What to do?

go for it

i highly recommend that your son should get a CI..almost every hearing parent wants their child to be able to listen and speak and interact comfortably in the hearing world..as a nucleus 22 CI user myself for almost 13 years (i was born w/ a profound hearing loss), i am so grateful that my parents decided for me to get the CI..at 6 years old, i was fitted w/ the CI for the first time and that really made a difference in my life. i heard so much better and my speech improved dramatically..as you can see the world is changing..technology is improving and soon the "Deaf" community will be diminishing..so if you want your son to fit in the hearing world, then have him tested and see if he is a candidate for a CI..as soon as he gets one, speech therapy (private or at a oral school) ASAP is crucial..the process of learning to speak and listen will be long and hard..but well worth it if he makes progress..and the sooner, the better..how old is he??? i'm sure he will greatly benefit from the CI..if your still unsure..i recommend asking opinions from specialists and even talking to parents of successful CI users will definitely help..good luck with your decision :)
 
angelstar819 said:
i highly recommend that your son should get a CI..almost every hearing parent wants their child to be able to listen and speak and interact comfortably in the hearing world..as a nucleus 22 CI user myself for almost 13 years (i was born w/ a profound hearing loss), i am so grateful that my parents decided for me to get the CI..at 6 years old, i was fitted w/ the CI for the first time and that really made a difference in my life. i heard so much better and my speech improved dramatically..as you can see the world is changing..technology is improving and soon the "Deaf" community will be diminishing..so if you want your son to fit in the hearing world, then have him tested and see if he is a candidate for a CI..as soon as he gets one, speech therapy (private or at a oral school) ASAP is crucial..the process of learning to speak and listen will be long and hard..but well worth it if he makes progress..and the sooner, the better..how old is he??? i'm sure he will greatly benefit from the CI..if your still unsure..i recommend asking opinions from specialists and even talking to parents of successful CI users will definitely help..good luck with your decision :)
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Did you ask Ellie's son yet? How do you know if he would like to be involved extreme sports? What if something happens to him like injured head? Can't he wait until he gets old and let him make own decison. You can not make him do it like you are a master puppet. One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement. You happy?
 
mld4ds said:
Did you ask Ellie's son yet? How do you know if he would like to be involved extreme sports? What if something happens to him like injured head? Can't he wait until he gets old and let him make own decison. You can not make him do it like you are a master puppet. One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement. You happy?
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There is one aspect that seems to be totally overlooked here. I have noticed there is a smoldering underlying current in regards to children having CIs. So, I gingerly step into this one to say one thing. I understand that the best group of all to use CIs are the young given their incredible plasticity of their brains. The same is said for those learning languages. If you want to be bilingual then begin at a early age and you will speak two or more languages with ease. This is generally true while they may be individuals who are gifted (how do you know which individuals can do this?) and can learn later in life and speak many languages naturally.

My argument is this...why not give them a chance to utilize a CI in ways that most of the rest of us really aren't probably able to. If the child decides later not to use them, then they don't have to. They can do whatever they want but at least they had the opportunity. The bit about injuring one's head is sort of bogus as you can do that without a CI. There are no guarantees in life.

I think it should be left to the parents to decide what best for the child and leave it at that.

While I love what my CI can do for me, it is not something I believe that people should do lightly either...it requires serious thought about the pros and cons.
 
sr171soars said:
I think it should be left to the parents to decide what best for the child and leave it at that.
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It sound like you are exactly pushing Ellie to accept your words.
 
mld4ds said:
It sound like you are exactly pushing Ellie to accept your words.
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Er...I see what you mean but that wasn't my intent. If I'm not mistaken, she was asking what "we" all thought as a way to make a better decision. Bottom-line...she has to decide one way or another. While I did say "why not" have her son get one for reasons that I already stated, she still knows her son best and she still has to make a decision. I was just pointing out a real advantage and there was at least one poster/postee to this thread that was thankful that their parents decided to go this route.

deafdyke said:
Is it the Freedom implant? That's been getting a LOT of hype lately!
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Er...I don't about a lot of hype...I have the Freedom and it is nothing short of unbelievable. I was a going concern with speech in two days and pretty much has all the enviromental sounds down in four days. I have heard they (the audis are somewhat in a tizzy with it...loving what they see) are having a tremendous success with the thing and I can believe it. I'm sure they are always those that don't do that well ever...but they are probably doing much better than before. Of course, there are those that just don't work out for whatever reason.
 
mld4ds said:
Did you ask Ellie's son yet? How do you know if he would like to be involved extreme sports? What if something happens to him like injured head? Can't he wait until he gets old and let him make own decison. You can not make him do it like you are a master puppet. One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement. You happy?
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hey..ellie's son is too young to be asked if he would like the CI..don't you get it? it's the parents' decision of whether he would benefit from it..and the earlier he gets it, the more likely he would be able to fit into the hearing world..and who cares if he wants to be involved in extreme sports because that is his decision..but that doesn't necessarily mean that it poses a huge threat to an injured head..would he risk choosing an extreme sport over the ability to listen?! i don't think so..if he did, he will be aware of the risks...i am NOT trying to be a "master puppet"..i am trying to help a parent make a decision and by doing that, i am giving her advice, ok? and my CI will never diminish, what do you know about CI's? i am very happy with my CI as of now because it has enabled me to do a lot of things..do you sign?? it sure looks like it because of your poor writing..
 
and soon the "Deaf" community will be diminishing.
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I doubt it. Yeah, the number of stereotypically Deaf folks (no CIs or hearing aids and have never had speech therapy) may shrink....although there ARE folks out there who have chosen an ASL-only approach for their kids, but that doesn't mean that the Deaf Community is going to die out. The experts probaly thought that hearing aids were the end of the deaf community....yet here we are sixty or seventy years later! The Deaf community is STILL active and still thriving. Many experts thought that CIs would end deaf culture by now....*looks around* Looks like we're still here and STILL thriving!
Most oral as kids deafies do pick up ASL as a second language. There are kids who were rasied oral, who don't pick up ASL as a second language, but there've always been folks like that!
do you sign?? it sure looks like it because of your poor writing..
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Sign does NOT cause poor writing. There are plenty of oral kids and oral people who have wicked bad reading and writing as well! Besides, even if Sign DOES cause poor writing....SO WHAT? It's not a measure of their education....but rather it reflects the fact that Signers approach English as a second language. Your writings in Spanish/French etc would probaly look the same....so don't get all high and mighty about superfical things like the opinon that you're better educated then someone who uses Sign!
 
mld4ds said:
Did you ask Ellie's son yet? How do you know if he would like to be involved extreme sports? What if something happens to him like injured head? Can't he wait until he gets old and let him make own decison. You can not make him do it like you are a master puppet. One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement. You happy?
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Who said anything about my sonbeing involved in extreme sports? He's 21 months old, when he gets older he'll make any decison he wants, I just hope that he doesn't get into extreme sports (but if he does I'll live). When he gets older and doesn't want to use the CI I'm not going to make him, it's just something that my husband and I have made a decison on and belive that it's the right choice for now. If later it's not what John wants then he can take it off and never wear it again. As a mother I think that since this is something that will effect him for the rest of his life ( either way) it's up to me to make what I think is a good and helpful decison.
 
Ellie, dun listen to those poeple. they don;t know the true facts about cochlear implant. People with cochlear implant are able to do any sports as they want, just have to be careful like people without cochlear implant would, the risks are the same as people who dun wear cochlear implant, getting hit in the head, broken bones etc etc. Scubadiving is probably the only sport that they cant do, but they can scuba dive up to lik e30 feet down under but that is ok cuz still can see alot of stuff at 30 feet.
 
angelstar819 said:
hey..ellie's son is too young to be asked if he would like the CI..don't you get it? it's the parents' decision of whether he would benefit from it..and the earlier he gets it, the more likely he would be able to fit into the hearing world..and who cares if he wants to be involved in extreme sports because that is his decision..but that doesn't necessarily mean that it poses a huge threat to an injured head..would he risk choosing an extreme sport over the ability to listen?! i don't think so..if he did, he will be aware of the risks...i am NOT trying to be a "master puppet"..i am trying to help a parent make a decision and by doing that, i am giving her advice, ok? and my CI will never diminish, what do you know about CI's? i am very happy with my CI as of now because it has enabled me to do a lot of things..do you sign?? it sure looks like it because of your poor writing..
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I didn't ask about the CI or make my decison about it so my son could fit in the hearing world, I don't care about that. I asked about the CI more for the reason of is it worth the risk because it's something that has been talked about for my son. We go to the doctor tomorrow to talk about the CT scans that were done and find out more about things and what we have to decide. We've decided that the CI (if John can get it) is a good decison for us. I'll post tomorrow after we get back to let everyone know what's going on.
Thanks to everyone for their input it's made making this deison alittle easier, and I understand more than I did before. :ty:
 
We go to the doctor tomorrow to talk about the CT scans that were done and find out more about things and what we have to decide. We've decided that the CI (if John can get it) is a good decison for us.
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Yes, people who are against the CI....Hearing aids don't work for Ellie's son!
She's not anti-Sign or audist...she's just hoping that the CI may give him more benifit then hearing aids....and there's nothing wrong with that!
 
darkangel8603 said:
Ellie, dun listen to those poeple. they don;t know the true facts about cochlear implant. People with cochlear implant are able to do any sports as they want, just have to be careful like people without cochlear implant would, the risks are the same as people who dun wear cochlear implant, getting hit in the head, broken bones etc etc. Scubadiving is probably the only sport that they cant do, but they can scuba dive up to lik e30 feet down under but that is ok cuz still can see alot of stuff at 30 feet.
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to correct your post.. its 82 feet deep :D that's the nucleus recommand limit for scuba diving..
i feel relieved i can still go deep :D
 
Ellie said:
My son's doctor is really trying to get us to look into cochlear implants for my son. I've done some reading on them, but not really sure what to do. I think the idea of the implants is good, but then again i know that some people are against them. I kind of feel like a parent that wants to "fix" my son, even though I know there's really nothing to fix, he's not broke. I also want what's best for him, and in a way I think of the implant as a way to help. What do you think?
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I'm writing back without reading all the advice you allready got. Just want to give you my point of view.
Our daughter was diagnosed deaf at 2 years and staright after that we were informed about CI. It's funny how something you never heared of suddenly becomes such a big part of your life.

Our family is all hearing, our parents, friends. So deafness was new to us. We started learning sign and she went to a special daycare center where she learned sign.
The decision to go for CI was done without problems. Hearing is an important part of our life and we want that for her as well. Our society is based on hearing. With CI she can be part of it.

The argument that the child should choose: Nonsense. You're the parent, you decide and the dicision involves her BUT also the rest of the family and friends.
When you wait until the child can choose, you sort of reduce choice. The results when CI is chosen at later age are below that of children who get CI at early age.

For us the main thing was COMMUNICATION. With sign she could communicate with us and some other signers. With CI she can communicate with everyone.

She was operated in October, fitted in November and is doing GREAT. Signing, talking, making her first scentences.. the miracles keep happening.

If you want more information, Yahoo has some good discussion groups. I can recommend them. Also watch video's you can get for free with Bionics and other CI-manufacturers.
And find a family that has a child with CI and see how it goes. Also see a child that does not have CI.

But do not feel bad that you fix something. And forgive the doctors for advising you so early. Appreciate it, because they see that with CI it is like "The sooner the better"

C U
 
mld4ds said:
Did you ask Ellie's son yet? How do you know if he would like to be involved extreme sports? What if something happens to him like injured head? Can't he wait until he gets old and let him make own decison. You can not make him do it like you are a master puppet. One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement. You happy?
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No need to ask, he's 2 years old. The parent decides,
What if he injures his eyes. He won't hear AND see,
Until he's 18, his parents decide,
Don't think so negative. Appreciate that a boy has a possibility to hear.
 
One of the days, your CI will diminish and your doctor refused to replace it or insurance would not pay for replacement.
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GOOD POINT! Angelstar......they may get stricter on CIs and upgrades and stuff like that. We don't have universal health care....and it's hard to get really good health care in the US unless you're rich....so orallyonly kids whose parents haven't equipped them with all the tools, will be up shit creek without a paddle!
 
Update On John

We went to the doctor today and he told us that John is a canidate for the Implant. He's cochlear is ok and the dr says that he should have no problem having the surgery, so now we just got to wait for a date, probably some time in November around John's second birthday. I can't wait I'm excited about the whole thing. I'll let everyone that wants to know when we have a set date and also keep updates about how things are going. Also it will be the Freedom Implant for those who have asked. I was reading the booklet that the dr gave us today on it. It's awesome what John will be able to do with the implant. I didn't think he'd be able to take a bath with it on or play in the water. It's amazing to me, the work that has been put into these to make life "normal" for someone wearing it. Thanks again for all the help from everyone.
 
Ellie said:
We went to the doctor today and he told us that John is a canidate for the Implant. He's cochlear is ok and the dr says that he should have no problem having the surgery, so now we just got to wait for a date, probably some time in November around John's second birthday. I can't wait I'm excited about the whole thing. I'll let everyone that wants to know when we have a set date and also keep updates about how things are going. Also it will be the Freedom Implant for those who have asked. I was reading the booklet that the dr gave us today on it. It's awesome what John will be able to do with the implant. I didn't think he'd be able to take a bath with it on or play in the water. It's amazing to me, the work that has been put into these to make life "normal" for someone wearing it. Thanks again for all the help from everyone.
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congrat ellie, I wish you the luck. :thumb:
 
New Update

John's surgery is scheduled for Oct. 18. We have a Dr. appointment about 2 weeks before. We are very excited about.
 
John's surgery went good. He will be going back to the doctor on November 4th so that he can go on November 16th to get the Implant turned on. Can't wait, we are very excited about it.
 
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