My Two Cents: Cochlear Implants
I used to feel sorry for children who had cochlear implants. I did.
When I saw them it broke my heart because I really believed that their parents just didn’t understand deafness. I judged those parents. I assumed that the parents were looking for a quick fix to something that in my opinion didn’t require fixing. I said things like, “I would never do THAT to my child.” Aaron and I talked about giving Leah choices and we decided that she could choose to have an implant when she was age 18.
We think that Leah was born profoundly deaf. We didn’t discover her deafness until she was 14 months old. When her deafness was diagnosed we immediately started signing with her. It seemed the obvious choice, I mean, she was deaf. We never bought into the old wive’s tale that signing would delay our child’s speech. Many people warned us that Leah might never learn talk if we signed with her. I always laughed and said, “She’s deaf, she might never learn to talk anyway!” My concern wasn’t for my child’s ability to say words. I wanted much more than that! I wanted full connection and communication with my daughter. I wanted her to be a critical thinker.
When Leah was seven she was no longer using hearing aids, because, as she put it, “They don’t work! They don’t help me, they just make my ears itch.” She had gone without amplification for a few years and then, at age seven, my daughter asked for a cochlear implant.
Let’s just say there were a few things I had to get over… oh, like realizing that some people out there might judge me, just as I had been so judgmental of others. (Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Don’t you hate that one?)
Leah has now been implanted for seven years, the same amount of time she had gone without hearing a thing.
I have found that one of the BIGGEST misconceptions still floating around when it comes to choices in deafness is in thinking that sign language and cochlear implants are mutually exclusive. They are not. Actually it is our family’s experience that Leah’s success with her cochlear implant was because she was already fluent in American Sign Language* when she got her implant AND because we have continued to sign with her. We never stopped signing. (*She was also already fluent in written English by that time)
When someone receives a cochlear implant there is a period of adjustment as the recipient begins to understand the sounds of the world around them. It was invaluable to us to have a full language (American Sign Language) to communicate with Leah during this new learning period. We had full and complete communication as our child experienced the sometimes scary world of sound. Yes, our ENT told us to stop signing immediately after Leah’s implant surgery, which was baffling to me. “She just had major surgery and you want us to refuse to communicate with her through recovery? Her implant won’t be turned on for weeks and you want us to stop communicating with her?” To me that sounded like a form of child abuse. We never stopped signing with Leah and we never will stop.
Leah is a very successful implant recipient, we feel that these are a few of the factors that helped her to use it so successfully.
1. Leah chose to have an implant, it wasn’t something that was done to her. She was old enough to control the settings and she was old enough to ask to be “re-mapped” when she was ready for more sound. We viewed the implant as another tool to help Leah communicate, not the only tool.
2. Leah was already bilingual when she was implanted. She understood ASL and her written English was exceptional. She was reading beyond her grade level. With the addition of her cochlear implant she could simply focus on acquiring and improving her listening skills and pronunciation, because now she could actually hear some things. She wasn’t trying to learn English with her cochlear implant, thankfully she was already fluent in it and her focus was entirely on learning what English sounded like and how to make those sounds herself.
3. We always focused on our child’s strengths. Prior to her implant, we did not do private Speech Therapy. Why? Simple. Because Leah couldn’t hear:) We didn’t need her to learn how to say words in order to connect and communicate because we all learned to sign. Speech is a skill that your child has a lifetime to acquire.
Speech is not a language. Speech is one way to deliver a language.
English is a language, American Sign Language is a language, but speech… speech is a skill.
You want your deaf child to learn their first language before the age of 3 if possible. If they can’t hear, don’t waste your time and theirs trying to get them to learn a listened to, spoken language. Since Leah couldn’t hear English we didn’t try to get her to learn it through speaking. She learned it through reading and writing.
(If your child is deaf please read #3 until it makes sense. Do not get stuck with the thought that you “just want your child to talk.” Trust me, you don’t just want that. You want so much more for them!)
4. Language doesn’t delay language. The fear of signing is ridiculous and thinking that a child will not talk because they first signed is as preposterous as saying, “don’t let your child crawl or they will never learn to walk.” Babies crawl before they walk and they sign before they talk. If your child has the ability to deliver a spoken language, they will acquire that skill whether or not you sign with them. If they happen to have a speech delay or a disability that gets in the way of speaking, then thank heavens you are signing with them and giving them a way to be understood. If your child’s speech is delayed, it is not the signing that delays speech… it is something else entirely, because communication doesn’t delay communication.
Technology frequently changes and even fails. Cochlear implants can be rejected by the recipient. The implant may fail or simply never work at all. Batteries die and parts break. Programming can accidentally get erased. Sign language will never fail, the batteries will not die, you can use it while swimming, you never have to “turn it on” or struggle to locate it in the middle of the night. Sign language can get soaking wet and it’s always at your fingertips.
Leah will always be deaf. Her first language is American Sign Language. She has learned English as a second language through reading and writing. With her cochlear implant, Leah has learned how to pronounce words and to understand English when it is spoken to her. She is a child who has it all.
If you are considering implanting your deaf child, my recommendation is this – do not put all of your eggs in one basket. Give your child EVERY opportunity to communicate. Give them many tools! Cochlear implants do not work for all children, implants are not always successful and should not be portrayed as a “cure” for deafness. Similarly, hearing aids do not work for all children, they are not always successful and should not be portrayed as a “cure” for deafness. You might want to consider that deafness doesn’t need a cure.
Leah recently saw her ENT, the same one who had asked us to stop signing with her seven years ago. He asked her this time if she would like to implant her other ear, since she only has one ear implanted. She looked at him and said, “Tell me what you think that would really do for me?” He smiled and said, “actually not much, you do so well. Leah, I think you should save your other ear for the future. There are some exciting medical advancements that you will see in your lifetime.”
My two cents: Sign language should be the first choice for a deaf child, no matter what additional options you pursue.
Tags: American Sign Language, Bilingual Deaf Children, Cochlear Implants, deaf child, deaf child 101, deafness, Does signing delay speech, Leah Coleman, Leah Coleman's speech, My child is deaf now what, sign language, Signing Time, speech delay, speech is a skill, speech therapy, toddler
September 7th, 2011 at 10:35 am
I just wanted to tell you that I totally agree with you. My daughter was born profoundly deaf also and we didn’t find out until she was 10 months old. She is almost 18 months old and in October she will be getting her CIs. From the minute I found out she was deaf I have been learning sign language. I have been told be other people not to do this since we were getting her implants but I just didn’t see why I shouldn’t. Why not give my daughter every possible way to communicate, no matter what happens? I have heard stories from other parents about their CIs failing, their child chooses to take it off for a period of time or they are swimming and they get frustrated because they can’t communicate with their own child! I won’t do that. Yes, it won’t be easy but it gives my child every possibility to communicate with both hearing people and other deaf people. But that’s just my two cents also.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Angela, SWEET! Now we are up to 4 cents:) Sometimes I have felt so alone in my view on this, especially when interacting with the medical community. Too many parents are not getting the whole story when it comes to choices for their deaf child. We shouldn’t be forced to choose one thing or another with the fear and guilt that WE might accidentally make the wrong choice and fail our child for life. It’s a miserable predicament. Leah was denied an implant at age 7 because we she had never had speech therapy, even though she was bi-lingual and had a better grasp of English than many children they implant… only her English was written down. Then, I found myself fighting for her to get implanted… too weird! Best of luck to you and just know that you are not alone:)
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Patricia Torres Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 2:42 am
I am sure you are not alone Rachel, my cousin who is Deaf refused any and all hearing aids and cochlear implants. Many many Deaf persons reject being forced to make these changes. My cousin says that at her Deaf school it was mandatory for them to wear hearing aids, of course she said it was ridiculous because she couldn’t hear with them anyway. So it is us the hearing population who must educate ourselves on the matter and take in their perspective of life into consideration before trying to force them to do something. I’m glad you allowed your daughter to make her own decision about her hearing. You and your family are very inspirational. We become what we make of ourselves; as your family is an example of that.
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Patricia Torres Reply:
November 19th, 2011 at 2:47 am
Also, I love how your daughter challenged the doctor she knew well he was not putting all the cards on the table. I just love it how doctors will do anything they think will make us happy(sarcasm). Thumbs up to your daughter for questioning the doctor.
September 7th, 2011 at 11:25 am
I do not have a deaf child in my home but I find this SO amazingly interesting! Thank you for sharing your knowledge, experience and PASSION for helping kids!
a
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September 7th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Personally, I think that’s worth way more than two cents. I totally agree that speech is a skill and thank goodness William could sign to communicate while learning (he’s still working on speech) language. In fact, we still use ASL to help him learn spelling words, concepts, and to help him communicate those hard to understand words to us.
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September 7th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
I used to want my deaf and disabled baby to speak. Then she signed Mommy for the first time at nine months old, after her three year old sister taught her how. The sheer joy of that moment really brought to light how little I am missing by the fact that she can’t speak.
My daughter Lily has, among other things, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and is trach/vent dependent due to central sleep apnea. She CAN’T speak… but she can communicate. She’s delayed due to her disabilities and 272 days in the hospital during 15 months of life. She has difficulty signing because she has had to work for every slight movement her hands can do.
But she can call me Mommy.
We’ve thought a lot about CI for her. We’re interested, but waiting. She’s not stable enough for the surgery now and we’re battling it out with her other conditions. She also recently had a very serious near-death experience with a rare infection in her body that had her team considering replacing the patch in her heart and the shunt in her brain… both things necessary for keeping her alive. CI is optional. Hearing is optional. Not worth the risk of infection at this stage. So we wait, and we sign… because we want our deaf daughter to know sign, even if she later is able to add hearing to her abilities via technology.
And while we wait… she can call me Mommy.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Danielle, beautiful! Just beautiful. There is no hurry, that’s another thing we learned. 13 years ago Leah was considered “too young” to be implanted, she wasn’t even 2 years old. When we looked at it at age 7 we were told that she had “missed the window” and was no longer a candidate because she was too old. (rolls eyes) Now, her ENT, yes the same one who denied her, considers her one of his most successful recipients and at her last mapping the audiologist was blown away as she nailed word after word. He kept shaking is head and said her skills were remarkable (grin)
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September 7th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
So does her ENT still tell parents not to sign with their kids when they get implanted? It’s just so mind-bogglingly cruel.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 7th, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Yes, I believe it is still being recommended that families stop signing once the child is implanted. I will not make choices based on fear. I will make them based on facts. For some reason there is a long held belief in the medical community that sign language interferes with speech development. Even if it was true (which it is not) I say, WHO CARES? American sign language is a deaf child’s first language and through it they can learn their second language, English.
PS: It’s actually deafness that interferes with speech, not sign language. Not being able to hear REALLY interferes with learning a spoken and listened to language:)
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September 7th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Rachel, as a Speech-Language Pathologist…Thank you! I especially love the line “communication doesn’t delay communication”. I work with language-delayed children and their families and the parents will almost always say they want the child “to talk” and express fears over alternative forms of communication be it sign language, pictures, AAC, etc. I always try to impress upon families that what their child wants is to “Communicate”, to be able to express their wants, needs and thoughts. I also commend you on following your instincts about Leah’s “first language” of ASL. With a good foundation in language, regardless of which language, a child has the tools to grow and learn anything else!
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 20th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Thank you Lisa,
It’s great to hear this from a SLP, I hear from too many families that their SLPs do not encourage signing for fear it will interfere with the child acquiring speech. To which I say, “signing doesn’t interfere with the ability to speak, but deafness does. Yes, not being able to hear a language sure makes it hard to speak it. Imagine that!” Last week I shared that sentiment with a SLP in Canada and she added, “In my experience it’s an SLP’s ignorance and the parents’ ignorance that interferes most with a deaf child’s ability to speak.”
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September 7th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
I can’t tell you how much this resounds with me. It is such a sad, pervasive misconception that CIs somehow “cure” deafness. My daughter Calyssa (“silly” from the Roseville show) wears bilateral hearing aids, signs, and uses increasingly clear speech as well. So often strangers will ask me “Why doesn’t she have those implant things? Wouldn’t thaat fix it?” As if she were broken. I get so tired of explaining that her deafness is a permanent part of her. Her loss is sensorineural, so she is not a candidate for implantation at this time; even if she were I decided long ago that the implantation decision would be hers alone to make. This post is so validating, and so true. I’m glad Leah has had such a positive experience with her CI!
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Pam Reply:
September 11th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Whoa — misinformation here! Cochlear implants ARE for sensorineural hearing losses. Perhaps your child’s hearing loss isn’t severe enough to qualify for a cochlear implant, but it’s not because she has a sensorineural hearing loss. Please learn more before you make such a decision.
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Julie Southern Reply:
September 18th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
I have done all the required research, including visiting the medical library at a renowned teaching hospital, so I’ll thank you not to insult my intelligence or my intellectual curiosity. My daughter’s cochlea work just fine; the damage was to her auditory nerve. At this point in time, she is not a candidate for implantation due to the type of PROFOUND precipitous high-frequency loss she has. Her hearing aids gain her a few consonant sounds. Once CI technology progresses to the point where she might become a candidate – current estimates are that this may happen in her early adulthood – she may wish to reassess and I’d support any decision she makes. Until then, I’ll continue to read and research so that we are prepared.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 20th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
Julie, it was great to finally meet you and Calyssa in Roseville. It’s clear you understand the importance of being an educated parent:) Too many parents quickly surrender to their Professional’s opinion without realizing that they and their child are the ones who will forever live out that choice. None of these choices should be taken lightly. We have pictures of Leah post-op and one of her friends fainted (yes, hit the deck) when looking at them…
September 7th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
I am one of those parents who wishes their child could “talk” with words coming out of his mouth. Who wouldn’t want the norm for their kids especially when there is a mental disability? One of my biggest fears is that he will be insulted someway and he won’t be able to tell me. Talking would be the easier road…for everyone. That being said I AM so thankful for sign language and ST!. I believe my 6 year old Joey with Down syndrome has Apraxia of Speech. He hasn’t been diagnosed as I’m told you can’t test until there are enough words being spoken. Seems odd to me. The only 2 consonant sounds he can make are the “g”…a throat sound and the “m” but it is never on demand. He started kindergarten a couple weeks ago…the first non-verbal child to walk through those doors…ever. Sign language has never been used in our school…ever. We are walking on new ground and it is quite scary. I started teaching (well, Rachel, YOU did) sign language shortly before age 1 thinking it would be cool and NOT that it would be his first language. By the way…if Joey has total hearing but is completely non-verbal and we mainly use sign language…would that be considered his 1st language? Or would I say it is his 1st “expressive” language? Our school bought the whole ST! series a couple years ago to “get ready” for Joey. His teacher is starting to incorporate it into the classroom. Today was the first day and she did the days of the week and his aide told me how surprised Joey looked that “HIS” movies are being shown in the classroom and the other kids are doing “HIS” signs. Pretty cool. It is amazing how Joey retains signs even when he hasn’t used one for a long time. Sometimes I question myself and trust that Joey is doing it right…haha…even if his tiny little hands can’t do them perfectly. I taught him The Pledge of Allegiance this summer so he could participate in the classroom and he literally learned it in about 4 tries! Many times I have caught him by himself signing The Pledge and he gets it word for word (or is it sign for sign)…way too cool. Now we are working on The Lord’s Prayer. I wish I could borrow you to show me things like that and explain them. It takes lots of time you-tubing watching all these people sign the prayer and not sure which sign to use. There is an episode of Little House on the Prairie what shows the prayer in sign language. Now my/our challenge is to figure out how to teach Joey to read. Any advice?
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Rebecca Reply:
September 8th, 2011 at 8:56 am
Steph, here’s a completely free source to download much of the Bible (& other publications including a Bible story book) in Sign Language you may find useful:
ASL: www.jw.org/index.html?option=QrYQZRQVNFVTr
Bible in ASL: www.jw.org/index.html?option=QrYQFVTrlVlYR&selLang=ASL
You may also download it in other signed languages from American Sign Language to Venezuelan Sign Language:
www.jw.org/index.html?option=QrYQFVTrFRYYNrT
Although my children aren’t deaf, they have truly benefitted learning ASL from infancy. They are able to communicate clearly so much earlier than spoken language, which truly reduces frustration and enriches our interaction. Currently my 11-mo-old only says a couple of words, but she signs several (mom, dad, milk, tree, dolphin, car, dog, cat, eat, bye-bye). We love the delight on her face when she wants to show us something like a tree & is able to communicate what she’s looking at although she can’t speak it’s name, & we understand her.
[It also comes in handy when we need to communicate with our kids quietly such as at meeting/church. 
] Signing Time & Baby Signing Time have proved so beneficial to my husband and me in teaching ourselves & our children ASL.
Thank you so much for your encouraging, informative, & personally honest posts, Rachel. They inspire & motivate me to continue pursuing teaching myself & children ASL to benefit not only ourselves, but also to be able to communicate with other ASL communicaters we come across. It also encourages me to to be confident in our other “against the grain” decisions like extended breastfeeding, cloth diapers, etc.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 20th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Steph, it is normal to want your child to talk. There is nothing wrong with that. What a blessing that even though he is non-verbal he can communicate. You could say his first receptive language is English and his first expressive language is ASL.
Rebecca, oh just wait until I post my tandem-nursing experience! LOL, you are in good company here.
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Rebecca Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 11:06 am
Rachel, ooh! I eagerly await reading about your tandem-nursing experience! You’re an amazing mother, & I’m not surprised that you’ve enriched your children’s lives in every way you can – including breastfeeding to the full.
I love that you baby/childwear, too! It’s nice to be in good company. Natural/attachment parents are sadly in the minority where I live. People tend to blindly follow the majority of the crowd – from doctors’ rec’s to diapers.
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September 7th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how you explain how Sign Language can get soaking wet and it’s always at your fingertips. BRILLIANT!
My son is now 22 months and was diagnosed at birth with a mild-moderate hearing loss. We’ve tested him forward and backward and were STRONGLY pushed towards hearing aids. We bought the aids and then were told by these same people that right now in his small circles of hearing – his loss is such that the aids won’t make all that much difference, but he WILL benefit from them later. (grr!) So as his Mom – I’ve decided not to “fight” him on the aids just now.
HOWEVER – one major gift from our journey thus far has been Baby Signing Time and Signing Time. Tyler has a FANTASTIC signing vocabulary and now that he’s growing more and more verbal everyday – he EXPECTS that there is a hand sign for each new word he learns. It’s awesome! Signing has not slowed his communication in the least. He is SO proud of being able to tell me what he recognizes in the grocery store, in books and all around him. He embraces using his hands while learning his speaking skills. I’m so grateful for Sign Language in our lives. It’s been beautiful to watch my young son be able to reach out to those around him because he’s got the tools – his hands and fingers. We’re so blessed!
Hooray for Leah and her remarkable skills all around. She is a champion for our family – as you all are. Leah proves to us that there ARE no limits or obstacles too large to communication.
THANK YOU!
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 20th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Lisa, Oh I remember Leah’s first hearing aids and how we hoped it would land her in the “Speech Banana” (Aaron and I still laugh about that ever-elusive Speech Banana) Sure, she had a few frequencies in the banana with hearing aids, but not enough for her to speak clearly enough for anyone to understand her.
It sounds like Tyler is doing great! Our children are so full of possibilities. Sometimes I think a parent’s love and commitment can carry a child beyond medical limits and expectations.
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September 7th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
I could not agree with you more! I am not a parent of a deaf child, but I am an elementary school special education teacher of many (over the years) children with hearing impairments. Several years ago, one of my 2nd grade students received a CI. His parents made it very clear to the school that they did NOT want their son using any sign language. I worked with him on a special reading series, and once when we were reading a story about holidays throughout the year we came to the word wreath. He had no idea what a wreath was. Not how to read the word, but what a wreath actually was. How do you explain to a 2nd grader what a wreath is with Christmas still months away? A circle decoration, usually made out of pine, that we hang on doors during Christmas… or do you simply sign wreath in the language that he is already familiar with? I chose to do the latter, and although signing was forbidden by his parents, by explaining a unfamiliar word with one sign we saved 5 min of frustration! Would we ever expect others to learn a foreign language without first saying the word in English? On a side note there were multiple occasions when his batteries died and both he and I were glad that we still had some way to communicate. Any and All tools of communication can only benefit our children!
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September 8th, 2011 at 6:18 am
My enthusiastic Lily (you have met her in Mpls) has used sign and speech since we began in the NICU. With her energy/sensory overload, it helps her focus better. Our CNP wanted us to stop signing saying it was delaying her speech. We had her tested by the school district and they said her speech was off the charts ahead of a few years. Apparantly she talks too fast wanting to squeeze in too many words. We are returning for another assessment for articulation-as you say, speech is not a language and I agree.
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September 8th, 2011 at 8:48 am
Thank you Rachel,
Every since my son was born (5 years this Nov.) I have felt the need to teach him ASL I did not know why at first I thought that I would find out that he was deaf, but that has not been the case. I am so glad that I found ST. He has watched you Alex and Leah since he was about 8 months old he knows over 400 worsd now. It has helped him in many ways of course communicating with us before he learned speech and also He has been able to read at over a 3rd grade level since he was about 3. I am still not sure if that is the reason I felt so impressed that he learn ASL or not, but I am so glad he did.
On the subject I am so glad you voice your opinions and concerns for those that need this either with or without a hearing child. People need to be made aware of the way they act or treat others with different abilities and be open to all. Not to criticize but to get informed.
Thanks again
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September 9th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
I LOVE this post. I especially love “Language doesn’t delay language.” Perfect.
and people are amazed that she still signs. Why? She loves it and I absolutely encourage her to keep using it. “But she doesn’t NEED to anymore” I get now. It’s another language people! Would you be worried about it if she was speaking Spanish?
I worked in a school with a deaf population for a few years and became fascinated with ASL and the deaf culture.
When my daughter was born, I knew that I wanted to teach her ASL from the beginning. I wanted her to be able to communicate with us as soon as she could. We found ST and when people saw that she could ask us for milk when she was only 8 months old, they were amazed. But then we got so many questions about whether it was really a good idea because “aren’t you worries she won’t talk if she signs?” Really?! Of course not! That concern never made any sense to me.
Now, she talks up a storm (she’s a little over two and will meet you at your Vegas ST event
I can’t imagine why in the world someone wouldn’t want their child (hearing or deaf (especially)) not to learn ASL. Everyone is all over teaching their children Spanish, French, whatever-other-language at a very young age and there’s no problem. Why is ASL such a hot button subject? I just don’t understand.
Thank you Rachel for making ASL accessible to families like ours and for having the courage and strength to raise your amazing family despite some pretty crazy medical advice.
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Hailey's Mom Reply:
September 10th, 2011 at 8:18 am
I too was met with criticism and disbelief by family and friends when I ventured out to teach my daughter ASL from birth. Now that she is almost 2 & 1/2 and has the vocabulary of a 4 year old and signs nearly every word she can speak they see the value in it. She even learned to count and recite her ABC’s via ASL and Signing Time. I think that it is hands-down the best thing I did for my daughter and I am proud that I stuck to my guns and did it for both of us!
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
September 20th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Kate, You are so right! If your child knew Spanish and English… or English and Mandarin Chinese people would be so impressed and not concerned at all.
Hailey’s Mom, following your instincts in the face of no agreement is a pretty amazing thing to do. Congratulations!
This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
When a thing is new, people say: “It is not true”.
Later, when its truth becomes obvious, they say: “It’s not important.”
Finally, when its importance cannot be denied, they say “Anyway, it’s not new”
-William James
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September 10th, 2011 at 8:15 am
I am so proud of you for writing about this subject in your blog. My daughter, Hailey is now 29 months old, and I used Signing Time and courses on ASL at our local library to teach both of us ASL as a second language. She started to sign at 9 months old and we continue to use it everyday. When she was about 15 months old we had an experience that I will never forget at a local waterpark. We were showering off to go home and there was a boy about Hailey’s age running around the shower area while his mother proceeded to scream and yell at him and push and pull him to where she wanted him to be to shower him off. She apologized to us because in the midst of it they nearly knocked us over, but her apology was this, “I’m sorry, my son is deaf and has to take out his implant around water so it is hard to handle him.” I took this as an opportunity for Hailey and I to sign with them (We are always looking for that opportunity so we can continue to learn the language since no one in our family is deaf.) and responded, “This is Hailey and she knows a lot of sign language, maybe they can sign together?” She got very defensive with me and told me absolutely not, and even forbid me to sign in his presence????? because their pediatrician told them not to use any sign language with him because he would never be able to speak. (summarizing the conversation) This left me speechless, sad, and frustrated. All I could think of was the fact that not only did this little boy have no means of communicating at the water park, but at all of the other times the implant would need to be turned off, removed, etc. In addition, here I am, the parent of a hearing child, teaching her a language that I have already seen benefit her cognitively, emotionally, and verbally, and a parent of a child who could rely on ASL as a sole means of communication has denyed their child that. To this day it bothers me, and after the incident I spoke to Hailey’s ASL teacher at the library and she told me they have an entire program devoted to helping families of children with implants. Their sole purpose is to show them the value of ASL despite what their pediatricians recommended to them. They had fifteen families in the program last I heard, that means at least fifteen children had/have absolutely no way to communicate with their loved ones or anyone for that matter. What I liked about the situation was that Hailey’s teacher said the majority of the children eventually decide to turn the implant off and not use once they learn ASL. Again, I am so proud of you for posting this blog and telling your story. In addition, I have to thank you for being an integral part of learning a language that has provided my daughter and I a wonderful form of communication in addition to spoken English as well as the opportunity to utilize ASL to communicate with those who may not have any other means of communication. It has not only taught Hailey and I a new language, but an appreciation for the differences among people and their abilities and has shown her that even though people may not hear like we do they are still in fact people.
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September 12th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I love to read blogs just because you get to see different point of views. Every point is different so here is mine. My daughter was diagnosed with severe to profound sensory neural hearing loss at age 6 months. It was a huge shock to my husband and I being that we have no family history of hearing loss. When I heard the news my world stood still for a good 30 minutes. My first thoughts were I would never hear the word mommy, she would not have an amazing singing voice as her father and I do. How would she speak to her grandma on the phone? When we found out about CI surgery it gave me hope that my fears did not have to be a reality. I spent weeks doing my research. And took a tour of the Auditory Verbal Center here in Atlanta. These kids were amazing. Most of them you could not tell were born deaf based on their clear speech(depending on the age of implantation.) My husband and I made our decision. My daughter has had her CI now for 8 months. And is bilaterally implanted and is 22 months of age. She understands every word that comes out of my mouth. If you say her name she pats herself on the chest. She loves to sit and listen to her father play his guitar. And will sit for an hour at a time for story time on my lap. Shes a Celine Dion fan as well as Ella Fitzgerald. And as a matter of fact she has been doing the “Your Baby Can Read” program. Not only does she respond to the words from the program when called out to her. But she also when given a choice of two words that she has never seen before when called out, chooses the correct word. That is a blessing in my life. And I would never ever change my decision. To say the device can fail. Yes and so can a pace maker or your brakes when driving down the freeway. We can’t make life decisions because we are afraid of failure. We would get no where fast. I would like to teach her ASL as SECOND language in edition to Spanish and French etc. Thanks to her CI and other programs the sky is the limit for her. They expect her first words in a few months. And from the new sounds she produces everyday she is well on her way. What melts my heart the most is I can call her from another part of the house. And here comes my princess with a smile on her face. I love her so much. But Jesus loves her more.
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Daniel Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
“in edition to French and Spanish”
Maybe you should work on the English bit first before going into that ****.
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Karissa Reply:
November 29th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
RUDE! You took a great response and made a very petty comment. Shame on you.
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BriaGrace Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
I do not think the decision not to implant is based out of fear of failure at all. Like any other medical decision we make for our children, it is based on doing what we as parents feel is best. Cochlear implants can fail. That is a reality that needs to be faced. Just as driving classes have instructions on what to do if your brakes fail, and people with pacemakers often take medications to further regulate heart rates, how are you equipping your daughter to communicate should her implants fail? Do you think that all of the accomplishments you listed would not be possible if you had not implanted her? If you ask the older of the two children I nannied for who her favorite musician is, she will excitedly tell you Justin Bieber (she’s 12, cut her some slack
). She is profoundly deaf and loves to listen to music. She does so by way of a special wire that plugs into the headphone jack of her iPod on one end and directly into her hearing aid on the other, which had the added bonus of allowing her to listen to her precious Bieber, while mercifully sparing the rest of the household! She plays piano and drums. She loves reading and, for having absolutely no language input for the first 5 years of her life (she was in an orphanage in China), has pretty awesome skills in spoken and written English and constantly pesters…er, asks me lovingly and in a totally non-annoying manner to tell her how to say things in Spanish. Deafness is not a burden or hindrance and ASL is not a “well, I suppose it is good enough…”.
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September 16th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
I cannot thank you enough for this post. I am literally in tears right now.
Up until last month, I was a nanny for two Deaf children. My son, who is severely speech delayed, came with me to work and, as tends to happen when you are immersed in a second language, picked up a lot of ASL (so much so that his last speech therapist classified him as a dual-language learner). Now, at age three, he signs more than he talks (and he loves his “signing movie”, as he calls ST
). His receptive language is tip-top in spoken English – he just prefers to communicate with others in sign when possible. Which is a-okay with me. The problem has been my mother, who we are temporarily living with. She refuses to learn any sign, tells my son to “use your real words” when she is trying to get him to use spoken words and steadfastly clings to the old wives tale that signing with him is what is delaying his speech. Since moving in with her, my son has started throwing temper tantrums like you wouldn’t believe. He is frustrated and I have been trying and trying to put into words how to explain to my mother that it is her actions of refusing to communicate with him in his chosen language that is causing this frustration, that maybe instead of pushing him to talk, she should put some effort into learning some sign. Now, you have given me the words (like you have done so many times before…). Thank you, thank you. I have to go hug my baby now…
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September 17th, 2011 at 9:22 am
If you read what I had to say I am teaching her sign. So to answer your question I am equipping my child in case her CI fails. And you ask would she have have so many of the accomplishments i listed with out the CI? Uh……no. All the ones I listed are based on listening skills just after 8 months of hearing. How many 22 month old children do you know can choose a word correctly when asked “which word says”? I am preparing my child to communicate with everybody. We can say what If all day long. But she belongs to the Lord Jesus and if all else fails that will never change. He has her covered.
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Daniel Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
I sincerely hope someone else in your family has a better grasp of the English language (both spoken and written) to help her.
P.s: Jesus doesn’t speak English. So, don’t know how well you’d like your daughter speaking Hebrew if Jesus has her covered.
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Colette Reply:
December 4th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Jesus only prayed in Hebrew! Jews spoke Arameiac,
and yes English is not my first language!
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BriaGrace Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Actually, your exact sentence was, “I would like to teach her ASL as SECOND language,” which implied to me that you are not teaching her to sign yet, but would merely like to at some point in the future. Sorry if that is not the case and you are currently teaching her to sign.
Also, from what I have seen/researched of the “Your Baby Can Read” program, it leans primarily on a system called whole word recognition (which doesn’t actually teach kids to read, as it does not equip them to figure out new words when there is no visual queue to help them). It shows you a picture of something (let’s use a car as an example) and then shows you the word “car”. Then, again, it shows you a car, and then the word “car”. In doing this over and over (I read one parent’s account of using the program and it says to use one DVD for two months before moving on to the next), you learn to associate a car, with the specific letters C-A-R in that order. Which, wouldn’t ya know it, sounds a lot like how I teach my son sign. I show him a car, and sign car. Then I do it again and again until he does it, too. I could easily add in a flashcard with the letters “C-A-R” if I wanted him to be able to recognize the printed word.
I find it severely problematic and hurtful that you think Deaf children are of such low intelligence that they could not recognize words when given a choice between the two, or that not being able to hear precludes a child from early learning (I am sticking with early learning, because I already set forth clear examples that Deaf people can and do listen to and love music. And your child could still very well understand expressed words, they just may need to be expressed in sign instead of spoken English) and how you use some one’s use of spoken English as a marker of intelligence. These are exactly the kinds of attitudes that used to send the older girl I nannied for home in tears, sobbing to me how she was stupid because she was Deaf.
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Amy Jones Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Wow!!!! You again totally missed my point. I am listing my daughters accomplishments based on her AUDITORY Awareness. Nothing else. Her response to SOUND. You know, WHAT SHE HEARS.I am currently teaching her sign as a second language. Maybe I should have been more clear but that is neither here nor there. The reason I say second language is because we did not start off that way. And In defense of YBCR. My child is choosing words she has never seen in her life. I also included that if you scroll up and read it again. So that means she is associating the letters with the sounds they make.I have not insulted you or anyone else for that matter. There is no need to throw jabs so please lets stay mature and humble about this subject. I would not have found this blog if I was not PURCHASING Signing Time DVDs for my child. No one is better than the other and everyone has a different walk. I just wanted to put my experience out there. Thank you for your time but this will be my last day on this blog. God bless.
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BriaGrace Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Yes, thank you, I am well aware of what “auditory” means. And you are missing my point that those accomplishments could have happened without implants. You would just have to change the way the information goes in so that instead of reacting to auditory stimulus, she reacted to visual or tactile stimulus. Auditory cues are not the only way we take in information and certainly not what we base 100% of our responses on. My goodness, how do you think Deaf children learn to read the printed word? From reading your responses one would think it was impossible simply because they couldn’t hear.
Also, I at no point insulted or threw jabs at you, and I certainly don’t represent Rachel or Signing Time in any way, so no need to leave this blog for good. We are all adults here and we can agree to disagree. I realize we all have different experiences and paths and opinions, and just as you have the absolute right to put yours out there, I have the right to put out mine. And, again, since we are adults, we can simply agree to disagree.
Mrs T Reply:
August 28th, 2012 at 1:30 am
Hi Amy,
I know I’m a year late, but just wanted to say that I did understand what you were trying to say, and appreciated reading about your own viewpoint on CI.
I do appreciate that deaf children or adults do not need to be fixed, and each family and individual can choose for themselves whether they want a CI.
At the same time, as a mom, I identify with what you are saying, and have two deaf friends who benefit from their CI.
One of my friends who is fluent in Sign Language as his first language, chose to have a Cochlear Implant at age 30, and remarked that what he enjoyed was speaking on his cellphone (before he would only text), and listening to speeches at a friends’ wedding (unfortunately, our community (in South Africa) doesn’t know a lot of sign language, otherwise I supposed the wedding speech could have been given in Sign Language).
My second friend, was given a CI at a young age, does not sign and uses lipreading when her CI is off.
I think that like many things, a Cochlear Implant is obviously a personal choice, and we can all learn from others and appreciate their views without judging them and their English- or at least try to.
P.S. as a doctor myself, I definitely agree that you should always question your doctor, and if you have evidence that they are wrong, take them the evidence!, perhaps they weren’t aware, or perhaps they can explain why they disagree – but in the end, it should always be YOUR choice as the patient.
September 18th, 2011 at 12:22 am
You made a lot of great points in this blog. I want to say that I think Leah is doing wonderfully speaking with her cochlear. I think it was a good idea for her to get one, if that is what she wanted. She is surrounded by a loving family that is very knowledgeable in sign (an understandment!). But the world does not all know sign, only a fraction does, and this way, she can communicate more easily orally, if she so desires, with those who do not sign. That is awesome she was reading and writing so well even before her implant. The important thing, that you hit on, is that a baby is taught a language from very early on. It doesn’t matter what language, but they do need to be exposed to one. The statistics do show that the child’s verbal reasoning scores suffer longterm without that early language, naturally. When a deaf child is born into a deaf family already fluent in sign, they become fluent easily. But when a family is hearing and have no knowledge of sign, it does take a lot of work on their part to learn it. You guys managed to learn it so fluently and smoothly that Leah became fluent very early in it, from reading your past posts. Sounds like she amazed everyone! You gave her the best, and then let her decide if she wanted full access to her second language, verbally, and she did. Just like many of us are learning a second language now, sign, for one reason or another, relating to our children. I am sure this access has enhanced her life. But I am also sure you do not regret one moment of ASL, nor does she, as that’s her first language, the language you’ve helped bring to so many homes. And she can use it anytime, as everyone’s said…the batteries in your fingers don’t burn out, and they are safe to go in water! If a family doesn’t for some reason have the ability to take on a new language (perhaps due to a learning disability or sadly, lack of effort on their part–no desire), then I think a cochlear implant from the start is the way to go for that child if he/she is profoundly deaf. They will need something to allow them to gain access to a language while still in infancy. But in my opinion, ASL is a must for babies with hearing loss–actually, I think it should be a must for all babies!
I like what the doctor said to Leah about her other ear. I have heard they are currently working on stem cell treatments for hearing loss, and that they may be promising. I’ve also heard the military, specifically the Navy, may be working on something related to hearing as well (from our speech therapist). Having one ear nonimplanted will be important for the future, because if both ears have implants, then the newer treatments won’t be possible.
There is one more reason for parents of severe/profound cochlear implant children to make sure a cochlear (especially two) is the right way to go in infancy, especially if the baby was an early preemie. A mother of a 24-weeker I met online said that her son, who just turned one, was diagnosed with a severe/profound sensorineural loss in both ears, based on two separate ABRs after he came home from the hospital. Since that time, his hearing has improved by 30 dB in at least one ear, and she was going back in to check the other because he was showing signs that it too may be better. He is no longer a cochlear candidate, as his loss is only moderate now. And before anyone says this must be a mistake, I must tell you that the same thing has happened with my own son, who was born at 23 weeks. He wasn’t a cochlear candidate, because his loss was only moderate to moderately severe. He had two ABRs, like the other baby, after coming home from the hospital, and they were very similar. Sensorineural…permanent…across all frequencies…we’ll see about the progressive part. My son is now 2 and can hear me whisper behind him, without his aids. He can hear me whisper, head angled away, all the way across the room! No number on his audiogram is above a 50. One ear averages 52 1/2, the other 60. Yet he’s hearing my whispers now. We will have an ABR soon under anesthesia, following his tonsillectomy, and will get to the truth–just how much improvement there is and whether it’s one ear or both, across all frequencies, or only a couple. My audiologist was in disbelief for a long time when I would tell her what we’ve seen. It isn’t anything she’s encountered before. The only thing I can come up with is that perhaps, in the extremely premature, something is put on hold in a baby’s brain so that they can concentrate on breathing and surviving, and then slowly, over time, their brain eventually gets back to everything else. Just a theory, but nothing else makes sense. Granted, this isn’t the norm with deaf or HOH micropreemies, I know that. But it seems to be something that’s happened in at least a couple such babies with hearing loss, so I imagine there are more out there. I do wonder now what would have happened had they told us that day that our son was profoundly deaf? What if we would have had a cochlear implant, or even two, before he was a year corrected? I am thinking we probably would have had one ear done, anyway. And then his ear could never have done what we believe it has done, against the odds. Just a warning to those moms of micropreemies in such a situation to make sure your child has subsequent ABRs before going through with the procedure, just in case your child is that one in a million like my son and the other little guy. As you said, I don’t consider it a “cure.” I don’t think he needed to be cured in that sense. But nonetheless I am happy for him. We’ve decided to go without his aids until his test, just in case, so his hearing isn’t harmed from them. But it tugged at my heart when he reached for them after I put him in his crib, to hand to me as he always does, only they weren’t there. I am sure you know what I mean…it’s bittersweet in a way.
Re: the theory that signing could delay spoken language–we got that too from our ENT team. But our Early Intervention team, thankfully, believes that every child should have access to all the tools they could possibly need. They encouraged sign, as did our hearing specialist. And thankfully we found you and Signing Time. You are my little guy’s hero, by the way. He lovingly calls you “Ruh,” signed too now with his best attempt at an R after having your ABC Signs DVD for a month.
He does have a speech delay, including clarity, and we are so very grateful for Baby Signing Time and Signing Time for helping him communicate more fully with us. He almost always speaks as he signs, but the signs help us understand him better. And some things he simply can’t say, like please and sorry, but his signs for them are golden. I can’t imagine not having access to those words with him! Signing has opened up the door to a second language for him, and as a bonus, it’s even helped him read words! He’s picked up a good two dozen from your DVDs, books, and flashcards. Just wanted to say thank you, and keep up the wonderful work. Leah’s deafness sparked a movement that has taught thousands of little ones to communicate. My son’s hearing loss led me to you, and in the end, gave us a good foundation for him to grow with sign, so that now, when it’s evident he does have a speech delay even if his hearing has possibly improved, he already is way ahead of the game with ASL. I think sometimes things happen for a reason, things we can’t always understand. But one thing I’ll never regret is teaching my son ASL. He gets 5 new DVDs every 4 months now (his birthday, Coming Home day and Christmas), and we watch one together nightly. It’s the only thing I let him watch, and he wouldn’t have it any other way! 
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September 18th, 2011 at 7:37 am
Ok good. I just see that somehow my words got twisted. I never listed what children with hearing loss could not do. The title is ” My Two Cents:Cochlear Implants”. My prospective seems to be a little different about them. I have had a very positive experience. My child would have excelled regardless.Sound or no sound. But again what I listed is based on auditory skills. Hearing me from another room, listening to grandma on the phone, understanding written language based on what I am saying to her. After only 8 months of sound. This is all due to her CI. Yes without it she would do very well. I would make sure of that because I love her. But this is what we decided for her. There is no history of hearing loss in my family and she will be able to communicate with all of us and people who have hearing loss as well. Over the past few days she has learned her first words. Mama and NO. That is the sweetest sound to me. I waited almost two years to see this day. And I know she will one day have a singing voice as that runs in my family. But please do not assume that I don’t think children with hearing loss can accomplish things. Again I was listing the things that are available to my child because of her CI. That is all. Bottom line is no matter how you slice it she would not have any sound without it. Her ABR showed no response to sound at all.Hearing aids and other devices would not have been good enough for her to go to school with her hearing piers. But that is not the case now. I have great things to say about CI’s. I know several people that have had them almost 20 years now with no problems. Maybe this blog isn’t the place for comments such as mine. No you didn’t insult me directly but to put words in my mouth is an insult. But thanks for talking and sharing your views.
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BriaGrace Reply:
September 18th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
I am truly glad your experience with implants has been so positive. And, no, I was not twisting your words. Since when did a difference in opinion become an intentional insult? Also, whether or not you intended to convey the feeling that deafness somehow affects intelligence or ability to learn, that was definitely the message that I and several other people who I shared this with (both Deaf and hearing) got out of your words. And, whether you intentionally smack some one in the face, or do it by accident, the pain is not any different. It still hurts.
And now, since we have heard your experience, let me tell you mine. Maybe that will give you an idea of why I personally find sign so vital.
As I have already mentioned, the children I used to nanny for are both deaf. (And they are so much more than just the kids I work with. I am very, very close with the family and love those girls like they are my own.) The older one, R, has a structural malformation of her inner ear that causes her deafness. Her doctor told her mother in no uncertain terms that, while hearing aids may help to start out, they always see a change in hearing and it is never for the better. Hearing aids did not restore her hearing to a normal range (she is incredibly smart and got by in school watching her terp) and, one day, her hearing would most definitely worsen. And sure enough, a year or two ago, R (much like Leah) started complaining her one hearing aid “sounded weird”. She stopped wearing it and leaned even more on ASL and lip-reading. Eventually, she expressed her desire to get implanted. She did, and everything was fine…for a little while. Then, her brain remembered she was a kid. She lost it. More times then I can count. Sometimes it would turn up. Other times, it didn’t. She is currently on her third processing unit in less than a year of being implanted. And what did we do in the times when she didn’t have it? Signed, of course. We also signed when we would all go to the pool together and she would have to leave her implant in the car so it wouldn’t get wet, or when we were in a crowded area and she was having trouble weeding out our voices from the rest of the crowd (because CI’s transmit all sound, not just voices), and in countless other situations where wearing her implants was not practical or possible. These are some of the reasons why I feel ASL is so vital to Deaf people. Implants get lost, batteries die. Life happens. Does that mean a person should never get implanted? Of course not. As you said before, if we lived our lives based on the fear of what might happen, we would live pretty sad lives. But, if the Scouts have taught us anything, it’s to be prepared. And, as much as I love Signing Time (and dear heaven if people from ST are reading this, I seriously owe you a kidney or something because that is just how much I love you guys), it does not prepare you to effectively communicate in ASL. It teaches you signs, not ASL. ASL has a unique grammar structure, relies heavily on bodily queues and facial expression, and so much more that could never be adequately expressed in 30-minute segments. So if you are relying on ST to teach your daughter ASL (which I am not saying you are doing – notice the “if”), she is going to be woefully underequipped to handle life when the inevitable occurs and you are waiting for the replacement processor to show up in the mail and even more woefully underequipped to communicate with other Deaf people who have ASL as a first language.
Also, I visibly cringe every time you say, “There is no history of hearing loss in my family and [because of her CI] she will be able to communicate with all of us.” You know how else she could communicate with your family? Your family could learn to sign.
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karen Reply:
January 3rd, 2012 at 7:44 am
I am currently a college student studying to get my degree in ASL in order to become an ASL interpreter. I initially started using ASL with my young daughter who was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism and I was not sure whether or not/to what degree she may or may not develop language…fortunately her language took off greatly and so the ASL, which I had barely started at the time, ‘fell to the wayside’. I, being a lover of all languages, was still hooked on the beautiful language that, for me, was more like singing than ‘speaking’…my daughter and I became RABID fans of Signing Time and it’s once-a-week slot on our public tv station. Thanks to ST, I entered my college ASL program knowing the full alphabet and at least 100 or more ASL words/signs, discovering too that there were some ‘subtual differences’ in some of the ways that Rachel signed things and my professor signed them (we are in Michigan and that’s a long way from where Rachel lives, so ‘regional’ differences are not such a strange thing….although I agree that ST is NOT a vehicle for teaching someone ASL on an interpreter’s level, I do think that it is a WONDERFUL vehicle to showcase special needs individuals of all types and ASL. Rachel you are a great mom (love those Lele and Lulu nicknames too!) and THANK you for what you and Emily did to put my foot on this path, maybe OUR paths will cross one day in the world of ASL
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September 18th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Thank you again.
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September 19th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
*reads blog*
*looks at comments*
YAY! Cultural debates! I’m gonna go grab me some POPCORN! *signs popcorn crazily like the little girl in Time to Eat*
In all honesty, though, Rachel, great blog post! It always seems that when people write about this subject, they always put a hostile, audist, show-offy, accusatory, extreme Deaf perspective, or I-hate-CI spin on it. However, you’ve managed to tell your story and what you think without using any of those tones, and you’ve done it with a relatively low level of bias. Great job.
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September 24th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Rachel,
As a Deaf person who uses ASL, I used to feel the same way about C.I.’s as you did, and I also changed my mind, the way you did.
I’d like to keep this short and non-controversial, but I thank you for taking the guts to talk about this so openly and positively.
Every word you said in your above post makes complete sense, and I’ve shared this page with lots of my other Deaf friends who also use ASL as their primary language.
I do not have the C.I., but more and more of my Deaf friends have been getting them.
I am currently building a website JUST SPECIFICALLY for parents of Deaf children, and totally plan on debunking lots of ‘old wives tales’ and stereotypes, like you do so well.
Communication comes FIRST!
I LOVE the part that you said that speech is NOT a language, but it’s an option to carry a language.
As a person AND as a person who is Deaf, I’d like to THANK YOU very, VERY much.
With peace and respect,
AV
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October 2nd, 2011 at 12:44 pm
W O W. I loved your blog post. Yes, yes, yes, I agree all the way. I’m new here, a friend shared this with me.
I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea of cochlear implants but I always believed it should be the individual’s choice and not a choice other people make for the individual. Like another comment above, I praise you for your guts to share.. exactly what I also think about pricelessness of ASL and using cochlear implants as a tool. Hallelujah!
I am a Deaf mom of three children- Deaf nearly-7 year old boy, hearing 5 year old daughter, and Deafblind 14 month old son. The oldest 2 are signers, my youngest one, since he cannot see signs at all, we use touch cues that we are working on transitioning to tactile signs. We’ve used our own touch cue for “Milk” since our son was hours old in the hospital. I’m all for readily accessbile language FIRST!
Also, our youngest recently had his CI activated 2 weeks ago for access to the sounds of his environment… he doesn’t have a ‘distance sense’ (sound, sight) so this will give him more information, for example, dogs barking, car horn beeping, laughter, siren, etc. (Not to be misunderstood with understanding spoken language by sound.)
Again, excellent post!
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October 7th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Hi Rachel,
I am not a mom of a HI child but I do take care of a 9 yr old with Down Syndrome, hearing impairment and a slew of serious medical problems. Her mom thinks that she functions at the level of a 3-4 yr old intellectually. I read about the ST DVD and mentioned it to her mom as something I thought she would enjoy. They are so overwhelmed at her house that I know she won’t look for them. I tried to find them at the local library as I am not allowed to buy stuff for clients. Do you have any suggestions?
I have a funny story to tell. When my daughter was about 7, she decided to learn sign language. After a few weeks it was apparent what her motivation was…to ‘talk’ to me during church when she needed to be quiet. I must have looked like a terrible mother who didn’t learn to communicate with their deaf child as I told her to stop signing and just talk.
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Angela Reply:
October 7th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Cathy,
I don’t know where you live but where I live (SoCal) they show ST on PBS and we record them with our DVR. I don’t know if this family has one, but it’s been great for us since we cannot afford them right now.
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Jessica Reply:
January 14th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Cathy,
Another option that may be available to you is your local ESD. Our ESD has a loaning library for parents whose children have come in to meet with the speech language pathologist. It’s where I was first introduced to the Signing Time story and series. I’ve since gotten every DVD, most CD’s, and most recently … POTTY TIME!
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October 12th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
My sister’s son has MECP2 duplication syndrome and because of that, even though he is the same age as my son, he is really only at a 2 year old level (instead of 1st grade). I remember when she was frustrated/sad that he couldn’t sign as his fine motor skills are affected by his lack of muscle tone. I had learned something during my education classes and while teaching: speech “spoken” by mouth or signed is a motor skill. Speech as understood is a cognitive skill. No matter what you do, there is some motor skill involved, but the cognitive is what is most important. Give your child a way to communicate and respond, no matter what that is. My sister was so frustrated that she thought her son was even more cognitively impaired than previously diagnosed. I told her this tidbit and then asked her if when she signed something or said it, did he respond? She said yes, he did. Then I told her not to worry so much, the rest of it would come some day at one level or another, but at least he knew she understood him and vice versa. Open those doors of communication however you can!
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October 19th, 2011 at 6:12 am
What an interesting discussion! I am an interpreter for the Deaf and where I have no deaf children, my kids often classify themselves as Deaf. For those of you who aren’t aware, deaf means they can’t hear, Deaf means they are immersed in and part of Deaf culture. My 14 yo son, as hearing as hearing can be, when sad, frustrated or tired, chooses to communicate in ASL. My daughter, when too embarrassed to verbally tell us what she did that got her in trouble at school, signed it to us with clarity. My 16mo son refuses to speak–he prefers ASL and is up to 3 and 4 sign sentences. (I want milk please.)
My family LOVES it, my in-laws LOATHE! it. Where I appreciate the support and am annoyed at the disgust, it really wouldn’t effect who we are. ASL is an amazing tool. It uses different neurological pathways than spoken languages and helps children and adults create stronger, healthier brains. Anyone telling you differently is completely clueless. It’s horrifying to know that there are Dr’s out there that encourage ANYONE to stop signing.
No matter what language is used primarily in your home, if you have a child that is going to have difficulties communicating, ASL should be the first thing you start learning. Understanding why your child is the way they are isn’t going to help you communicate with them any better–especially not RIGHT NOW! And communication is the one thing that every child yearns for.
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October 26th, 2011 at 9:50 am
I’m not big on CI but I’ll be objective here. I commend Rachel for being honest with herself on this issue. Many on both sides aren’t wiling to be honest with themselves whenever they have changing feelings about subsets (parts such as agreeing that CI can be used within ASL / Bilingualism) of this issue even if not altogether switching sides on this. Honesty is all that matters.
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October 26th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
I do not have a deaf child but my child needs to be able to communicate with his father who is deaf. My son has excelled thus far (he is only 2) at signing and understanding what we are signing to him. Life has not been as frustrating for us as I have witnessed with other parents who do not have an early LANGUAGE. Therefore, I really value American sign language and I value your thoughts and insights here, Rachel. I have told my husband that IF we had a deaf child that I would not pursue the CI option. However, after reading your post, I might give him/her that option should they ask.
Thank you for your advocacy and support of early language!
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October 27th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Hi
I read this story and I think what you did was amazing. I am profoundly deaf, have been since a year old. My mom tried to get me a cochlear implant when I was young but I wasn’t ready for it apparently. My mom had friends whose children were deaf and they met some girls who did sign language .my mom and her friends refuse to learn sign because they thought it would delay us. As I grew up my mom decided to take me to sign classes and I thought it was great. I got my ci at 15 years old and it opened up a new world for me. I attended deaf camp and saw all these kids who signed and I wanted to do that. So I started learning sign language and I can communicate in both the deaf and hearing world plus I work with deaf blind and sign is very handy.
I admire you for teaching your child sign language and wished my mom did that for me. She taught me how to talk and speech but sign would have been beneficial to me too.
Thank you for sharing your story!
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October 27th, 2011 at 10:19 am
Having spent my entire life around my deaf family and friends, it means a lot to me to encourage those who can qualify for hearing help to do so. I have experienced many joys when fitting hearing aids on the first time user.
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October 27th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Regarding the benefits of teaching ALL children sign from infancy: like my hubby & me, a friend of mine & her hubby have taught their children sign language from infancy. Recently it has proved to be profoundly beneficial to their family as they have discovered one of their children (3yr) is on the autism spectrum.
His mind processes too quickly and he can’t form/find the ORAL words to communincate, which makes him very frustrated & upset; however, he’s able to SIGN to communicate with ease. You can imagine the amount of frustration this reduces for him (& his family/friends/therapists) as he’s able to communicate his needs/wants, feelings, etc.
He’s gone through a stage of regression, and if he hadn’t already learned sign, they’d be having a more difficult time teaching it to him in the stage he’s currently in, so they’re very glad they’d already begun teaching him sign before they were even aware there were any issues. I hope more parents continue to teach their children sign language from infancy – regardless of their situation.
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October 29th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
THANK YOU! As a single mother of 8 month old twins I started your signing videos to help ease the frustration of what the three of us were sure to feel during toddlerhood. It worked. My babies ASL vocabulary began growing and it truly brought us closer to be able to communicate and gave them confidence to feel heard/understood. At 15 months my daughter was diagnosed with cancer. The number of signs she acquired grew quickly I think out of necessity. It was heartbreaking to see her in my rear view mirror signing what I thought was “cracker” and then soon realized was “gentle” on our way back to the hospital. It was funny to watch her tell the doctors and nurses to wash their hands. She only had 5 spoken words going in to chemo and stopped talking all togetherShe only had 5 spoken words going in to chemo and stopped talking all together. She received 6 doses of an ototoxic drug and has at this point only moderate hearing loss. We will continue to monitor. After her 5th chemo cycle she started talking again. 4 months since her diagnosis she has over 52 signs and 50 some spoken words(as does her twin brother). We are grateful to be learning speech through the help of a local clinic program and ASL from a school district teacher. No matter what she can or can’t hear or say my daughter, son, and I will continue to learn signing. We are now part of a community of same aged children and parents who have a variety of hearing loss. Many just aided and many with cochlear implants. I want to give us every opportunity to communicate with anyone we come across in any situation. She got her hearing aids 3 days ago and is to my surprise wearing them and liking them! One more dose of chemo next week and we are done with treatment. Her tumor was completely resected and her prognosis is good. Thank you for helping us get through this!
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October 30th, 2011 at 11:48 am
My daughter, Sloane (‘red’ at the last Seattle show), was born with a profound hearing loss (diagnosed at 8weeks). I had already been planning on using baby sign, so it wasn’t a language barrier for us. I sobbed for months, mourning her loss, her being different than her family. Until one day I started asking if she had been born with different colored eyes would I want to change that?
She got hearing aids around 4 months old. She didn’t mind wearing them, and started asking for them before she could walk! By a year we were already discussing CI, I vehemently stood opposed to them. She was signing, she could kind of hear ‘danger’ noises (her name, a car horn, etc). Her dad was all about them and he had the support of our entire families. It took a solid 5 months of convincing. I really had to look at her personality(she’s super outgoing and social), and how much joy she did get out of the few sounds she could hear.
Our conclusion/compromise was that:
-we would still learn/continue to sign
-she would still have an interpreter (when she starts school)
-she will never be forced to wear them
-if family members want to be around they will learn to communicate with her, she does not need to accommodate the adults
Her implants were activated 9months ago. She astonishes me everyday, in the way that she progresses both verbally and in signing. I did not put all my eggs in the CI basket. I want her to have a Deaf identity. I want ASL to be her primary language. I think she may have a different plan, and we’re okay with that.
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November 7th, 2011 at 11:04 am
Hi Rachel,
My granddaughter lives with me. She is 7 reading on grade level and writing well. Her english is very good. She became profoundly deaf this past summer, she wears 1 h/a the other ear is nonfunctioning and she uses an FM system in school & home. Still she is begining to struggle with new words and sounds.We too were advised against “sign language” b/c no one else knows it, it is a dead language and who would she “talk to”?
That does not make sense!!!So here we are AMA!! B/c of h/h I had also stopped reading to her this was our nightly routine, Parents this is a mistake, they learn even if they do not hear! Actions speak louder than words!! We have sought out Deaf and Signing Groups. I take every opportunity to bring her to h/i functions. (Do Not Tell Her ENT) We have been having so much fun on this journey once I got past the heartbreak of it all. Because of her age what video would you recommed we start with?
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Debra, it depends on her signing level. You want the Signing Time series for sure (not Baby Signing Time) Our DVDs are created to build on the previous vocabulary and they also do perfectly well standing alone. For example, if you are going to the Zoo, pick up The Zoo Train. If you want signs for waking up, getting dressed and your daily routine, pick up My Day. We have 26 options for you:) visit www.signingtime.com and keep signing!
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November 7th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Rachel; Amen! Thank you for putting it into words so clearly!
Purplewowies; I love that little girl crazily signing popcorn!
NAK, Theresa
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November 7th, 2011 at 12:14 pm
I’m Leah’s Grandmother. Nothing has touched me so deeply and immediately as the first phone call I received from Leah. “Hi Grandma, this is Leah and I can hear you now, I love you”. I was instantly choked up with tears spilling from my eyes when I heard her. I couldn’t speak (she probably thought that I was now deaf)… I knew sign language but didn’t see Leah often enough to practice…so our ‘talks’ together were slow. I still use sign with her as I speak, but she’s so far beyond me in comprehension that it’s crazy. I just love that girl, with or without hearing. Not everyone knows how gifted she is, truly remarkable.
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November 7th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Rachel, I love your two cents. I am deaf (and have a daughter with Down syndrome), and I often find the “fix it” mentality dispiriting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I loved the video of Leah drumming too – I also drum (taiko)! Nd have you heard of that famous deaf drummer – a woman – Grrrr, I can’t remember her name….?!!
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November 7th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Meriah (and Rachel),
Her name is Evelyn Glennie. My husband is a percussionist and has had the opportunity to perform with her. She is an amazing lady! There’s also a documentary about her called Touch the Sound.
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November 16th, 2011 at 12:36 am
Rachel,
I just discovered your blog after using your baby signing time with my 10 1/2 month old daughter (who is in love with your dvd’s and can sign “all done” “milk” and “more” already). I took several university courses on deafness taught by a deaf professor. One course was on deaf culture and how amongst their community cochlear implants are discouraged for the reasons you specified at the beginning. I think if people followed your lead and taught sign first rather than tried to mold their deaf child to their hearing world then people wouldn’t be so upset with the idea. I completely agree, it’s a tool not a solution. I’m so impressed with all the strength you and your family have and what a gift you have given children and infants with your products. Thank you for being such an inspiration.
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November 16th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Hi Rachel,
My name is Sean and I’m a filmmaker in Chicago currently producing a documentary about this very topic. I would love to talk to you and share your story. Please contact me at seanadibs@yahoo.com and I can tell you more about the film. Thank you
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November 17th, 2011 at 5:30 am
Granted that artificial aids are not like the real thing, however it does provide a measure of satisfaction in lieu of “doing nothing.” I remember a deaf man 60 years of age living in a nursing home here in Texas. No one ever took the time to teach him sign language. Then he became blind – how devastating that must have been to him. My aunt who was crippled by some kind of disease could not walk nor talk from the age of 2. But she was a joyful woman to be around. She spent 70% of her life in bed in a nursing home. She lived to be in her 80′s. Communication was the only thing that kept her going. She could hear but preferred ASL Sign Language. I miss her so.
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November 19th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Hi Rachel, I love what you said here. I am a mom of a child with apraxia, a severe speech delay. We used sign when he was small, he had no speech till long after he was 3, probably 4, maybe even 5. He is 8 now, and his language skills are more progressed than his singing skills. The only reason is that we didn’t fit into the deaf world. I so wish we had. I didn’t know how to teach my son fluent asl. We didn’t fit, didn’t have an audience, as he was hearing, we were in the hearing world, not the deaf world. But he could not interact with the hearing world. Enter signs, but the audience wasn’t there, outside our home. My son now is learning language, he has learned his speech first, it is still lacking, but better, and functional in some ways, he can tell me what he wants, but not what he feels. He has not had “it all” like Leah. He has unfortunately had much less than I ever wanted to give him. I didn’t have the tools to give him what he so needed. So now, he is struggling to learn the language pieces, the tenses, the word order to make his fledgling words actually make sense in the larger picture. It is so hard. I am glad you have been able to give your daughter what she needed. I wish I could have done, could do the same thing.
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November 19th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
Talk about somebody that was prejudice about deafness. My father and I were rather belligerent when anyone suggested we get some kind of hearing help for our deaf family. It was not until I started dispensing hearing aids that I fully realized what was missing in the life’s of those who could have corrective hearing, be it with hearing aids or cochlear implants. When my sister first attended the Texas School for the Deaf at Austin, Texas, they wanted to put hearing aids on her. NO NO NO was our answer. Oh if only I could go back to those early years. I am a total believer in “total healthcare” now in any fashion, shape or form. After dispensing hearing aids for 40 years, I realized what a change could be made in the lifestyle of those who could benefit from hearing help. GO FOR IT! IS MY CRY NOW! – GO FOR IT!
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November 24th, 2011 at 11:22 am
Hi Rachel,
. In February 2010, our daughter had CI surgery. That didn’t go well (ossified bone), but after a second try in March, they were able to do a split array. My daughter has done very well with new sounds and is chatting up a storm! But she is also signing nonstop! I think we have a chatterbox in both languages. And we will NEVER stop signing. We love the beach and swimming, and signing works perfectly there. On Monday we will talk with the surgeon about a possible second ear surgery. She goes to Kindergarten in 2012, and I want everything for her…ASL, SEE, English…and yet it does scare me, this next step.
Where to begin? We adopted our daughter from China in 2009 (she was 2; now she is 4 and a half), and it wasn’t until we brought her home to Canada that we discovered she was Deaf. I immediately went into research mode because I am a teacher, and needed to find resources. Your signing videos saved me. Saved us, taught us, entertained us, made us feel normal, helped us teach our family and friends to sign. There was never a question in my mind as to whether or not to learn sign. The question was, “How fast can we learn/ teach signs so we can find out what’s going on in my girls’ brain?” It was absolutely essential to begin communicating ASAP in order to bond and get to know our new daughter. Fortunately our large extended family also began to pick up signs, even my Mom who has arthritic hands
Anyway, my point to make to you, Rachel, is that your products, your DVDs, you, your story, has impacted my family hugely. Thank you.
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November 30th, 2011 at 1:28 am
Our daughter lost her hearing at 5 months (due to meningitis) and was bilaterally implanted at 8 months. When she was about two her therapist gave me a Signing Time DVD that completely changed our lives. It opened the world of total communication with her and caused me to seriously look at all ways to communicate with her. Sign is the key to communication with our daughter. Our oldest son has been studying ASL and actively interpreting in different ministries through his college and various churches. Grace is 6 1/2 now, she is still working on her expressive and receptive language. Because her sister and brothers (five of them), grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, even some in our church have all learned sign ( at various levels of course) so they can communicate with her, it has not only enriched our lives but those who would not otherwise have considered learning a second language or think about deaf people in general. Thank you for your heart, not just for your own children, but for our children as well.
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November 30th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I love this post and the discussion. I’ve been considering an implant and went to a meeting recently where there was a group of people who had the procedure done. Only 1 was unhappy with the result. I’m still waiting for technology to come along a little further before I make my decision. I was told, however, by one member that she decided to only have 1 ear done. She said that one night there was a fire drill in her retirement community. She heard nothing from the ear that had been implanted because she was in bed asleep. But her other ear heard “something” and she tried to find the source of what it was. She said if it had been a real fire, she may not have been alerted. So, for her, she is not having the other ear implanted at the moment. The consensus of the majority I talked to with the implants encouraged me to “go for it”. I think I want to wait a bit longer for the technology to advance before I have this done. Ideally, I would prefer they not cut the auditory nerve at all. That is my hesitation because I do have some “sense” of hearing. I just don’t know what I’m hearing when I hear it these days.
How confusing is that?
Rachel, good luck in Ghana, and I love how you continue to educate and enrich the lives of so many of us.
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Miss Kat's Mom Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 8:59 pm
They don’t cut the auditory nerve in cochlear implant surgery. The cause of the possible loss of residual hearing is from damage done to the hair cells inside the cochlea when the electrode is inserted. An intact auditory nerve is necessary to get benefit from a cochlear implant.
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November 30th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
I am 100% on board with what you are saying here. I may not be deaf but with my very limited contact with deaf individuals I’ve found that the deaf community is very proud of being deaf, and I feel that that is a great thing for the community and the deaf culture. By having your child receive cochlear implants before they can decide is unfair to the child. They should have the option to pick what they want once they have experienced the deaf culture and life. They may want the implant or not, I think it should be up to them. Again, I may not be deaf but that is just my point of view and the things I have noticed in the deaf culture.
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December 1st, 2011 at 8:17 am
Rachel, this is such a wonderful article! And it is SO very important that other parents see it… as many as possible. We would LOVE to repost this on DeafEcho.com (please check us out) and put the article on our Deaf Echo Parent Page (which includes a link to a Facebook page). If you don’t mind a re-posting, please do email us at the address provided, and let us know if it’s okay to repost with a link back to this site.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WRITING THIS! THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
-Deaf Echo Editors
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December 1st, 2011 at 9:25 am
Gosh, we need to get more parents to read this. Parents need to realize the importance of being able to communicate with their own children. It baffles me that some of parents would choose their kids to be able to speak few words over a complete convesation. Sign language is the essential key for d/hh children to be able to learn and expand their communication skills, including the ability to speak… Only a very small percentage of d/hh managed to learn to speak without sign language. Really, we would have had more d/hh people with ability to speak today if we all started with sign language.
CI or not, we should be trying to encourage our children to the maximum of their potentials. Not all of d/hh would be able to speak but if one shows that skill then maximum that skill to its potential. CI may help but unfortuately it’s not always the case like you mentioned– especially with audiologists & doctors giving odd advices and without realizing that it may servely impact negatively in their lives. It amazes that they would often forget that they are still innocent children.. A part of my experience were similar as yours when doctor told my parent to not use sign language which it was only thing we used to communicate. My mother explained this to doctor & he still insist to us to stop to see the results. Finally, at one point my mother asked if he had any children of his own and whether he could take out their current form of communication for several weeks/months to see certain results, etc. He responded that he wouldn’t. At that point, she told him that she wasn’t going to raise a child like a parrot and we all walked out.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
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Miss Kat's Mom Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 6:43 pm
The idea that only a small percentage of deaf and hard of hearing kids can use spoken language is a huge myth. The vast majority of children with a hearing loss do not use sign.
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Earline Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Miss Kat’s Mom,
You speak with a tone of authority. I wonder where you get it? What studies have you read? What statistics do you site with your statement? I would be interested to see some data to back up your statement.
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Miss Kat's Mom Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Gallaudet released a study that reviewed communication methods for deaf students across the US. It backed up my statement.
Earline Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Miss Kat’s Mom, I tried to look up the study, but could not find it. Do you have a link? Still very interested in this. Thanks ahead of time.
Bryce Reply:
December 1st, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Thank you for pointing that out and yes you are right. I wasn’t clear on that part, what I meant was that there would be more d/hh people having the ability to speak fluently as if they could carry a near complete conversation. It really doesn’t make someone to be qualified enough if they could speak 15-20 words to be considered as someone who could talk.
There’s definitely a lot of d/hh capable of doing that but for having the ability to speak more than few words, there aren’t that many out there.
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Miss Kat's Mom Reply:
December 2nd, 2011 at 10:04 pm
I’m not talking about a few words. I am talking about using spoken language as their method of communication. Only a small minority of deaf children use ASL.
Heather "Hex" Withrow Reply:
December 2nd, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Can you get the title and date of that research release? I am very interested in seeing that.
We have to keep in mind the range of ‘hearing loss’: mild, moderate, severe, profound. ASL is just one part of sign language… there’s SEE, PSE, home signs, etc. Also, how does one determine a child is proficient with spoken language? Do they need to be proficient in both receptive and expressive English or just expressive? (I’m sure the research results will explain that when I read it.) I personally know those of us who speak well but can’t get what the other hearing person is speaking.
In case some of you don’t know, today with video relay services, there is also a way to use VCO (voice carry-over). The deaf person speaks, yet requires an interpreter to sign what the hearing caller is saying.
Forgive me if I went off on a tangent here; my point is that sign language is still much needed even by Deaf/HH speakers. Don’t wait til the kid is 6, 7, or 8 years old and say, “Ohh, OK, he doesn’t entirely understand spoken language after all, let’s start using sign language.” Starting sign language at infancy works as a beautiful language safety net. Just like Rachel Coleman’s doing ‘planting language seeds’ with the Signing Times DVDs!
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Miss Kat's Mom Reply:
December 3rd, 2011 at 9:58 pm
A responsible parent and educators would absolutely be tracking receptive as well as expressive language. A child would need to be making at least 6 months worth of gain, every 6 months, in order to “close the gap”. I don’t believe that anyone in oral deaf education (parents who choose it, or professionals who work in it) EVER advocate for continuing on a path that is not helping a child blossom. I know that my child’s school refers parents to sign language because they do sometimes see children who are not making appropriate progress or do not have the skills needed to be an auditory oral learner. It is not the majority, but it happens. They do NOT allow a child to continue until “6, 7, or 8″ and not be able to use the language.
Heather "Hex" Withrow Reply:
December 4th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Miss Kat’s Mom: I’m glad it is working perfectly at your child’s school. Unfortunately it’s not happening everywhere.
A lot of us have a hard time finding the ideal setting, teachers, support providers; continue evaluate and re-evaluate and continue to learn the importance of the IEP. There’s always something just not right, even if it’s not a language issue.
Adult D/HH speakers continue to come out of the woodwork saying sign language is awesome and some even said they wish they knew years and years ago.
What can we do about it? My recommendation is continue with the ‘language safety net’ of teaching sign language starting at infancy. Why, even babies and children with perfect hearing are learning sign language. Barnes and Nobles has plenty of shelf space for books on sign language. I recently had a parent come up to my hearing daughter saying it’s cool she knows two languages. It’s FUN! It’s healthy!
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December 1st, 2011 at 6:41 pm
I am also a parent of a deaf child. When we discovered my daughter’s hearing loss and began to sign, we felt the same way about implants. At the time my daughter was not a candidate, so I sat on my soapbox and judged all the “CI parents”. Didn’t they know that deaf kids NEED ASL! Their kids are going to grow up and hate them because they didn’t sign….Well, things change!
My daughter’s hearing loss progressed to the point that hearing aids were of no use to her. We decided to look into a CI when she started being upset when she could no longer hear things she had heard before. We had some opposition when we wanted an implant because she was in an ASL school, and she solely communicated through ASL. We won the battle and my daughter was activated at 5 years old.
While I agree with Rachel that “speech is a skill”, speech is not the “end goal” of a cochlear implant in conjunction with a spoken language education. The goal is fluent English. Speech is articulation, the language is English. Speech can be improved at any time, but language acquisition must be in those early years, and if a parent want the native language to be acquired to be English, early implantation is probably essential.
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December 1st, 2011 at 9:05 pm
For one no matter what the point of view you all have I am glad I am learning all points of view. I only have an adult deaf cousin no one whom I must make a choice for. But I am being eductated by reading all of these posts. I was so embarrassed when I made the blunder of asking a little girl with hearing aids in both ears if she signed! I asked because I was and still am learning ASL. I was petrified at the little girls response of no because I made her feel uncomfortable as though she should know but didn’t. My level of ignorance on the subject was so embarrassing! I just figured it was only natural he also used english because her speech was of a deaf person …so no more assuming anything! Any thoughts…? No rude comments please.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:35 am
Patricia, I don’t think it’s a blunder to ask a child with hearing aids if they sign. I ask children with CIs if they sign. My sister-in-law met a deaf boy in high school. She noticed his hearing aids and was so excited to sign with him, because she knew some ASL. He was offended when she signed to him and he said, “I’m Deaf! I’m not stupid!” I think she has been scarred ever since. The bigger issue in that story is that somewhere somehow that boy equated signing with a lack of intelligence and THAT in my opinion is a worse blunder than yours or my sister-in-law’s.
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December 1st, 2011 at 9:17 pm
I love the way you explained things Rachel. I am a deaf mother of two hearing children. I am going to share this very blog post with my friends because it explains so well why its okay to get a cochlear implant. Although I don’t agree with babies getting them, I love the free agency they can have when they are older. I love how you explained that speech is a skill. It really is. I grew up orally and never used sign language until I was 24. If I could go back and change things (and I will never regret the way my parents brought me up for this was all they knew), I would do total communication. In some cases that is not helpful but in many it would be. I am grateful for your videos, my daughters love them and learn alot from them. I still have yet to own them all but hope to someday. Thank you for your inspiration to be a better mom. You truly are a great example to others.
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December 2nd, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Truly inspiring! This is what National Association of the Deaf has been advocating for all along … the ability to understand and be understood. You did the right right for Leah, her right to be her own person. Leah is lucky to have you as a mother.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:32 am
Thank you Bobbie. I wouldn’t wish our journey and the fears and anguish and tears on anyone, though I do wish that every parent of a deaf child and every deaf chid is happy, fulfilled and surrounded by people and programs that can truly support them.
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December 5th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
When it comes to communication, there is nothing more important. Communication is what relationships are all about.
Though the debate goes on in regards to children and cochlear implants, we don’t want to miss the point of what is at the heart. Communicating.
Each of us has different situations and views on this topic, but we must respect one another’s views despite any disagreement. I think we, as a society are too quick to jump to extreme terms like “child abuse”, etc. in regards to this issue.
However, with programs like Signing Time more and more day care centers and schools are teaching Sign Language to children at an early age, as well as so many parents using sign with their infants. I see children coming into our preschool now already signing. We want to communicate with our children by any means we can. Even with implants, Sign Language is needed because there are times when the implant is turned off. Or there may be technical failure.
Here is an interesting book with more on the topic of cochlear implants and children
aslci.blogspot.com/2011/12/deaf-community-and-cochlear-implants.html
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December 5th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
My 26 yr old Deaf daughter is named Rachel, too! Great name! Our Rachel was born profoundly Deaf. CIs were in their infancy at that time. We tried hearing aids for about 2 yrs but her acquisition of English was just not happening. About her 5th birthday we placed her in the Indiana School for the Deaf – a premiere bilingual/bicultural state school. There she was taught ASL as her primary language and English as a second language. She thrived educationally. She devours books. She acquired very good spoken English skills. Plus, and this is a HUGE plus, she is a full member of a silent world – a Deaf culture – which she cherishes. Where she always belongs. Where she is always at home. I believe the stand you have put forth is exactly correct. CI is a tool, not a society or a culture. It makes a deaf person a HOH person. A CI does not separate one from the Deaf culture, unless the child is denied access to the one language that was specifically designed for him/her – ASL. Sign language will open doors her CI never will.
Signed, Marshall Lawrence, Executive Producer
Dr. Wonder’s Workshop
Children’s ASL TV series
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December 20th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Rachel,
Do you know what type of hearing loss Rachel has? My son has been diagnosed with X-linked deafness and we’ve been told that a CI won’t necessarily help him because of the type of loss. I’d love to find someone to who’s child has had the CI with this type of loss if you know of anyone that would be willing to talk.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:25 am
Leah has a bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. They used to believe that CIs wouldn’t help children with auditory neuropathy, but that view has changed in the past 9 years as well. Keep searching. Contact the CI companies directly and check in with ENTs to see if they know of anyone who has successfully been implanted who is dealing with the same thing as your child
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January 2nd, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Rachel,
I just wanted to thank you for this blog. My daughter isn’t deaf, but she has a rare (Rare as in, we can’t find any other child with her similar diagnoses) with chromosome disorder and cleft lip and palate, ect,ect… As soon as one of her Dr’s told me she would never talk or understand language (and a bunch of other horrible things that I stopped listening too!)
I started sign language with her. My family and my husband’s family fought me tooth and nail saying it would delay her even more. She made her first sign at 7 months-now she is 3 1/2 and the whole family signs with her. She even teaches her sister, cousins and class mates!
But what I’m writing to tell you is thank you for #3 in this post. I’d never had anyone other than my husband express the opinion that ‘speech’ is a skill. Her speech therapist and all the professionals are stressing because she’s only saying ‘Mama’ and ‘Ice’ -for ice cream. To be honest I felt like a bad Mama because I just wasn’t that concerned that she wasn’t saying more verbally. She’s telling me stories about her day, expressing needs and wants, and emotions and love and all the things a 3 year old needs to express and with a better vocab than her peers-it’s just not in plain verbal english! What was there for me to be worried about? But after reading your blog I feel like I just had someone back me up a little! Thank you so much for writing that and posting it somewhere where I would stumble across it! Obviously we will never brush off her being verbal. But I have someone besides me and my husband who says speech doesn’t = language comprehension! Thank you for that little boost! And thank you for all the work you do, it’s been truly a wonderful experience teaching our children with the assistance of the Signing Time program and watching them teach others!
Thank you so much!
-Marie Mama to Miss Morgan-Marie,Jessica and Charlie-250 signs and counting!
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:29 am
You are so welcome! I have joked that “Speech Is A Skill” will be on my headstone someday. I think it is very important for parents to understand it and even more important to address the unsubstantiated “fear of signing” – Signing does detract from any process you choose. In my opinion, all children should sign, even the hearing ones.
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January 2nd, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Wow! I find it very interesting that I stumbled on this stite. Really it’s fate. My son is deaf and nearly 10. He has decided on his own to be verbal…….never stops talking little guy. I was and still am a supporter for all avenues to communicate with my kids. With your fun songs we started our signing journey. A few months ago the residual hearing my guy had is almost gone. Since we covered ourselves and were open about all ways to communicate we are finally looking at the “c” word. I’m starting to get over the shock. Looks like you have appeared again when I needed you…and you don’t even know who we are. Great to see how yoour family is doing. ps Throughout this journey I went back to school to work with our beautiful “special” kiddos. Blessings
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:27 am
Amy, there are still days that I can’t believe that Leah has a CI. I was SO against it. I don’t think it is the right choice for every deaf child or for every family. It’s not a quick fix. It’s still a very emotional issue for me and I feel very protective of Leah. I don’t think our way is “the right way” for everyone, but it worked out great for our family. Best of luck to you!
~R
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February 16th, 2012 at 9:16 am
Rachel,
Thank you for sharing “Baby Signing Time,” and “Signing Time,” with the world. Our 18 month old son, Ethan, was born with a peroxisomal biogenesis disorder-zellweger spectrum. PBDs are rare, terminal, metabolic disorders that impact every major system.
Ethan is considered deafblind, and has had hearing aids since he was 4 months old. Hearing loss with PBD is progressive, and children typically loose all hearing by the time they are 3 years old. At that time the majority of children will be implanted. If/when we get to that point, we know that we will choose that for Ethan. For us, being able to give the gift of sound to our son who also has vision issues as well as physical and cognitive delays seems the only resonable choice.
With that being said, we began signing with Ethan, from the moment that we found out about his diagnosis, and we will continue to sign with him in order to give him the most possible options for communitcation. We are also beginning the precursers for PECs as well. For us communication, not speech is what we pray for with our son.
Ethan is 18 months old and is able to sign, “eat” and “more.” While we would love it if he had more signs, we are thrilled that he has at least these two so far and we continue to model signs for him on a daily basis.
I pray for a day that Ethan may be able to sign, “mom” and “dad.”
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February 22nd, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Rachel- This was such a great post; I’m glad someone has taken the time to push past the panic incited by medical professionals and look at the logic of the situation. The idea that “language does not delay language” is so important and yet so often overlooked. I too am currently working on a blog that provides clear information from all perspectives on issues of d/Deafness, Deaf ed. etc. (redeafined.blogspot.com) but it’s great to see a parent taking control of her child’s success and spreading the word.
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February 29th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
I just received my CI in January of this year. I’ve previously worn hearing aids since I was 3. I just decided it was time to see if the CI would help me as I’m now getting older (44 years old!) and I noticed my comprehension of speech was decreasing. I found myself leaning toward using sign language more & more. The first month of the CI being turned on, they told me to not wear my hearing aid in my other ear – that this would allow my brain to get used to hearing with the CI. I can understand why they told you to not sign after the CI is activated. But that is just cruel if that has been what your daughter has always known and then expect her to be able to understand speech that quickly with the CI. I’m glad it’s working for your daughter. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my CI!!!
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February 29th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I am a Deaf and visually impaired individual. I wore hearing aids since the age of 4. Prior to that, no language or communication whatosoever as my hearing loss was not discovered during the first 4 years of my life. I lost my hearing in one ear so I stopped wearing a hearing aid in that ear but continued wearing a hearing aid on the other ear. I now have a CI on that side that lost hearing. I was mainstreamed in a hard of hearing class and sign language was not permitted. I learned sign language at age 11-12 but really picked it up during my teen years. I eventually went to the state residential school for the deaf as mainstream really failed at the high school level. I was a high achiever in school and the school district failed in their responsibility in providing appropriate education in both sign language and other means of communication.
I am now a vocational rehabilitation counselor working with d/Deaf and hard of hearing individuals. I use all modes of communication. I believe in the concept of having all the tools of communication be utilized for d/Deaf children. The same goes for the non-verbal hearing children.
I want you to know that there is an organization called Alexander Graham Bell (AGB)Association. Historically, this organization has encouraged hearing/speech only for d/Deaf children. Alexander Graham Bell himself said that a d/Deaf person would never meet another d/Deaf person. How wrong he was! The AGB organization to this day still refuses to allow sign language as part of the full communication approach for d/Deaf children. With the advent of CIs, AGB is trying to assert the oral only approach for all d/Deaf children. This organization influences politicians in this area. If your state, school district, or other program is considering the idea of banning sign language (any), tell them no. Sign language is just another means of communication in addition to hearing and speech. Speech, is not language, as this blog has reiterated a number of times.
Kudos to all the parents who do not listen to the so-called “experts” such as the ENT and sometimes educators! Stay strong and always try and do right by your child(ren). Communication is something that can never be taken for granted regardless of the means – English, ASL, other languages.
One last thing, if the audiologist tells a new CI user upon first programming to stop using their hearing aid on the other ear, ignore them. The same goes for sign language. I never stopped wearing my hearing aid even when I was first mapped. The hearing aid is my balance to hearing everything. The only time I do not use the hearing aid is during the actual mapping. I have excellent speech skills for someone with delayed speech due to a very late discovery of my hearing loss. This is due to nearly 10 years of speech therapy during my school years at school. I had no private speech therapy at home or anywhere else. I am profoundly deaf in both ears. I am an ASL user and very happy with the use of both English and ASL. I consider myself Deaf or Deaf-Blind and proud of it. My advice to parents of d/Deaf children to get their hands on all the information they can get and choose the best communication tool and use it every day!
To return to the topic of this blog, ASL, English, SEE, any signed language or spoken language is something to be used by everyone -not just d/Deaf people. The old wives’ tale of sign language should be thrown out with the bath water. I read a book some years ago, “Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign against Sign Language.” I never critcized a book so much until I read this one! I have nothing but contempt for this man, Charles Darwin, for saying that sign language was not a language and that sign language would turn individuals into monkeys. Charles Darwin is mentioned in this book. I highly recommend it for parents and anyone who is interested in learning about this campaign. Thankfully, it is not as strong now. Keep up the fight in having full communication access. Kudos to those who are willing to maintain the belief that inclusion includes sign language.
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March 1st, 2012 at 5:19 am
Leah is lucky to have you as a parent.
You are lucky to have Leah as your daughter.
Rock on!
Lucky
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April 5th, 2012 at 12:55 am
I am so thankful for you! I am so grateful that you used your talents and your life situation to impact this world. Thank you!!
I have three children. My son is 5 and my daughters are 2 and 6 months. I used baby sign language with my first two. I didn’t know about you and your products. I just used a book called Signing Smart with Babies and Toddlers. It was amazing how fast they learned and how much we used the signs to communicate. When my baby was born 6 months ago, we found out that she has bilateral profound hearing loss. She’s deaf. According to all of her tests, she doesn’t hear a thing. We just found out she has Waardenburg Syndrome Type I.
When I found out she was deaf, I cried for about five minutes. My tears were mainly out of concern for her because I thought of all of the times I had tried to use my voice to soothe – like in the car. Once I got over that, I embraced it. She was perfectly made in God’s image and He knit her together and allowed her to be deaf. I consider it an honor and privilege to parent her.
Because we are a hearing family, we have chosen to implant her. We know how critical those first three years are, so we want her to have the opportunity to hear. At first, this seemed like an easy decision, but the longer we’ve been on this journey, the more I ask myself, “Is this right? Should we take away her deafness?”
She’s been in hearing aids since she was 6 weeks old. They aren’t working, of course. We are on target to get her CI’s in May or June. I have been signing with her as much as I know how. Through the Steal Network, I found your Potty Time DVD for my 2 year old. It’s AMAZING!!! We LOVE it so much! About two weeks after purchasing that DVD (and watch) I bought the Baby Signing DVD collection. I just got those yesterday. I want my entire family to know all of the signs and to sign as much as possible. I think we need to sign to each other…not just to Elizabeth, our baby. I think Lizzie will pick up on that incidental language. I would love for all of us to learn ASL because I WILL continuing signing once she is implanted.
The hardest thing for me has been knowing how to communicate effectively with my newborn. Do you have any recommendations? How much should I be signing with her? How do deaf families sign to their deaf babies? I could just cry because I want her to understand language and I feel I’m not equipped right now because I’m not fluent in ASL. I feel like I don’t know what to do right now to really help her. I’ve done everything I can to get her implanted early, but I’m talking about really stimulating her mind. I play with her and treat her just like my other two because I have never believed that anything is wrong with her. She just can’t hear. But even when I’m playing with her, I wonder if I’m getting through. I’ve tried finding toys that light up or at least make a vibration when they make a sound because it seems so many toys are geared toward stimulating our sense of hearing.
I would appreciate any advice you have to offer. I know you are super busy though.
And I wanted to say that I read some of your fitness posts and they really inspired me. I am 34 and feeling totally out of shape. I’m carrying around about 5-10 unnecessary pounds, but my muscles need strengthening…including my heart muscle! It’s so hard finding the time but I MUST do it. Thanks! Thanks so much for blessing us with your talents and your life situation.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
June 22nd, 2012 at 1:24 am
I remember feeling like I was standing in the way of Leah’s language development, because I didn’t know ASL:) Sign with your deaf baby, sign everything you can. When you don’t know a sign, look it up and just keep adding them in. Start from day 1, I know it feels silly, but trust me, those little ones are paying attention, even when you think they aren’t.
Look to see if there is a Signing Time Academy Instructor near you, they can help you with their classes and additional resources.
It sounds like you are doing great and considering all of the options. Some days are tougher than others, hang in there:)
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May 12th, 2012 at 12:28 am
I just finished listening to your interview on Keith Wann’s web radio show. It was moving and now reading this blog with the many stories. I’m moved, touched and inspired.
My grandson was born profoundly deaf with Noonan Syndrome and fortunately for our family we knew within a few days. Mikie has spent every year of his twelve having surgeries until this past year. Noonan Syndrome mostly affects the spine and heart with a bunch of other less life threatening issues. Only 1% are also deaf. Like a few others have written we (Mikie, his mom & I & siblings) are even more delayed with fluent ASL due to the hospitalizations and challenges. Yet, we knew it was The Way for us to communicate. Mikie refused to wear his hearing aids and threw them out the window on the way home from the doctor’s office!
The public schools were not equipped for someone entering kindergarten who didn’t know his alphabet and numbers. The teacher was more concerned about FCAT and stated that she couldn’t possibly teach him and perhaps he would better fit in a class for the mentally challenged. Her supervisor understood his medical history was the only reason for this delay and stated she would have him in her class. Fortunately, I found Blossom Montessori School for the Deaf and the Deaf Literacy Center only 25 miles away. We feel like family. We are very excited that Mikie is well enough to attend Florida School for the Deaf and Blind summer camp this year, too.
From the start like any new grandma I ran out to stores looking for a toy or something that would represent his ‘language to be’. I was shocked that there weren’t sign language toys, stuffed animals, something. So, I have been working on designing my own line of ASL toys. It’s quite the challenge and it is my passion. My tag line is “Sign Language and Toys Go Hand In Hand”. I believe that My Signing Toys are a perfect complement to video and flash cards. Yes, this is a shameless plug.
Thank you all at Two Hands for leading the way and continuing to be the kind of parents that you are for your children and ours.
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June 21st, 2012 at 2:00 am
Too bad your prejudices effectively deprived your daughter of SEVEN YEARS during which she could have enjoyed the sound of music, nature, and the human voice. The neural pathways designed to “learn” and distinguish sounds are optimally developed in the earliest years of a child’s life. You did, after all, make a crucial decision for your child; one that placed her on a significantly delayed timeline in the development of her skills in discriminating sounds, as well as her understanding, interpretation, and vocalization of oral speech. I am NOT condemning you: as parents, we all do our best with the perceptions, biases and information we possess at any given time. My request is this: please consider urging other parents to seriously weigh the benefits of early cochlear surgery. Thank you, and congratulation on your child’s progress.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
June 22nd, 2012 at 1:28 am
Thanks for your comments. I do have to say, it wasn’t my prejudices that “deprived” Leah of hearing, she was simply born deaf and that just happens:) That would be like saying we deprive Lucy of walking, since she was born with spina bifida and cerebral palsy and there is not yet a reliable or appropriate medical discovery that can help her walk.
Honestly, if I had it to do over again, I would make the same choice- the cochlear implant of 1996 was quite different from the cochlear implant of 2004. On the other hand, American Sign Language has held the test of time. That being said, I urge families to sign, and I encourage them to take a look a the technological tools available to them… and my recommendation comes in that order.
As with most things in life, there is no blanket answer and in medicine it’s important to treat the individual not the label.
We do the best we can, we live, we learn… and hopefully we are a little kinder, a little less judgmental, and a little more willing to take a critical look at ourselves, rather than pointing out what we think is another person’s mistake. That’s where real breakthroughs happen, in discovering our own blind-spots in life and that’s exactly what I was sharing here on my post.
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Sharon Reply:
August 8th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
@i. lucia….I’m sorry that you were deprived of learning American Sign Language (ASL) since I consider this one of the most beautiful language. Hearing people who have learned ASL have the best of both worlds and the beauty of expressing oneself, without sound. Yes, there is beauty in not hearing. Do tell us, when you don’t know it; how do you know if you’re missing it.
I hope you’re able to open your eyes…it works both ways.
Sharon
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August 8th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Can your daughter hear spoken language without lipreading like a hearing person can? Your attitude is the right one, just like my mother’s and she was Hearing. With a positive and realistic mentality, all the parents of deaf/hard of hearing children would not be overly anxious/worried and be gripped with a crippling sadness.
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August 8th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Rachel, you are a wonderful role model and inspiration for other parents who need to see and understand why ASL is and should be integral for a newborn or late deafened child. I just don’t understand why some doctors and audiologist just don’t get it…are they stupid or what?? This is why you (and your lucky daughter) succeeded! Keep on talking and telling about it. You ought to publish your writing in magazine(s) so majority of the population will have access to your story.
I am deaf (hard of hearing by definition of audiologist and do not have CI..since I do well with hearing aid).
Sharon
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August 13th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Hello, Rachel -
We’ve never met, but my husband Niel knows you and Leah from years back.
I have always loved your parental philosophy. My mother was a speech language pathologist before I was born, and when I became deaf as an infant, she eventually realized by the time I was two that I needed ASL. Afterwards with a real language, my speech immediately improved, as did my English.
My two hearing sons are huge fans of your DVDs, too. This enthusiasm has also spilled over to their hearing classmates, and the other parents, who eventually bought some of your DVDs after enjoying the ones I loaned them!
I appreciate your two-cents on cochlear implants. I am collecting research documents and perspectives on the benefits of a co-existence between cochlear implants and ASL. I also manage the school newsletter at California School for the Deaf, Riverside. I would be very honored and thrilled if I may kindly get your permission to reprint your blog article? Your message needs to get out there in all possible places.
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Please tell him “Hi!” How great to still have that connection! I’m glad your family loves what we do, that means so much to me. Yes, Neil worked with Leah before we had come up with Signing Time and we were working so hard on language and literacy skills. Yes, you can absolutely reprint this blog. Thank you Erika~
RC
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August 21st, 2012 at 8:10 am
Hello,
We’ve spoken to each other a few times via your website and email. Love this piece. I just began writing on my blog (since June) and am looking for specific blogs to post on the side. My goal here is to share as much as resources as well share my personal stories from the heart. Some are funny, some are sad, and some will only turn off people. So, I’d love to add your blog if that’s alright?
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Rachel Coleman Reply:
August 22nd, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Absolutely! You have my permission. Thank you~
RC
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September 11th, 2012 at 8:40 am
[...] working right, when its too loud, when its too quiet, when settings need to be changed. This blog might help to clear some things up too, from a well known mother to a deaf child, who at the age [...]
November 25th, 2012 at 8:04 am
Many parents with developmentally delayed children who are not speaking are encouraged not to sign as well – it is maddening. Luckily our son (DD and non-verbal until 5.5 years) was referrred to a school for the deaf. There they gave him every possible form of language available – spoken, ASL and pictures. He flourished!
Keep the faith!
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December 23rd, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I recently met a mom of a deaf one year old who is getting a ci. I assumed she was also teaching sign language and I was really surprised that her child’s Dr told her not to. They also said it woukd take a year for the child to learn spoken language once activated, like a hearing babystarting at birth. This means her baby will be without a language until 2. A mom who posted earlier seemed to be okay with this too, preferring to not communicate by sign in addition to getting a CI. whats wrong with seeing the sign for mama at 9 months and then later hearing it at 2 if you choose a ci. Why choose to let your child be deprived of language just so their first words will be spoken? My child is not deaf but was speech delayed due to autism and I found signs and pictures to really help our communication. I believe signing along with therapy fostered his eventual mastery of speech. If the neural network of communication/language isn’t forged as a toddler, won’t that hinder a person? I regret not teaching signs to my neurotypical second child. I think knowing ASL would help his frustration and allow him to communicate better. We do a lot of pointing and guessing:)
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May 13th, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Thank you, thank you Rachel, not only for your wonderful videos, but also for giving me something I can repost to all the people who think that the CI is a magical cure. My daughter Tasha has wispy nerves – her CI doesn`t work. She is 6, has had three years of ASL preschool and one year of ASL kindergarten. She signs beautifully, lipreads, and has taught herself to speak – no speech therapy. People who reject ASL… for ANY reason… are just plain wrong.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzOGT0yqfd4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYN7kGSx45Y
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May 18th, 2013 at 8:01 am
Hello Rahcel, I am an audiologist and would just like to express my happiness at your success with your daughter’s cochlear implant. I commend you for following your instinct with regards to communication mode however, I would just like to comment on your advice stating you wanted to wait for your child to decide herself to get an implant. Although I understand your viewpoint, it has been scientifically proven that the auditory connections in your brain are the most plastic (susceptible to change) until the age of approximately 3 years old, without early access to sound, your brain will stop using its hearing centres for sound and start using them for something else, like vision. The reason why your daughter has been successful with her implant is because her hearing aids provided her with (although very crude) access to sound, without this exposure her brain would not have been able to make the connections necessary for sound to reach the brain with her implant. So I urge parents to speak to professionals before deciding to wait- waiting might mean compromising your child’s ability to hear at a later stage. Also please encourage your children to wear their hearing aids, even though they might not enable them to hear or understand speech very well, they are providing auditory stimulation to the brain which is vital for cochlear implant success.
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June 18th, 2013 at 1:01 pm
I LOVE this post. I think it is obviously wonderful view and beautifully put for signing for those who are deaf and also accepting CI. I am a mother to a child with autism and a teacher to children with autism as well. I try to get the point of communication is so much more than the skill of verbal speech. I would love to plagerize your letter and give it to parents. Though I don’t use sign with my son or students (because of fine motor and imitation issues) I do use picture exchange and it is life changing for all of them.
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