Go Back AllDeaf.com > Deaf Interests > Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants Reload this Page Considering implant for your child LIKE AllDeaf on Facebook FOLLOW AllDeaf on Twitter -- Liked 312 Times in 236 Posts Considering implant for your child __________________________________________________________________ -- This section is intended for parents of deaf children, especially those who are seriously considering giving their child an implant. It is written by Deaf adults who are the grown-up children of hearing -- There is, however, a disturbing trend to send deaf newborns straight to the cochlear-implant clinic. The parents are supposed to be presented with information on the various options in a fair and unbiased way, but it seems that a number of them arent. Theyre being steered in one direction onlytowards the implant. They are told that the best time to implant is infancy, when a child is just beginning to acquire language. Any postponement could lead to irreversible delays in progress, as deaf -- decision. And when they get pressured by opposing factions, they ometimes fight back by choosing an extreme approach. Cochlear implants represent the most extreme of approaches: a surgical invasion of a -- OUR PERSONAL FEELINGS We dont believe that a cochlear implant should be installed in prelingually deaf babies and young children. If a child already has -- how to speak, or was born hard-of-hearing but lost her hearing gradually, we have no objection to the implant, because the child is imply reconnecting with her previous mode of communication. That child already has a basis for spoken and aural language. An implant will enable the child to build on the existing foundation. -- deafthat is, he has no foundation in aural/spoken languagethen we dont feel that an implant is suitable. It causes sensory confusion. Deaf children are, and should be allowed to be, visualnot auditorylearners. -- those who are blindbut deaf people are told that we should get ourselves fixed. Fixed, that is, with cochlear implants. SIGNS OF LOVE One thing that parents of kids with implants always tell the media is how much they love their deaf kids, and to make an explicit connection between their love and the implant. They say things like We wanted to give Jimmy exposure to the wonderful world of sound because we love -- them), and they respect ASL (even if they refuse to learn it), but they are confident that the implant is in their childs best interest. The greatest gift of love you can give your deaf child is to accept him -- MIRACLE OR MISTAKE? The cochlear-implant industry has run a fantastically successful campaign aimed at parents of deaf babies. Give your deaf child the gift of sound, they say. Give your child a magic key to success in he mainstream. With an implant, they claim, a deaf child can acquire normal or near-normal spoken language, just like hearing children. They -- In reality, there is no reliable way to predict how well a child will function with an implant, nor how rapid their oral/aural progress will be. The benefits accruing from the implant may be negligible. Its an expensive gamble. -- electrodes can never replace the delicate and subtle sense of hearing. Some veteran CI users have disliked the way their implants fed environmental noises into their heads. So they switched their implants off, finding that they could better focus on work or play without them. -- the wearer to distinguish some degree of sound discrimination. After receiving an implant, a child typically needs extensive one-to-one auditory/speech therapy so that she can learn to interpret these -- ign-language programs and schools for the deaf. But is it really? Implants cost $40,000 to $50,000 a pop, and we dont think that includes the intensive speech-therapy regimen thats required afterwards. Very few, if any, parents, we suspect, would opt for an implant if it wasnt covered by health insurance. There is a persistent myth that a child -- local community-college Basic Sign class, its still considerably cheaper than an implant. Most children with implants ultimately decide to join the Deaf community. They learn sign language; they make it an important part of -- BE WARNED! In persuading parents to commit themselves to the implant, audiologists and CI clinicians may not present a strictly accurate picture. They may -- Before he agreed to the surgery, he discussed the pros and cons with an audiologist. Steven was told that with an implant, hed be able to use the telephone normally, to engage in telephone conversations just as -- At least a few deaf children have told their parents that they wanted an implant for themselves. This, at least, was their conscious choice. Parents of these children, and we know of two such instances, discussed the matter thoroughly with the children first, did their homework, and investigated the pros and cons of the implant before committing themselves. In at least one case, a deaf girl who had gotten the implant lost most of her deaf friends. Deaf children with implants often endure hazing from other deaf kids: Borg! Borg! Robot-ear! Most deaf children, when learning about what an implant is and what it does, are dismayed at the prospect of having electrodes surgically installed in their heads. But some are satisfied with the implant, and ay theyre happy their parents made the decision for them. Others are unhappy about having implants and, for various reasons, stop using them when they reach college age. There is no consensus. The CI population itself is split in disagreement over the value of the implant. Some users, who had no technical problems with their implants, nonetheless decided to stop using them. -- ensorineural deafness is a permanent condition. It cannot be undone with an implant. Deaf children who are born-deaf or early-deafened will always be deaf. They will be looked upon and treated as deaf by hearing people. Having an implant will not make them just like hearing. How catastrophic is deafness? We recall an interview with Katharine -- going through. My parents got me a cochlear implant when I was a baby, and it took years for me to acquire intelligible speech. My parents were confident that Id do just fine without an implant. They had faith in me. -- One big question, of course, is: who has the final say in deciding to give a deaf child a cochlear implant? Who makes the decision on behalf of the deaf child? The parents, of course. And who influences this -- despite the well-publicized benefits of a signing environment, and we dont see much abatement of this trend. The implant doctors, as far as we can tell, shrug off criticism from Deaf advocates as the rantings of -- has a negative opinion of signing? One who links signing with low expectations? One who has an interest in promoting implants? Just who is presenting the options to the parents? Are the various possibilities -- only? Do the parents understand the sign-affirmative option . . . or is the cochlear-implant option being touted as the best possible (or the only) solution? -- igning with their deaf kids (especially after they receive an implant), they may not thrive in the prescribed oral/aural regimenbut theyre excluded from deriving benefit from signing. In effect, theyre -- Does it boil down to who has the slicker, more aggressive PR campaign: the chronically under-funded ASL lobby or the wealthy cochlear-implant industry? -- the outcome affirmed that a mother could refuse to give her deaf kids implants (even though county authorities believed that it was in the childrens best interests), and that the court could not overrule her decision and implant them against her will. Parents currently have the ole legal right to decide whether or not their child receives an implant. There are some Deaf people who feel that parents should not be the ones to make this decision. They believe that the deaf child should -- to encounter parents who have already given their deaf children cochlear implantsand are now sorry that they did. We have a bit of advice for parents in this situation: dont get bogged down with guilt. -- Balanced???? It seemed to be ALL from the perspective of those that aid DO NOT IMPLANT!! I feel sure there are those that are grateful that they got an implant very early. Likes: (1) -- Makes sense and allot of food for thought Its refreshing compared to the usual steady implant propoganda we are inflicted with by ci adherents and cult followers... -- I have been looking for some articles that do state this... nit from parents or doctors.. but from the deaf adult that was implanted as a baby.... if you find some or know of them can you shoot them to me in a -- without someone between us and them. People implanted at < 2 years old are just hitting their prime years now though, since implanting at that age didn't really start until the 90s. They're just finishing up school and entering the work force. -- Old 08-26-2015, 06:58 PM #12 I've met a few who've had early implants. But they were all college kids in public universities. It's really an unfair sampling. They've all had good support systems and probably would have been successful regardless of implants. That's kind of the danger of it, meeting random folks and getting their -- who only have one experience or opinion over the other. There have to be research studies on early implants and success in HS/college by this point that have come out of Gal or NTID. It might be -- Liked 83 Times in 38 Posts Well, there aren't many adults yet who were implanted as babies. According to an Internet search I just did, Cochlear implants were approved for children in the US around 1990, but I don't know when babies began receiving them. But even if the first Cochlear implant for a 12-month-old was done in 1990 (No idea if that's true) that person -- Old 08-26-2015, 07:14 PM #15 Yes implants in babies has been bieng done only since 90s.. Old 08-26-2015, 07:17 PM #16 -- religious about the oppurtunities the maricle has showered upon its blessed implanted babies and children, on the other it has very little real data to even back it up, considering the babies who have been -- have a position and stand on the issue Personally ive known first hand more early implanted that have had drastic negative effects from them then havnt. Im not stating non are -- Old 08-26-2015, 07:35 PM #19 The same can be said for those who say that implanting babies won't produce positive outcomes - or will prevent them - in the long run... -- Just saying, "I know several people who ended up with migraines," or "All the people I know with implants love them, " means nothing unless it's part of scientific research and statistically valid. I've had migraines my whole life and they're not due to any implant. Unless it can be shown that people with implants have statistically more health problems than they would have gotten without implants, there's no way to know. -- comes to drilling holes into.babies heads...well for me anyway... What other product are we implanting in babies on a mass scale using the above logic? Is that really the pitch to parents?"we dont have data either way" The first implants into babies were done in france against medical opposition by leading surgeons, its important to get a handle of the -- up, and still hardly doesnt regarding the shower of lavish oppurtunities that awaits an implanted baby if and only if the baby is implanted..now 25 years on some data will.exist,but when implants were first pushed none did. -- To bring this back Its almost absurd one would justify an implant by stating we have no data either way. -- Old 08-26-2015, 08:27 PM #21 There are never going to be guarantees with implants, nor probably agreement about whether they're appropriate. All parents don't agree on -- ending a child to an expensive school is no guarantee they'll get into Harvard, implants don't guarantee that a child will be more successful, but nothing else will either. That isn't going to stop parents from -- have a better life. Unless implants are shown to not be effective for any child, or to be very dangerous, why would parents not consider them just as they do -- kateboard and do all kinds of things more risky than getting implanted. Some parents are going to decide to have their children implanted and that's not likely to change as long as at least some children benefit -- probably get a better response too. This is about parents considering implants for kids « Previous Thread | Next Thread » -- Forum Jump [ Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants___] Go All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:18 PM.