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iowaboy

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Hello. We're still around. Chose AB for my daughter. Pending insurance, bilateral, simultaneous implants in October. Whats new?
 
Excellent! So, what was the result of aiding? Did she have some residual hearing or none? One thing that I think that parents of babies/toddlers who didn't respond well to HA need to remember is that, the CI WILL improve the hearing. But it may not boost the hearing to hoh listening levels. It does in a lot of cases.....BUT, that may have more to do with the fact that implant canidacy levels aren't as strict. So kids with some residual hearing/speech perception abilty are getting a boost. Kids with very little sound or speech perception abilty don't have that advantage.
 
deafdyke said:
Excellent! So, what was the result of aiding? Did she have some residual hearing or none? One thing that I think that parents of babies/toddlers who didn't respond well to HA need to remember is that, the CI WILL improve the hearing. But it may not boost the hearing to hoh listening levels. It does in a lot of cases.....BUT, that may have more to do with the fact that implant canidacy levels aren't as strict. So kids with some residual hearing/speech perception abilty are getting a boost. Kids with very little sound or speech perception abilty don't have that advantage.
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That's not true. Kids with profound losses do just as well with CI's as kids who had lots of residual hearing, as long as they are implanted before 18 months. The idea that CI success has anything to do with pre-implant residual hearing (in young children) is just false. The CI's programing completely bypasses the residual hearing so nothing is "boosted" at all.
 
Oh, and we are an AB family too! My daughter just went bilateral last week, she is still adjusting to the new one, but we hope it will be a nice improvement.
 
Simultameous implants is having 2 implants put in during same operation

Squential implants, One implant at a time during seperate operations.
 
faire-joure, but DEEP profound? That is no usable hearing with hearing aids? I'm NOT saying that it doesn't work....you're misinterpreting that. I am saying that it may not work as well in kids with deep profound losses, b/c their brain has to interpret completly new stimuli.
Remember, too that many kids with deep profound losses may have had the advantage of hearing normally for at least a month or so. Only a small percentage of deaf kids are deaf from birth/conception, and only a small percentage have deep profound losses. That can skew statistics.
You can have a profound loss but still have some usable hearing...you can even have some speech perception with hearing aids or even unaided with a profound loss.
 
overthepond said:
Simultameous implants is having 2 implants put in during same operation

Squential implants, One implant at a time during seperate operations.
Click to expand...

Yes, i know what it is. I'd just never heard of anyone actually getting it before.. only just heard of it in theory.
*EQL*
 
deafdyke said:
faire-joure, but DEEP profound? That is no usable hearing with hearing aids? I'm NOT saying that it doesn't work....you're misinterpreting that. I am saying that it may not work as well in kids with deep profound losses, b/c their brain has to interpret completly new stimuli.
Remember, too that many kids with deep profound losses may have had the advantage of hearing normally for at least a month or so. Only a small percentage of deaf kids are deaf from birth/conception, and only a small percentage have deep profound losses. That can skew statistics.
You can have a profound loss but still have some usable hearing...you can even have some speech perception with hearing aids or even unaided with a profound loss.
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Wrong again. Only a small percentage of kids have progressive losses.

Kids with a profound connexin 26 or other genetic hearing loss would have their loss from conception. That is a large percentage.

Again, the level of loss has nothing to do with CI success. The ACTUAL factors are age of intervention and age of implantation.
 
faire_jour said:
Wrong again. Only a small percentage of kids have progressive losses.

Kids with a profound connexin 26 or other genetic hearing loss would have their loss from conception. That is a large percentage.

Again, the level of loss has nothing to do with CI success. The ACTUAL factors are age of intervention and age of implantation.
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And the work the individuals/parents/AVT/etc put into making the CI successful.
 
faire_jour said:
Again, the level of loss has nothing to do with CI success. The ACTUAL factors are age of intervention and age of implantation.
Click to expand...

I agree, FJ. Docs say that Li (my 4YO) was profoundly, bilaterally deaf from birth, and she had no useful hearing and definitely no access to the 'speech banana' sounds during six months of hearing aid trials. Her first CI was activated at 21 months, her 2nd a year later. She's had no difficulty adapting to her CIs, speaks, hears, comprehends very well, and we expect she'll approach typical spoken language abilities for a child her age within the next year if we can ratchet up her vocabulary significantly.

That's not to say she "hears exactly like a hearing child," and we're very much aware that she is a profoundly deaf child with access to sound using her CIs.

We've not pursued AVT (although I think it's a very valid approach, as studies have borne out), although Li completed a year of weekly auditory rehabilitation (learning to listen with her processors) after the initial activation. I think that because she was under 2 years at implantation there was less "catch up," and she already had nearly 6 months of ASL, so developing a brand new language was old hat to her.

Key to her continued success will be the same factors that contribute to every child's success: literacy, vocabulary development, immersion in the language, etc. If our current bi-bi path doesn't continue in this same trajectory, if progress slows, we'll reconsider, but right now, we're seeing a very successful outcome despite no previous or partial hearing (and even with a later than ideal implantation) and without continued intensive or special AV training. The special efforts we're putting into her education are all focused on developing and maintaining ASL.
 
Dropping back in for an update. We implanted bilateral AB implants in Oct. Activation was Nov 24. We could not be more pleased with the results- responses are very clear at this point. We've hit the SEE hard and continue to take classes. My daughter has an extensive sign vocabulary (for a 13 month old) and we intend to keep it up.
 
iowaboy said:
Dropping back in for an update. We implanted bilateral AB implants in Oct. Activation was Nov 24. We could not be more pleased with the results- responses are very clear at this point. We've hit the SEE hard and continue to take classes. My daughter has an extensive sign vocabulary (for a 13 month old) and we intend to keep it up.
Click to expand...

I am glad all is going well for you. :) Drop in more often if you can stand us! :wave:
 
Wrong again. Only a small percentage of kids have progressive losses.

Kids with a profound connexin 26 or other genetic hearing loss would have their loss from conception. That is a large percentage.

Again, the level of loss has nothing to do with CI success. The ACTUAL factors are age of intervention and age of implantation.
Click to expand...
Faire joure, you are just so defensive that you jump down anyone's throat.
Actually progressive losses are quite common. But I wasn't even talking about that.....were you aware that most kids are not born dhh but lose their hearing? Meaning for example, that a baby who has had a month or more of normal hearing might have a better advantage then someone who has never heard before? There are a TON of factors that can influence sucessful implantation, you know! A TON! Yes, age of intervention and implantation is important BUT there are also a lot more factors that come into play! I'm not saying that someone who has been profound from birth can't benifit from CI.....heck some of them may be able to benifit somewhat with hearing aids. Just that someone who lost their hearing after a month or so would have more of an advantage b/c their brain would know how to interpret sound as sound.
We've hit the SEE hard and continue to take classes. My daughter has an extensive sign vocabulary (for a 13 month old) and we intend to keep it up.
Click to expand...
High five!!!!!! That is AWESOME. What about speech? How's her speech coming along? Have you guys found a decent speech therapist? It might be hard b/c you're out in the boonies. The key really is parental involvement.
 
Iowa ain't the boonies... it's the friggin' stix. Lake McBride Baby, great place to drop a body.
 
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