What are your Pros or Cons on this?

[jdharrawood]

Hello!

Friend of mine has deaf son. He is 2 years old. She was wondering if she should or not.

So I would like to see the list of Pros and Cons.

My opionion is that I am against it. I think too early to put it on him. My belief is wait until he is older so he can make his own choices that way he will know that we not control his life. I dont want him to feel like we dont accept his deafness so I rather leave it alone until he is around 12 to 14 years old so we can explain and let him make the decision.

Please be honest with your opionion.

 

[Liebling:-)))]

Hello!

Please be honest with your opionion.

My opinion to support child´s choice.

 

[SxyPorkie]

I am against having children implaned... children should wait until they are at legal age before they make a choice...

 

[shel90]

I am nuetral about CIs but if I were in the same situation, I would wait and met my child decide.

My biggest concern is the attitude that comes with implanting the child and not exposing the child to sign language in the educational setting. I am a strong believer that implanted or not, every deaf/hoh child should be exposed to both sign and oral languages so the child can choose which language they r comfortable with when they r old enough to make decisions. I am against making the child suffer linguistically.

 

[hermiedawn0072]

I had no idea WHAT you were talking about from what I was reading in your post. From everyone else and their answers, I gathered that you were talking about cochlear implants. So, this is my opinion:

I definitely agree with everyone else that your friend should wait for the CI. It is definitely unfair for the child, just because the mother or father might feel uncomfortable with their child because he is "not normal". I think that it gets to the point where it is just ridiculous. Because, and this is what I understood with the CI from my schooling experiences, isn't it true that if you get this device that you won't really be able to swim or play many contact sports (or is it just with it on)?

And I watched some kind of a special about the cochlear implant, and it was saying that it typically DOES work and is successful for children that are, I believe, under age five. After that, it's kind of like a crapshoot. Like I said before, I just don't think it is right to do that to a child. So, to finish my comments, I agree with everyone else. It is not fair to choose that for the child because of the parent's comfort issues. (And I say that because I know someone that gave their child a hearing aid, and he still can't really hear anything in both ears anyway, and his parents refuse to teach him sign language. I think that is outrageous!)

So those are my opinions about that. And if you let me, there is always a possibility that I will keep rambling on and on and on and......................

 

[Drew's Dad]

By not choosing an implant, you are making the choice for your child

My biggest concern is the attitude that comes with implanting the child and not exposing the child to sign language in the educational setting. I am a strong believer that implanted or not, every deaf/hoh child should be exposed to both sign and oral languages so the child can choose which language they r comfortable with when they r old enough to make decisions. I am against making the child suffer linguistically.

In the case of profoundly deaf children who cannot be amplified to hear in the speech banana, the argument of "letting the child decide" does not make sense to me. This is a decision for the child in itself.

If you have the child communicate through sign until they are old enough to "choose" for themselves, you have made the choice for them to not exercise their auditory pathways for years. Should they later decide they wish to hear, you will have chosen for them to have grown up without developing their speech and hearing skills to the point where they will never develop as they would have with the benefit of cochlear implants.

I understand that there are reasons for both choices, but to advance the opinion that opting for an implant is wrong because you are making a "choice" for your child is nonsensical to me.

I would imagine that it would be easier for an adult to decide to not use their implants and learn to use sign language fluently after speaking for 10-15 years when compared to teaching a person who has not spoken for 10-15 years to speak as well as someone who has been "hearing" that entire time.

Either way you are choosing that child's path for them. What they do when they reach the age of majority is up to them, and either way I think they can be successful. My personal choice is to give my child the ability to hear, and if they decide to not use that ability later in life, that will be their educated decision.

 

[shel90]

In the case of profoundly deaf children who cannot be amplified to hear in the speech banana, the argument of "letting the child decide" does not make sense to me. This is a decision for the child in itself.

If you have the child communicate through sign until they are old enough to "choose" for themselves, you have made the choice for them to not exercise their auditory pathways for years. Should they later decide they wish to hear, you will have chosen for them to have grown up without developing their speech and hearing skills to the point where they will never develop as they would have with the benefit of cochlear implants.

I understand that there are reasons for both choices, but to advance the opinion that opting for an implant is wrong because you are making a "choice" for your child is nonsensical to me.

I would imagine that it would be easier for an adult to decide to not use their implants and learn to use sign language fluently after speaking for 10-15 years when compared to teaching a person who has not spoken for 10-15 years to speak as well as someone who has been "hearing" that entire time.

Either way you are choosing that child's path for them. What they do when they reach the age of majority is up to them, and either way I think they can be successful. My personal choice is to give my child the ability to hear, and if they decide to not use that ability later in life, that will be their educated decision.

U r confusing me. I said I believe in exposing any deaf/hoh children with both approaches (oral, to exercise their auditory skills, and sign, for language and literacy development, languages) and it seems like u r saying that I am against speech development. Or that I won't allow the child to be exposed to speech training. Where did it say that I said that? If I said that then I must have made a typo.

My primary concern over everything else is literacy skills, the ability to read and write at their age approprate levels.

U said a child who has been speaking can choose to learn sign language later. Well, that was me. I was born profondly deaf and grew up without ever being exposed to sign language or deaf culture. I missed out a lot of information sitting in a large classroom of everyone talking not being able to catch what everyone was saying. I was left out 90% of the time. Is that fair for me as a child??? I wish I had both instead of the oral only approach. Yes, I have good lipreading and speech skills but I still missed out on way too much, in my opinion, growing up. Learning ASL was the best thing I have ever done in my life. My deaf brother was taught in the oral only approach but he struggled with it until finally at the age of 5, my mom had to send him to the deaf school cuz his language was so delayed due to not picking up on auditory cues. If he had sign language since birth, he wouldn't have all the stuggles he had with reading and writing growing up even after becoming fluent in ASL. Just he became fluent in it at an older age when he should have been learning how to read and write. Thankfully, he had the inner desire to overcome the obstacles and now is a grad student. My point, shud that have happened just because the experts told my mom that by learning sign language, we woudnt learn speech nor lipreading skills. Well, duh, even without learning sign language, my brother couldn't learn it for some reason and he ended up with a language level of an 1 year old at the age of 6!

Now, professionally, I see so many of the same issues.

If hearing kids of deaf chdren r exposed in both and become fluent in both languages why can't deaf/hoh children have the same opportunities.

Speech development is the least of my worries. Literacy skills r my #1 priority for all deaf.hoh children without cognitive disabilities. By providing both, the child can be fluent in both and as an adult, they can continue with both or choose one over the other but at least they will be more likely to have good reading and writing skills.

U can disagree with me and u r entitled to your opinion but I am standing by my beliefs. I am not against CIs in children. It is none of my business if parents want to implant their children but I believe that they shud be exposed to both languages at the same time.

I just wouldn't implant my child cuz I don't want to and that is my business. However, I would expose my child to both languages anyway.

 

[AussieGal]

Errrmmmm dont hit me about this but i agree she should have it done how can a child make a decision when gets older?!?!?

For me if i had a deaf child and i would certainly go CI as the technology is improving and its getting better and dont forget the deaf population is shrinking so what is going to happen in 20 years or 50 years time ?? the deaf community will be gone.

Its the same with blind they are improving technology to help the blind to see so whats the big deal to make a big issue or debate on either deaf, blind etc.

We are moving forward with technology so who is going to shut that down ... you ????

 

[shel90]

Errrmmmm dont hit me about this but i agree she should have it done how can a child make a decision when gets older?!?!?

For me if i had a deaf child and i would certainly go CI as the technology is improving and its getting better and dont forget the deaf population is shrinking so what is going to happen in 20 years or 50 years time ?? the deaf community will be gone.

Its the same with blind they are improving technology to help the blind to see so whats the big deal to make a big issue or debate on either deaf, blind etc.

We are moving forward with technology so who is going to shut that down ... you ????

If the CI technology is so good why are there many deaf children with CIs being referred to my school because they didnt benefit from their CIs and the auditory approach? Some of those children were implanted before they were 2 years old but still need visual language to learn new concepts. At least my school offers speech, spoken language, and sign language to meet all of their needs.

If u have the answer maybe this problem can be solved.

 

[BearBeauty]

As far as technology improving, this is true.. but you have to remember that technology won't always work for everyone. It's possible the child could be implanted and later the parents find out the implant did not work for whatever reason..

Understand.. I'm not against CI's, Like Shel, I'm worried about parents not using total communication.. IE lipreading, speech and sign language.. That's what the worry is. And deaf culture will never die. There are always going to be deaf people.. even with the best technology, it can still happen. So don't assume deaf people won't be around in 50 years.. We'll always be here.. No matter how well technology makes us hearing, We know we'll always be deaf..

So to the person who started this thread.. Tell the parents that if they want to implant their child with a CI, please include total communication in his life.. meaning make sure he learns to lipread, talk and sign. He will thank you later for it. I thank my mother for giving me the oppournity to have total communication in my life. Because without Total communication, I would never be where I am today. She may have wanted me to be Oral.. but she NEVER stopped me from learning sign language.. because she knew it would help me as well. And knowing my mom will never read this.. Hmm i should send her an email...

 

[shel90]

As far as technology improving, this is true.. but you have to remember that technology won't always work for everyone. It's possible the child could be implanted and later the parents find out the implant did not work for whatever reason..

Understand.. I'm not against CI's, Like Shel, I'm worried about parents not using total communication.. IE lipreading, speech and sign language.. That's what the worry is. And deaf culture will never die. There are always going to be deaf people.. even with the best technology, it can still happen. So don't assume deaf people won't be around in 50 years.. We'll always be here.. No matter how well technology makes us hearing, We know we'll always be deaf..

So to the person who started this thread.. Tell the parents that if they want to implant their child with a CI, please include total communication in his life.. meaning make sure he learns to lipread, talk and sign. He will thank you later for it. I thank my mother for giving me the oppournity to have total communication in my life. Because without Total communication, I would never be where I am today. She may have wanted me to be Oral.. but she NEVER stopped me from learning sign language.. because she knew it would help me as well. And knowing my mom will never read this.. Hmm i should send her an email...

AWWW that is soo sweet of your mother.

My mom told my brother and I a few years ago that she regrets not exposing us to sign language when we were younger (in my case especially) cuz she can see how happier I am with having both languages and cultures. She realized that because my teachers and herself couldnt accept my deafness, I learned that behavior and it took me a long time in therapy to get over my bitterness and anger to finally accept my deafness. I am thankful for it but just wish I had that opportunity like u did as a child. Nothing I can do about the past so I try not to dwell on it but use my experiences to educate others. Doesnt mean they have to agree with me but hope they can take that into consideration and keep it in mind for their deaf children.

 

[Drew's Dad]

I agree, that's not fair to a child.

U r confusing me. I said I believe in exposing any deaf/hoh children with both approaches (oral, to exercise their auditory skills, and sign, for language and literacy development, languages) and it seems like u r saying that I am against speech development. Or that I won't allow the child to be exposed to speech training. Where did it say that I said that? If I said that then I must have made a typo.

My primary concern over everything else is literacy skills, the ability to read and write at their age approprate levels.

U said a child who has been speaking can choose to learn sign language later. Well, that was me. I was born profondly deaf and grew up without ever being exposed to sign language or deaf culture. I missed out a lot of information sitting in a large classroom of everyone talking not being able to catch what everyone was saying. I was left out 90% of the time. Is that fair for me as a child???

My post concerned profoundly deaf children that cannot hear within the speech banana when amplified - meaning children that would sit in class not hearing a large portion of what is going on (like yourself).

Actually, I am surprised to hear what you went through. If I find that my son will not benefit from cochlear implants he will be enrolled in an aggressive ASL program immediately. I would never consider for a second having him go through his education not hearing 90% of what was going on. No offense to you or your parents.

My point remains that whether you choose to have your child implanted, or you choose not to, you are still making a choice for that child. Many opinions I have read insinuate that parents should allow the child to choose, and that's really not realistic as the choice to not develop their speech is made by not having the child implanted, and the choice to put a device in their head is made by having them implanted. It is impossible to know for sure what the child will want 15 years down the road.

My view is to allow the speech (and reading and all other learning) to be developed as much as possible, and if they later do not wish to use an implant they never have to wear it again.

I had never considered that some parents took a middle road for profoundly deaf kids who can't fully participate with hearing aids and did not decide to help the child develop sign language, and did not decide to have them implanted. I can't believe that happens.

 

[sr171soars]

My post concerned profoundly deaf children that cannot hear within the speech banana when amplified - meaning children that would sit in class not hearing a large portion of what is going on (like yourself).

Actually, I am surprised to hear what you went through. If I find that my son will not benefit from cochlear implants he will be enrolled in an aggressive ASL program immediately. I would never consider for a second having him go through his education not hearing 90% of what was going on. No offense to you or your parents.

My point remains that whether you choose to have your child implanted, or you choose not to, you are still making a choice for that child. Many opinions I have read insinuate that parents should allow the child to choose, and that's really not realistic as the choice to not develop their speech is made by not having the child implanted, and the choice to put a device in their head is made by having them implanted. It is impossible to know for sure what the child will want 15 years down the road.

My view is to allow the speech (and reading and all other learning) to be developed as much as possible, and if they later do not wish to use an implant they never have to wear it again.

I had never considered that some parents took a middle road for profoundly deaf kids who can't fully participate with hearing aids and did not decide to help the child develop sign language, and did not decide to have them implanted. I can't believe that happens.

It is my view as well. I never understood the reason about letting kids make these profound choices when they are incapable of doing so. The window of opportunity for speech development is very narrow and not negotiable. At the same time, I agree one should give them the tools to succeed. I'm glad you clarified that for others. I understood that implicitly from your first posting whereas some others didn't get that.

 

[highlands]

... My personal choice is to give my child the ability to hear, and if they decide to not use that ability later in life, that will be their educated decision.

+1

 

[shel90]

My post concerned profoundly deaf children that cannot hear within the speech banana when amplified - meaning children that would sit in class not hearing a large portion of what is going on (like yourself).

Actually, I am surprised to hear what you went through. If I find that my son will not benefit from cochlear implants he will be enrolled in an aggressive ASL program immediately. I would never consider for a second having him go through his education not hearing 90% of what was going on. No offense to you or your parents.

My point remains that whether you choose to have your child implanted, or you choose not to, you are still making a choice for that child. Many opinions I have read insinuate that parents should allow the child to choose, and that's really not realistic as the choice to not develop their speech is made by not having the child implanted, and the choice to put a device in their head is made by having them implanted. It is impossible to know for sure what the child will want 15 years down the road.

My view is to allow the speech (and reading and all other learning) to be developed as much as possible, and if they later do not wish to use an implant they never have to wear it again.

I had never considered that some parents took a middle road for profoundly deaf kids who can't fully participate with hearing aids and did not decide to help the child develop sign language, and did not decide to have them implanted. I can't believe that happens.

So I can safetly assume that u believe ALL deaf/hoh children whether they come from deaf or hearing families be implanted? I would love to see that debate within the deaf community.

For me, the decision to implant a child is a private and personal decision. I don't know why u r singling me out..probably cuiz I mentioned that I wouldn't implant my child. If I had told u that the parents shouldn't implant their child and let the child choose for himself/herself then u can single me out but I didn't say that so I don't know why u r debating this topic with me. If u think I am a bad parent for chossing my child then I am just as bad as the parents who chose to implant the child. I really do not care. there r many deaf adults that I know that resents their parents for implating them...if there r deaf adults that resent their parents for not implanting them during the formative years, I haven't yet met one. Maybe there r out there. Who knows? It is a no win situation. I am only concerned with lieracy skills not speech skills.

My primary concern and debate is the child's linguistic development and taking the risk to see if an oral only approach would work or not. To me that's like gambling with the child's language development and it is something I am against cuz I see too many deaf children who are several years delayed in language because the specialist and parents finally decided after years that the oral only approach didn't work. I don't see what's wrong with exposing sign and oral languages to the child the moment the hearing loss has been discovered. Why not?

About how I fell thru the cracks in oral education...I fooled everyone into thinking I was doing fine. Yes, my reading and writing were up to par with my hearing peers but there is so much more than just being able to read and write. I spent most of my years in middle school and high school in a daze from total boredom of not having a clue what was being taught in class. I did what I had to do just to pass and I was lucky that I was smart enough to fill in a lot of gaps to be able to pass. If anyone had asked me at the time if I couldn't follow what was being said in class, I would have denied it cuz I didn't accept my deafness and I would have never admit my inability to understand what was being said. I lied tomy parents and so many of my teachers about that issue.

I never deverloped critical thinking, debating, and many more skills cuz I was unable to follow the instrustion and class discussions. I see the high school kids at the deaf schools and they have lively debates and everyone was able to follow the debate. I became envious cuz I never had that. I learned thru mostly textbooks. Pretty broing huh?

 

[Drew's Dad]

+1

So I can safetly assume that u believe ALL deaf/hoh children whether they come from deaf or hearing families be implanted? I would love to see that debate within the deaf community.

For me, the decision to implant a child is a private and personal decision. I don't know why u r singling me out..probably cuiz I mentioned that I wouldn't implant my child.

Please don't assume that. I specifically pointed out twice that my opinion is based upon profoundly deaf children that can't hear within the speech banana even when amplified. Further, I never mentioned anything about what type of families the child was in. Finally, I rendered no opinion at all on what others should do, I simply advanced my view which is based upon my family dynamics.

I'm unclear on how you concluded from my posts that I am advocating that all deaf and all hard of hearing children should be implanted.

Further, I'm not singling you out intentionally, so I apologize if you feel that way. I was surprised to hear what you went through, that's all. I'm sorry that you had to struggle for a long time.

As long as children are being educated and cared for, I don't care one bit whether a parent puts their child on a path of using sign language or uses an implant. I would never tell someone they are wrong for not having their child implanted.

 

[jag]

I had never considered that some parents took a middle road for profoundly deaf kids who can't fully participate with hearing aids and did not decide to help the child develop sign language, and did not decide to have them implanted. I can't believe that happens.

Actually my hearing loss was probably moderate during my school years. I got hearing aids when I was about 13 I think. Even after getting those things that some people think are so great I still spent alot of time in my own little world. LOL I still don't get how people with severe/profound losses can think they get great benefit from HA's.

But to answer the question above. I have to agree that either way the parent makes a choice. I'd error on the side of giving the chance to hear at the earliest age possible. While I've seen kids pick up ASL quickly when immersed into it, Speech is much more complicated then signing, one is visual and you can see it, the other requires learning how to use the vocal cords, shaping the mouth, adjusting volume thus it's something best learned from a young age.

One can always choose not to use the implant when older. A parent should not rely on the feelings of others, not those who have grown up in deaf culture or those like me who havn't. They need to decide what they want to give their child and then research the best ways to do it. Studies show the best results come when implanted early. Do you wait? or do you research/read the studies and make an informed decision. There are no guarentees in life and there are no guarentees with a CI. That's life.

 

[jag]

I am nuetral about CIs but if I were in the same situation, I would wait and met my child decide.

My biggest concern is the attitude that comes with implanting the child and not exposing the child to sign language in the educational setting. I am a strong believer that implanted or not, every deaf/hoh child should be exposed to both sign and oral languages so the child can choose which language they r comfortable with when they r old enough to make decisions. I am against making the child suffer linguistically.

Shel, there are different reasons to implant a child young, the first being to help develope spoken language skills. The other is to help parents not have to place their child into the deaf school because the only way to educate the child is in sign language. Parents have the right to make decision for their chilren, that includes implanting so they can raise their own children.

I have a child with special needs, ideally if we had chosen to send her to the school she's in now (deaf academy) she may have become more advanced in her communication skills. Because of her mental delays it's took her about 3 yrs to actually begin signing consistantly. with signing she may have even picked up more academically.....BUT if all she had been exposed to was sign (and she did get some in her previous school) she because of her delays would probably not understand spoken english. IT's a double edged sword. But keeping her home with her family was an important thing to do to. Why would parents choose to send their child to a dorm (remember not everyone can live within commuting distance of a school that uses ASl as a primary language) but why would they choose to give up their child without trying other possiblities first? The point is mute if you have easy access to your states schools for the deaf, if not the CI becomes even more important from the family aspect. (IMO of course )

 

[shel90]

My post concerned profoundly deaf children that cannot hear within the speech banana when amplified - meaning children that would sit in class not hearing a large portion of what is going on (like yourself).

Actually, I am surprised to hear what you went through. If I find that my son will not benefit from cochlear implants he will be enrolled in an aggressive ASL program immediately. I would never consider for a second having him go through his education not hearing 90% of what was going on. No offense to you or your parents.

My point remains that whether you choose to have your child implanted, or you choose not to, you are still making a choice for that child. Many opinions I have read insinuate that parents should allow the child to choose, and that's really not realistic as the choice to not develop their speech is made by not having the child implanted, and the choice to put a device in their head is made by having them implanted. It is impossible to know for sure what the child will want 15 years down the road.

My view is to allow the speech (and reading and all other learning) to be developed as much as possible, and if they later do not wish to use an implant they never have to wear it again.

I had never considered that some parents took a middle road for profoundly deaf kids who can't fully participate with hearing aids and did not decide to help the child develop sign language, and did not decide to have them implanted. I can't believe that happens.

So I can safetly assume that u believe ALL deaf/hoh children whether they come from deaf or hearing families be implanted? I would love to see that debate within the deaf community.

For me, the decision to implant a child is a private and personal decision. I don't know why u r singling me out..probably cuiz I mentioned that I wouldn't implant my child. If I had told u that the parents shouldn't implant their child and let the child choose for himself/herself then u can single me out but I didn't say that so I don't know why u r debating this topic with me. If u think I am a bad parent for chossing my child then I am just as bad as the parents who chose to implant the child. I really do not care. there r many deaf adults that I know that resents their parents for implating them...if there r deaf adults that resent their parents for not implanting them during the formative years, I haven't yet met one. Maybe there r out there. Who knows? It is a no win situation. I am only concerned with lieracy skills not speech skills.

My primary concern and debate is the child's linguistic development and taking the risk to see if an oral only approach would work or not. To me that's like gambling with the child's language development and it is something I am against cuz I see too many deaf children who are several years delayed in language because the specialist and parents finally decided after years that the oral only approach didn't work. I don't see what's wrong with exposing sign and oral languages to the child the moment the hearing loss has been discovered. Why not?

About how I fell thru the cracks in oral education...I fooled everyone into thinking I was doing fine. Yes, my reading and writing were up to par with my hearing peers but there is so much more than just being able to read and write. I spent most of my years in middle school and high school in a daze from total boredom of not having a clue what was being taught in class. I did what I had to do just to pass and I was lucky that I was smart enough to fill in a lot of gaps to be able to pass. If anyone had asked me at the time if I couldn't follow what was being said in class, I would have denied it cuz I didn't accept my deafness and I would have never admit my inability to understand what was being said. I lied tomy parents and so many of my teachers about that issue.

I never deverloped critical thinking, debating, and many more skills cuz I was unable to follow the instrustion and class discussions. I see the high school kids at the deaf schools and they have lively debates and everyone was able to follow the debate. I became envious cuz I never had that. I learned thru mostly textbooks. Pretty broing huh?

 

[SJCSue]

Leah Coleman

Leah Coleman (the girl from Signing Time) was born profoundly deaf to hearing parents. Her parents decided to learn ASL. I heard/read that Leah has wonderful reading ability. When Leah was seven years old, she was implanted. Three years later, Leah's speech is clear and very understandable (in my mildly hoh opinion). The family still signs to Leah, as is evident in this video.
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