Heres my opinion
I am mom to a 16 month old girl. we found out her choclear is messed up and she is canidate for CI, but we dont agree that she should be implanted until she is old enough to make the decision herself. Her being almost deaf is something she will have to live with the rest of her life and we want her to make her own decisions about it. of course other parents do get thier child implanted and thats fine, because thats thier opinion on it, and i dont disrespect what they decide to do, each parent does what they think is right for thier child, and there is no "right" answer, the only answer is what you think is best for your child. Right now she uses HA's and uses sign, she knows about 20 signs although she can only sign about 10 herself. She tries to talk and has speech therapy, but we dont care if she learns to talk, obviously we want to give her the chance to, which we are doing, but we think that if she wants to not use her HA's when she gets older it is ok. Or if she wants CI when she gets older, thats fine too. She is our precious baby, and it doesnt matter what her "problems" or "special needs" are, shes perfect in our eyes.
