Why CI is bad for kids under 6 yrs.

[shel90]

Agreed. My son was severe to profound due to 8th cranial nerve damage. He received much more benefit from HA than it was ever predicted he would as an infant. But in those cases, it takes time. There are so many variables involved when it comes to benefit for both HA and CI. Trying to decide on an audiogram alone doesn't give a full picture.

That was what the audis said about me...they never predicted that I would make such good use of my HAs the way I do despite my severe-profound hearing loss. My brother was a different story..HAs didnt do anything for him.

 

[LadySekhmet]

That was what the audis said about me...they never predicted that I would make such good use of my HAs the way I do despite my severe-profound hearing loss. My brother was a different story..HAs didnt do anything for him.

Same with me. I had my first aids at 2, helped tremendously until my deafness has gotten worse, which was a huge reason why I got the CI. Def NOT be used to silence if aids didn't help.

My half-brother (Dad's is our father), is deaf as well, his hearing aids doesn't work for him. He would get jealous because I was able to hear better than he can, but I told him many times that I'm still deaf. Oh well.

 

[rick48]

Shel,

While you have personally experienced this, I have to tell you in our school district, it tis quite the opposite. My son has a TOD that pushes in- pulls out and his teacher is carefully selected by the TOD, myself, and his speech therapist.... The teacher every year) goes for training in the summetime and attends workshops throughtout the year. My son will be going to middle school in a year and a half. The middle school is arready sending the teachers and support staff to training, as well as hiring a deaf educator to come in and set up workshops and observe different teaching situations. They are to provide feedback and ways to make the learning enviroment for my son as easy as possible.

I also have a fantasic principal who will do anything to make sure that my son is set up for success. We had a new gym teacher come in, and she was giving him a hard time. As swiftly as we found out about it, the teacher was edcuated, the TOD came and observed the class, and now my son adores the teacher. Everyone in his school from the principal even down to the lunch ladies have gone for training.. I know that this is common in and around the school districts where I live... my niece and nephews are all mainstreamed in a neighboring district and their experiences in their home school district are the same.... At least here, things are changing, and just putting the Deaf kid in the front of the classroom is no longer acceptable.

Doubletrouble,

We had a very positive experience in our SD, at our first IEP, the Principal attended and stated he wanted to make it work because he wanted to see our daughter get her diploma from our HS. Everyone learned about my daughter's ci, what she could do and what she could not do with it. It was so much more then preferential seating.

They kept their word, when there was ever a problem, it was quickly resolved by the TOD and yes, my dauaghter did get her diploma!
Rick

 

[jackiesolorzano]

If you just did that, I applaud you for it. Let's hope that they dont sudden have epiphany when they get into their teen years. It ain't pretty pictures for oral failure deaf children.

They are in their teen years. One is 17 and one is 15. My children aren't oral failures, they are oral success. They are teenagers with open minds that have both hearing and deaf friends and within their deaf friends they have some with voices and some without and they accept all people with all different types of communication unlike you.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

I don't see anything like that in this link: Newsflash and the 300+ emails to the judge weren't admissible however the Legal amicus curiae ("friend of the court") briefs filed by Deaf-rights and disability-rights advocacy groups were admissible. I don't think the letters send to the judge were admissible since there were no mention of the letters being submitted in the court.

Many deaf people and hearing people who side with Larsen show their support by attending the hearing and the rally as well.

Yes, I know that and if I lived close by I would have gone with my children in support of the mother and her decisions for her children.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

What a joke. Like I'm crying myself to sleep each night worried my "time and money" will "go down the drain" if Drew later wants to sign. The time and money are the least of my concerns.

If 15 years down the road Drew decides to never put his CI's on again it won't make a bit of difference as far as how comfortable I am with my decision because he will have developed the tool of clear speech which he can use if he wants, when he wants.

If you really think that parents are worried about their time and money being wasted, I think you are truly misinformed.

Drew's dad , I can tell you that I am down the road 15 years later and just like you said time and money is the least of my concerns. And just like you, my children can choose for themselves now if they want to use their voice or not. And so far they have choosen to use their voice but if the day comes that they do not that is their decision and I will support them in whatever decision they want to make.

 

[jackiesolorzano]

You can strongly disagree all you want. I too have see it done and seen it fail. I have seen oral only succeed and fail. I have seen virtually every choice succeed and fail. There is no one or best answer.

The bottomline is that it is the parent, and not you, who have the responsibility of raising their child.

Each child is unique and it is the parent's responsibility to choose what is best for their child.

Rick

I have seen also oral success and failures just as I have seen signing success and failures and these failures are not all due to switching programs later on after oral has failed. I have seen kids fail at sign even when they were introduce to it at a young age. Failures are going to occur everywhere in life.

 

[rick48]

They are in their teen years. One is 17 and one is 15. My children aren't oral failures, they are oral success. They are teenagers with open minds that have both hearing and deaf friends and within their deaf friends they have some with voices and some without and they accept all people with all different types of communication unlike you.

Way to go Jackie! Fortunately, your children are a reflection of thier parents!
Rick

 

[lumbingmi]

Jackie's kids are in their teens. What now, wait until they are adults? Then what, wait until they are senior citizens?

You say nothing new but spew the same tired and stale bogus rhetoric, kids like Jackie's are out there by the thousands proving you wrong on a daily basis.
Rick

Actually I didn't know that her kids are in their teens. But re-read my posts. Nowhere I said they are going to be failure and I said I hope that her kids wouldn't experience similar to other deaf people who had to go through frustration and struggle to deal with being forcibly implanted against their wishes.

Dangers ... frauds.... what would that be...

go on .... tell

I believe others already posted why CI procedure can be very dangerous. As you know that surgery require risks, and I wouldn't want to gamble the risks on my own kids.

What a joke. Like I'm crying myself to sleep each night worried my "time and money" will "go down the drain" if Drew later wants to sign. The time and money are the least of my concerns.

If 15 years down the road Drew decides to never put his CI's on again it won't make a bit of difference as far as how comfortable I am with my decision because he will have developed the tool of clear speech which he can use if he wants, when he wants.

If you really think that parents are worried about their time and money being wasted, I think you are truly misinformed.

Okay, I admit that it has nothing to do with money since most hospital would would provide free cost to implant deaf kids. But the fact remains -Parents would have to invest lot of their time to make sure deaf child with CI to undergo countless hours of speech therapy and poor kids have to miss some classes or extracurricular school activities in name of Speech Therapy.

 

[lumbingmi]

They are in their teen years. One is 17 and one is 15. My children aren't oral failures, they are oral success. They are teenagers with open minds that have both hearing and deaf friends and within their deaf friends they have some with voices and some without and they accept all people with all different types of communication unlike you.

Good for you. I did not say your kids are oral failure but hope that they aren't. Since they aren't, power to you

 

[flip]

I have seen also oral success and failures just as I have seen signing success and failures and these failures are not all due to switching programs later on after oral has failed. I have seen kids fail at sign even when they were introduce to it at a young age. Failures are going to occur everywhere in life.

Curious how you define failures? Emotional? Social? Read/write? Language? Speech? Listening skills? Are you able to seperate failures due to educational programs and those due to family/environment and personal traits?

 

[jillio]

Curious how you define failures? Emotional? Social? Read/write? Language? Speech? Listening skills? Are you able to seperate failures due to educational programs and those due to family/environment and personal traits?

Exactly what I was thinking, flip. I detest the words "oral failure" to start with because the implication is that the child is somehow "failed", making it a personal assessment on that child's worth. It is not the child that fails, it is the system that fails. We have children that have been failed by the system of oralism; we do not have children that fail the system. The child is of the utmost importance, not the propoagation of the system.

Likewise, speaking well is considered to be the first cirtierion of success under the oralist umbrella. Many posters on this forum will agree that they were considered "oral successes" simply because they were able to develop understandable speech skills. They will also tell you of missing things in class, of feeling as if they were social outcasts, of feeling speaprated from hearing family members, and of the emotional difficulties they experienced as a result. Once again, we need to look at a deaf child as more than their ability to speak or to perceive sound. They have the same social, psychological, and emotional needs as does a hearing child. Even when they have been able to conform to the parental demand for oral language only, it is obvious that they are still experiencing not just academic difficulties, but psychological, social, and emotional difficulties as a result. Is the price worth it?

 

[jillio]

Same with me. I had my first aids at 2, helped tremendously until my deafness has gotten worse, which was a huge reason why I got the CI. Def NOT be used to silence if aids didn't help.

My half-brother (Dad's is our father), is deaf as well, his hearing aids doesn't work for him. He would get jealous because I was able to hear better than he can, but I told him many times that I'm still deaf. Oh well.

There are so many variables involved in benefit. That is why it is dangerous to determine it based on audiological findings alone.

 

[flip]

Exactly what I was thinking, flip. I detest the words "oral failure" to start with because the implication is that the child is somehow "failed", making it a personal assessment on that child's worth. It is not the child that fails, it is the system that fails. We have children that have been failed by the system of oralism; we do not have children that fail the system. The child is of the utmost importance, not the propoagation of the system.

Likewise, speaking well is considered to be the first cirtierion of success under the oralist umbrella. Many posters on this forum will agree that they were considered "oral successes" simply because they were able to develop understandable speech skills. They will also tell you of missing things in class, of feeling as if they were social outcasts, of feeling speaprated from hearing family members, and of the emotional difficulties they experienced as a result. Once again, we need to look at a deaf child as more than their ability to speak or to perceive sound. They have the same social, psychological, and emotional needs as does a hearing child. Even when they have been able to conform to the parental demand for oral language only, it is obvious that they are still experiencing not just academic difficulties, but psychological, social, and emotional difficulties as a result. Is the price worth it?

Good point. Depends on who you ask. To parents, this all is free. With the laws today, it's free to deprive children of language, no risk, no consquences. They can do anything and just tell deaf people to stop complaining. But to deaf people, this is very expensive yeah!

 

[jillio]

Good point. Depends on who you ask. To parents, this all is free. With the laws today, it's free to deprive children of language, no risk, no consquences. They can do anything and just tell deaf people to stop complaining. But to deaf people, this is very expensive yeah!

And, since it is the deaf individual who is most affected, it is the price to them that should be the first consideration.

 

[rockdrummer]

This is old news

 

[neecy]

This is old news

The whole issue is like a merry-go-round, where nobody gets the brass ring.

 

[lumbingmi]

This is old news

Nope. It isn't old news. In fact there are still problems with meningitis among deaf kids with CI.

 

[rockdrummer]

Nope. It isn't old news. In fact there are still problems with meningitis among deaf kids with CI.

My son became deaf due to menengitis so it's not just deaf kids that it affects. What I meant about it being old news is that the reported link between CI''s and menengitis is old news that was reported quite some time ago and there have since been several threads on the topic.

Remember that menengitis is a threat to all children and therefore they should all be vaccinated regardless of their hearing status or if they have been implanted or not.

 

[lumbingmi]

My son became deaf due to menengitis so it's not just deaf kids that it affects. What I meant about it being old news is that the reported link between CI''s and menengitis is old news that was reported quite some time ago and there have since been several threads on the topic.

Remember that menengitis is a threat to all children and therefore they should all be vaccinated regardless of their hearing status or if they have been implanted or not.

Do you want to risk your kid to this?

Risks associated with cochlear implantation include those associated with the surgery itself, such as bleeding, infection, problems with anesthesia or healing, dizziness, or injury to the facial nerve. In addition, there are risks associated with the implant, such as mechanical or electrical failure, rejection, infection and problems what would require removal or replacement of the implant.

Worldwide, there are over 90 known reports of people getting meningitis after getting a cochlear implant

Cochlear Implant