Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and responding to our post. I still can't get over how great a resource this forum is.
rockdrummer, we appreciate you starting this thread and also your effort to keep it on topic. Internet search engines like Google will let people from around the world discover these posts for years to come. I want to contribute to coherent threads that others feel are worth reading.
I'm sorry that CI did not work out for your child. My I ask, did you have the implant removed, and if so, were there any complications? Thanks for your reply, and we have learned a lot from your other posts as well.
R2D2, Thanks for your support and kind words. Your first hand knowledge as a CI user is very helpful. When I posted that my daughter doesn't need to be "fixed", I meant to convey that she is fully accepted by us exactly how she is, not that CI will change her into a hearing person.
Liebling
)), Thanks for your careful and pointed responses. It helps so much to hear others experience and opinions.
Liebling
)) said,
Yes but I would not implant my baby yet until my baby is old enough to have her/his choice either she/he wants CI or not. I would wear HA on my baby first until she/he familiar with it and then CI later only if she/he wants.
I don't believe there is any way around making a choice for Sarah. If we choose CI now, well, obviously the choice is made. If we don't choose CI now, and suppose she chooses CI later, then we've made a choice that takes from her of the best opportunity for success, since the first years of life are critical to language acquisition.
How old is old enough for a child to make an intelligent decision. I can say from first hand experience how immature I was as a teenager. If my parents had said "let the boy make his own decision about going to school, you know, we don't want to force him, and besides school is so much hard work and training. He can always choose to go to school when he's older." WOW!, I think I would have ended up in kindergarten at the tender age of 18.
Cheri said,
Whatever choice you make for your daughter, I do hope that you allow your daughter to continue to be active members of the deaf community and learn sign language too. Not just being active in the hearing world only...
Thanks Cheri, We do plan to continue to embrace the Deaf community and culture, as well as continue learning and teaching Sarah ASL. We have met truly wonderful people in the Deaf community. We've been receiving an ASL class once a week at home through early intervention support. One of our teachers is performing in the Deaf play "Stone Deaf" at Cal State Northridge tomorrow night (Friday April 21, 2006), and we have two tickets! See stonedeafplay.com.
Mookie said,
Well, I can not sing to my hearing daughter who became 2-year old last month....
Fair enough? Thanks for sharing our different world...
Mookie, I'm sorry. Yes, fair enough.
-SarahsDad