First day back at school with the cochlear implant on. It’s very…interesting. I’ve been switching back and forth between using Fidelity 120 and the regular programming.
Irritated with myself because my alarm clock didn’t go off this morning, so I missed seeing Laurie. I didn’t wake up until Marvin jumped up on my bed, pushed his way into the crook of my arm, sitting on my shoulder, and stuck his wet nose in my face, while purring madly.
I have to turn up the volume on my CI when I’m listening to it with Fidelity 120, as it’s softer and more distant. But so far, I think I like it better without Fidelity. I listened to Steve and Sheila talking over the weekend, and tried to get an idea of what voices sound like. At this point, everything is very mechanical, but it’s just the edges of sound that’s bugging me.
My ear is hurting and my skin is getting very itchy, but I’m trying to suffer through wearing it for as long as I can. Can’t wait to get home and take it off…but I have a feeling that it will be coming off before then, as I have to finish my Flash animation for my class.
Hello! I just wandered apon your blog. My daughter was diagnosed with 60-90dB hearing loss at two months and aided at 4 months (she’s now 8 months). I just wondered if your parents worked with you through any programs to help to teach you spoken language as a kid. How soon did you start speaking? You’re inspiring to me.
I’m around your age – and well I don’t know anyone who knows anything about this other than the doctors! I don’t know how wordpress works, so I’ll include my email addy (emedoodle@yahoo.com).PS I accidentally posted this to your profile… I’m sure you don’t look at that often… so I re-posted here. Thanks!
Hi Emily!
Thanks for writing to me! I appreciate your kind words.
I will respond in both spots
To answer your questions, yes, my parents worked with me. I went to Listen, Inc. (Tempe, AZ) when I was an infant. I don’t think they’re open anymore, but I might be wrong.
After that, we moved to the Bay Area for two years, where I attended school at Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School For The Deaf (JWPOSD) (located at http://www.deafkidstalk.org/site/). When I wasn’t at JWPOSD, I attended a mainstream preschool.
My mom jokes that she had the largest collection of baby rattles, as she would sit behind my head and shake them, to work on sound localization.
I’m not sure about when I started to talk, or babble, rather, but it was after I got my hearing aids and was in therapy.
I recall my mom saying that life with me was therapy in the morning till we went to bed. She was always exposing me to sound, talking to me about everything she was doing, constantly feeding me sound and language.
I had a few toys, Touch&Tell from Texas Instruments, that would speak and give instructions (i.e. Can you find the blue star? No that is not the blue star. Can you find the blue star?” etc.) That helped me to learn how to listen and to work on my understanding…it can get frustrating though. I also had those play games where you listen to sound effects on a tape, and put the dot on top of the photo, matching the photo with the sound that was on the tape. Another one was the Fisher-Price record player. I also had a Cricket Doll.
http://www.ilovethe80s.com/toys_toys_touchandtell.htm
http://www.ilovethe80s.com/toys_toys_cricket.htm
http://www.thisoldtoy.com/L_FP_Set/toy-pages/900-999/995-musicboxrecordplayer.html
You can also visit http://oraldeafed.org/ for more information on Oral Deaf Education and for resources in your area.
While Oral Deaf education may not work for everybody, it is just one avenue of many that a parent can take. Ethically, I cannot tell you whether to pursue that route, as it would be irresponsible for me to say that oral deaf education is one way.
Other options, of many, are deaf schools, mainstream programs, sign language, cued speech, signed exact english, auditory-verbal and auditory-oral methods, and hearing aids. I have friends who have come from different backgrounds, doesn’t mean their approach was wrong.
It all depends on what’s best for your child, and for your family as a whole. Everybody, once a method is selected, should stick to it, and be on board and working together.
You are your child’s best advocate.
If you need more information or would like to talk with my mom, or have a list of questions you would like to email me, I would be more than happy to put you in touch with her.
I wish you and your daughter the very best. I will help in whatever way I can.
~Allison
hi, came across this site when learning about CI. i am 27 yrs old with a profoundly deaf 4 year old son. he was diagnosed a year and a half ago. he has hearing aids but still is not talking! quite stressful! lol your story is very influential for sure. Is a CI very noticeable at all?
Hello Jackie,
Good luck with your 4 year old son. All I can say is just keep talking. Talk about EVERYTHING you’re doing. What you’re doing…
What my mom did with me was stuff like “I am washing the dishes. The dish is blue. The water is warm. We are using Dawn soap which smells like green apples.” That kind of thing. The more exposure to spoken language and words, the better.
Although, it does bring up the question of if your son is actually receiving and hearing those sounds. If he’s not, then it may be necessary to think about what to do next. Has he babbled? Once he starts to babble, then you’re on your way to talking.
A CI is probably more noticeable on a younger kid, especially on boys of all ages, because they don’t have the long hair that girls do.
Thanks for writing in, I really appreciate it. Best of luck to you and your son!
~Allison