To Implant or not..

jmain1026 said:
Hi my 18 month old son has severe to profound bilateral loss .. Hes had his ha's for about 2 and a half weeks... Anyone have any advice or experiences ...how do i know if ha,s will help him enough for speech .. Or is ci his only option ... How do we tell i he benefits from them



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It is better to learn to sign Baby signs almost close to ASL to your son. Don't ever left him out. As for Speech therapy, that would be a time consuming and take his education away from that. But you can use both but you can not expect him to speak perfectly. If he can hears, but not say words, then you need to wait while you are using sign language to him. Later you can get someone to train him to speak but don't omit ASL when he is old enough.

You have to remember that deaf babies see everything like visual. That is why sign language like ASL is very important to him. So learn to sign and then give him the lessons to learn signing Baby signs. He would love you for that. :)
 
jmain1026 said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone ill keep u updated ... He hears alot ofoe sounds than before and is babbling alot more now too haha more alert and not shy around people .. Haha he says mama but nothing else yet... So we will see ...


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If he has picked that up in just over 2 weeks it's a pretty good sign that he is hearing and life is good.
 
Ya ... We will be doing early intervention with him ... As well as baby sign ... I know hell never be able to sound as normal as someone with good hearing but i do want him To speak and sign ... Just for him to learn both would be amazing... I guess another question would be to anyone out there.... You have any experiences on peolple wiht his loss learning to talk ?


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jmain1026 said:
Ya ... We will be doing early intervention with him ... As well as baby sign ... I know hell never be able to sound as normal as someone with good hearing but i do want him To speak and sign ... Just for him to learn both would be amazing... I guess another question would be to anyone out there.... You have any experiences on peolple wiht his loss learning to talk ?


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Wow on the bolded. :(

Yes I have personal experience. And I guess I don't sound as "normal" as someone with good hearing...

And have other family members doing the same now. Not quite sure if they sound "normal", but luckily no one in our family ever said anything like that...
 
I encourage you to read all of this forum before you make comments that you haven't experience being around with Deaf or HOH people here.
 
Im sorry didnt mean to bold anything ... And also i have friends i grew up with that are hoh and deaf ... I wanted to know about babies and hearing aids ... So i dont know what you mean about encourage me to read this and that i just wanted some help ...


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jmain1026 said:
Im sorry didnt mean to bold anything ... And also i have friends i grew up with that are hoh and deaf ... I wanted to know about babies and hearing aids ... So i dont know what you mean about encourage me to read this and that i just wanted some help ...


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No you didn't bold anything. I bolded your statement that is concerning.

I just hope your son will be smart. And kind and nice to others.
 
Whats concerning ? That i would like him to learn language and sign?


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I just meant all ways of communication for him i want him to learn


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jmain1026 said:
Why would he not be nice to others?


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Because he will learn from the examples that are set for him.

jmain1026 said:
Whats concerning ? That i would like him to learn language and sign?


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NO "I know hell never be able to sound as normal as someone with good hearing" The quoted is concerning in your attitude. That will affect anyone's self esteem.

jmain1026 said:
I just meant all ways of communication for him i want him to learn


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Oh yeah .. I see how that sounds now that i read it ... Sorry didnt mean it like that ...at all ... Im not to good when it comes to trying to express what i really mean


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ambrosia said:
I say absolutely go to a clinic and get evaluated. I know you're not exaggerated the difference between severe and profound. I know I tried to explain it on here before. I have progressive loss. I didn't start losing my hearing until I was in my 20s so I've experienced the full spectrum of the audio gram. I went to college with severe loss, no problems or accommodations necessary. I've been in the profound range in my "good" okay fine better ear for about 2-3 years. The difference between severe and profound loss is......profound lol literally.

With the access you had to sound with your good ear you should be able to have access to sound, comprehensible sound. If you did the ear that's been deaf all your life maybe not. There's another poster on here that was implanted not long ago. She just had her 3rd mapping and is hearing in the 25/30 range I believe.

Anyway talk to a doc. I just enrolled for insurance on the exchange and it should start April 1st. I'll be right behind you going to a clinic :D
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Yup! I'm in the process of evaluation. I have a basic hearing test in a week and a half. Then I may have another basic hearing test. The reason why they may not do a comprehensive evaluation for another month is because they probably want to make sure I'm not fluctuating too much. I get that. Also they may want me to go through medical workup to see what might have caused sudden hearing loss. Personally I think it is what it is, whatever damage has been done has been done at this point, and I don't want to be a guinea pig for just being deaf. Especially considering that I grew up hard of hearing in the first place. I refuse to take medication in hopes of bringing hearing back. I think taking medications to improve hearing is worse than going through surgery to be honest, because most often sensorineural hearing loss is permanent. And then my hearing aid audiologist mentioned something about having me try the Phonak Nadia Q UP for a couple of weeks. I have the SP model. In my case I don't really understand that extra step- the SoundRecover feature isn't doing anything for me and I still can't follow conversations. Also I believe it doesn't encompass as much hearing across frequencies as the SP model does. But it has more power and they want to see how I "do" with it. So an evaluation is on the table at this point but the process is going to take another 6 weeks or so.

So glad you're getting your insurance approval!!!
 
everlastingstorm said:
Congenital usually means that you were born with it. So unless you have a mild hearing loss I can't see how it could have been overlooked until you were that old.
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Yes, I'm aware of the definition of congenital, that's why I used it. I have bilateral fixed stapes. There are only two causes of this: birth defect or otosclerosis. Since I don't have the latter, the logical conclusion would be hearing loss from birth. And at the time it was moderately severe to severe. So yes, it was overlooked, and no it was not mild.
 
I've heard, now just heard mind you (on here) that they don't like, or whatever, to implant people until you've at least tried the most powerful aids and they've proven to not be effective. Or your speech recognition score with them being too low, or low enough.

Now don't quote me lol I'm not sure how accurate that is, it's just what I've heard. I don't have the approval yet,y insurance doesn't even start covering anything until the 1st. I'm more worried about damage done to the structures of my ear from the cochlear otosclerosis than insurance not covering an implant.
 
CI ..No thanks...That said I'm happy signing using ASL, my wife is hearing and I'm HOH, We both are in an ASL program. We go 3 day a week. My point is I have gone thru all these test over my 47 years and I just accept that my identity of being Deaf. Hearing aids, CI they all work great there are some good products out there, but for me they provide sounds that I don't understand. I would have to relearn words and sound of life all over again. So I suggest to keep trying out everything til you blue in the face. At the end of the day you take off or turn off these products and your still Deaf.


George Martin
 
I was born Deaf and am still Deaf. I still identify as Deaf. I am implanted with a C.I. and have been for the past few years. Yes, I'm still Deaf, it doesn't make me any less Deaf. The use of C.I.'s or H.A.'s doesn't make anyone any less Deaf or HoH. If someone wants to do an implant, go for it. If they don't want to, that is also their own personal choice. They should not be made to feel they are any less part of the Deaf community for making that choice. I still use ASL and have many friends that use H.A.'s / C.I.'s that still use ASL. Sure, it's work... but that's their decision to make, not anyone else's. Using these devices doesn't mean we don't accept our identity... I think you need to reevaluate what you "think" your identity really is, because it certainly isn't defined by an electronic device, George.
 
Frisky Feline said:
If you did think about CI then go for it. No one cant tell you what compares to hearing from HA to CI everyone have different levels of hearing sounds but I know is to be able to hear at varies of sounds what everyone can.

Of course surgery is always a risk.
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CI surgery is minor risk not a major risk.
 
For my

To implant. Yes I already have CI. I'm so happy with it. The hearing aids have no longer benefit for profound deaf. I wasn't happy with hearing aids for many years. The reason why I choice CI to hear sound environment, hearing's voice, listen the music, alert me when I hear the car honk, someone want me to move the lane when I ride in the bike. I can hear someone ride in bike behind me, jogger alert me to move the lane while I'm walking with my son and dog on the trails. My son called me a mommy for attention. He scream for help while I was downstairs. I can hear where is my son in his bedroom. My dog barked to alert me when she heard something from outside snd someone knock on the door. I'm so grateful for CI is a livesaver! The hearing aids isn't problem solve to hear better. It is limited sound unlike Cochlesr Implsnt.

I have no regret to made right choice to hear CI. I'm happy for you consider to get CI to hear again. :)
 
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