapy 24/7 will be even better" Therapy is good, but kids do need some time to just be kids. Also, do you let him Sign at home? I know that the experts out there reccomend speech only b/c it's "better", but that's only based on a "Sign is a crutch" mentality. Try to find a really good balance....

I'm not expecting my kids to speak and hear as well as their hearing peers. All I expect is they are able to communicate with the world like their mother. If anyone wants to talk to me in person, they better know sign language or there will be a communication barrier So, yes, my family knows sign language but I don't tell my kids how to communicate with each other. My only rule is that they use sign language over the dinner table. I don't like seeing food in their mouth when they talk

Back to the balance issue: watch any deaf people try to walk in a straight line and you will notice they walk in a weave instead of walking true.

 

[IslandGal]

Back to the balance issue: watch any deaf people try to walk in a straight line and you will notice they walk in a weave instead of walking true.

Not ALL deaf people like you said in your earlier post have problems with their balance. While my balance is not all that great but my deaf husband's balance is perfect.

 

[Fragmenter]

Fragmenter..... I can understand how you feel about your son... I am positive he will be fine real soon...
SxyPorkie

Thank you! It helps to read from different people telling me that it's normal and that he'll adjust to his new sense of balance.

We went swimming today for the first time (he's been begging to go all week) and it's just like old times. Now I've changed from "worry" mode to "relief" mode... When he gets activated I will be in "excited" mode

 

[Fragmenter]

Not ALL deaf people like you said in your earlier post have problems with their balance. While my balance is not all that great but my deaf husband's balance is perfect.

Well, to each their own, I feel my sense of balance is "perfect" but I know it's not dependent on how my brain reads the fluid levels in my cochelas. Same for your husband and all deaf people.

 

[deafdyke]

Just to clarify I knew that Frag is deaf, but I didn't quite know his communication status.
Frag, excellent, excellent! You really really do have reasonable expectations.
Did you son have any speech/hearing abilty prior to the implant? That might help him, b/c that way he would have a base, and he can improve on that.

Regarding therapy; I feel that the best therapy is actually life. The official therapy is needed as guidance, but the learning process is in communication with others.
That's why sign is not recommended. The learning proces is so much quicker with specch only.

I agree.....I learned more stuff out of school, then in it. However I disagree with the assumption that the learning process is quicker with speech only....Putting a kid in 24/7 therapy isn't going to get water from a rock. Some therapy is good yes, but therapy 24/7 won't nessarily improve articualtion or spoken launauge skills.

 

[Fragmenter]

Just to clarify I knew that Frag is deaf, but I didn't quite know his communication status.
Frag, excellent, excellent! You really really do have reasonable expectations.
Did you son have any speech/hearing abilty prior to the implant? That might help him, b/c that way he would have a base, and he can improve on that.

Yep, he and his sister has been going to the same oral school before both of them turned 1. In the beginning, just for matching up with the correct hearing aids, getting ear molds, speech and hearing sessions and now preschool/kindergarden. The center also has a daycare so it's got everything we need.

Our daughter is moving along really good on the expected development curve while her brother hit his plateu and stayed there for almost a year so that is why we decided to resort to CI. People understands his speech only if they've known him for a little bit and he struggles to grasp words in the middle of a sentence. He understands the first word in a sentence just fine and barely catches the last word in the same sentence. We hope that he will be able to pick up every word in a sentence like his sister and his mother by next year or two

*edit* Plus this hearing and speech center takes great care of our kids because my wife and her sister (now 25 and 30 years old, respectively) also went there for a few years before they went to CID

 

[deafdyke]

Our daughter is moving along really good on the expected development curve

That's excellent! Just an idea.....maybe when it comes time for other educational options, it would be a good idear to do a split placement intitally. Like regualr classes, and then a TC program for what she'd see a TOD about. I see a lot of parents opting only for traditional mainstreaming.....(regular classes, minmal accomondations) That way, you guys can find the perfect fit, without doing Monday morning quarterbacking. (eg I shouldn't have mainstreamed them entirely etc etc)
Is your family a memeber of the AMerican Society for Deaf Children? You guys should join! It's so much better then AG Bell.

 

[DeAfLuCkYiRiSh]

Hello, I've been enjoying an internet-free life for a week now. It's restored energy into me; y'all should try it!

Our son's cochlear implant surgery last Friday was a success without complications. He had a minor reaction to the anesthesia wearing off after the surgery. He was cooperative with the nurses all night and all morning. We're pleased with how everything has worked out so far.

I had concerns about his sense of balance in the first couple of days at home but the last few days it has improved. My wife talked with the doctor over the phone about it and he said not to worry too much about it and just to keep an eye on it. Sometimes I can be a neurotic worry fart

His activation date is sometimes in early September (we don't have it written it in stone) so we have plenty of time on our hands until then. All in all, our son is still the same kid we knew before the surgery!

Last but not least, much thanks to your thoughts and prayers! I will let you all know what's new with the kid whenever it happens.

How old was he? I am having some thought for my daughter. Do you have cochlear implant too? I would like to get one for myself but my age is in 30's.

 

[Fragmenter]

How old was he? I am having some thought for my daughter. Do you have cochlear implant too? I would like to get one for myself but my age is in 30's.

Hey FastPureZero, I'm DigitalDevourer.

My son is 5 years old. I want a cochlear implant but am not 100% convinced for various reasons.

How old is your daughter and how long has she been wearing hearing aids (if any at all)?

I'm almost 26 but I still want a CI to experience as much hearing as possible before I die. If I die, that is OK, because I will experience pure hearing in Heaven.

Let me know what up and we gotta play some videogames over Live!

 

[DeAfLuCkYiRiSh]

Hey FastPureZero, I'm DigitalDevourer.

My son is 5 years old. I want a cochlear implant but am not 100% convinced for various reasons.

How old is your daughter and how long has she been wearing hearing aids (if any at all)?

I'm almost 26 but I still want a CI to experience as much hearing as possible before I die. If I die, that is OK, because I will experience pure hearing in Heaven.

Let me know what up and we gotta play some videogames over Live!

Yeah! I do know you. We got to play soon!

My daughter will be 3 in November 4th. She does wear hearing aids but not helpful. My first daughter is hearing, second daughter is deaf, then my new baby boy is hearing. Why is that? LOL!

I want to know more about cochlear implant. Did you get my message about getting into Madden 2007 league.

Go to forum and look for Deaf Madden 2007. I set up my own website.

 

[greema]

How old was he? I am having some thought for my daughter. Do you have cochlear implant too? I would like to get one for myself but my age is in 30's.

I don't think it's too late for you to get one but you need to qualify for one first.

And I think it is awesome and a small world that you and Fragmenter know each other from another site! I mean this is a world-wide web but you two actually "saw" each other!

(note to all, I don't go to that other site -- no reason for me to go poking around there --

 

[Fragmenter]

Is your family a memeber of the AMerican Society for Deaf Children? You guys should join! It's so much better then AG Bell.

Sorry, I just don't believe in participating in politics. I'd rather be golfing, fishing, four-wheeling and stuff like that.

Life's too short for us to be preoccupied with trivial crap like that I'm sorry if that is offensive but that is how I feel and what my wife and I WILL instill in our children.