| Thank you for your interest in the Parent’s Page. Here we hope to offer a circle of support to our auditory-verbal families. The parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing on this page would love for you to drop by their personal web pages, or drop them a line via e-mail. Help us make this page a success, stop by and say hello…
Interested in adding your family to our circle? Questions? Please e-mail the webmaster at [email protected] Need to change or delete an existing listing? Please click here. Notes:
Our Auditory-Verbal Families: |
| Rachel (4) Siblings: Lauren (12), Jamie (10) Parents: Lee & Stephanie [email protected] Bethlehem, PA, USA |
Rachel was diagnosed at 16 months old with a severe to profound sensornerual hearing loss in both ears. She has been fitted with hearing aids. She has had them on now for approximately a year. We are currently seeing a Auditory Verbal Therapist and I am planning to mainstream her when the time comes. There has been no diagnosis on why she has this loss. She was born with normal hearing. She is progressing nicely. She absolutely is in love with Barney, dances, copies and even will sing the Barney Song melody , kisses and hugs & all. I just think that AVT is the best approach that there is for someone in Rachel’s position. If there are any parents that would just like to talk, would love to hear from you.
4/00 – Rachel is now enrolled in a church pre-school 2x a week with a sp ed teacher support 1x a week. She is also wearing at school the Phonak MicroLink which she has shown great improvement with it and we are looking to acquire one full time. Rachels’ language continues to deveop, still loves to sing. Another 1 1/2 years she will start kindergarten. I would love to hear from parents who have mainstreamed their children and all the joys and trials that you and your child have gone through. Thanks. |
| Ethan (5) Siblings: Mariah (7), Briana (3) Parents: Monica and Mickey Caudillo [email protected] Hanford, CA, USA |
Ethan was diagnosed with severe to moderate hearing loss at around 1 1/2. He was fitted for aids around 3 months later. At age 2, he attended a UCP center which worked on his auditory and speech skills. Now at age 3, he is enrolled in a special speech therapy program which he attends mon/tue/wed and on thu/fri he attends a regular pre-school to help him assimilate to a more normal classroom environment. |
| Andrew (4) Parents: David & Tammy Sibling: Alexander (2) [email protected] St. Louis, MO, USA 4/00 |
Our son is 2 years old, was diagnosed when he was born and has had good hearing aids without ear infections since he was 6 months old. We have been getting great AV therapy for him in Chicago and with a therapist in Milwaukee. The problem, I feel, is that he is not communicating. His receptive skills are great but he only has about 10 words in his vocabulary. I don’t believe that he is at the level that he should be. Could something else be wrong? His aided audiogram is a flat line at around 25 dB. An audiogram cant be much better than that!! Is it possible that we are dealing with a nerve problem? Any other parents who can comment on their two year olds progress would be appreciated!
4/00 – In August, we moved to St. Louis, MO for our son to attend The Moog Oral School. The school has been very helpful to us as we both felt that he was not getting enough therapy between us and the therapists while living in Milwaukee.
His vocabulary is expanding and he is becoming much more clear in his speech. We are making a point to include him in activities outside of the school with normal hearing children so when we is ready to be mainstreamed it will be easier for him.
If everything turns out the way we would like…he will be ready for mainstreaming by 1st or 2nd grade. |
| Michelle Sibling: Kristan (14) Parents: Karen & Mark Trzecisnki [email protected] Cudahy, WI, USA 4/00 |
Hello, I am 21 years old….I will start my speech theapy after 5 years absent. |
| Timothy (15) Siblings: Jen (18), Shane (12), Juliana (5) Parent: Ceciel Halpern [email protected] Germantown, TN, USA 4/00 |
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| Kyleigh (2) Parents: Michelle [email protected] Aylett, VA, USA 4/00 |
My daughter Kyleigh was diagnosed with a severe sensioneural hearing loss in May 1999. I suspected some type of problem at around 6 months of age because she wasn’t responding to sounds, her name, even loud noises. I questioned her pediatrician about a possible problem but was told that they wouldn’t be able to perform a hearing test at such a young age and that she was probably just enjoying her self and playing that she wasn’t responding. Well, at 9 months old I was even more suspicious so I insisted her pediatrician refer us to a specialist to have a test or something done to curb our suspicions. Needless to say, our worst fear was confirmed. We were told our beautiful baby girl was has a severe hearing loss. She could barely hear at 90db. We tried hearing aids for 6 months, to no avail. So we discussed the possibility of the Cochlear Implant with her audiologists. She was a good candidate and we were definetly interested. After the initial trial period with the hearing aids we finally set a date for the operation, December 10, 1999. It was a VERY scary, emotional day but one we will always look back on and thank GOD that we were given the opportunity to give our daughter an operation so she could hear us. Finally, 6 weeks later, Jan. 18, 2000, Kyleigh was activated. I cannot tell you how excited we were and still are that she can finally hear all the wonderful noises, sounds, voices and such she can hear. We are truly blessed. She has been in Speech Therapy for 7 weeks and already she has learned so much. I can’t wait till the day she says “Mommy”. I am very grateful for the wonderful joy Kyleigh has brought in my life and would be very interested in sharing our experiences with anyone who is interested or anyone who may be going through the same things as we have. Take care all and God Bless you and your family. |
| Emily Gail (6) Parents: Melissa Scott [email protected] 4/00 |
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| Kimberly (3) Siblings: Derrick (13), Brandon (12), Cody (11), Ashley (9), Shannon (6) Parents: Carol and Brian Barnhart [email protected] Massillon, OH, USA 4/00 |
Kimberly was diagnosed with hearing loss after she failed her newborn hearing screening. I was sent a list of doctors who accepted our insurance by the state of Ohio. I picked a doctor from the list right away and called to make an appointment. She was seen a couple of weeks later. She seen this doctor for two years straight before deciding to prescribed her hearing aids. During the two years she was attending speech therapy. She was unable to communicate what she wants. Her speech therapist recommended a special needs pre-school. I am having a hard time getting our school system to evaluate her situation and place her in a school. |
| Kishan Patel (3) Parents: Deepa Patel [email protected] San Jose, CA, USA 4/00 |
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| Jessica (14) Sibling: David (12) Parents: Chris & Kim [email protected] Harrisburg, PA, USA 2/00 |
Jessica has been wearing hearing aids since she was 1.5 years old. In addition to her SNHL she is developmentally delayed and has many other medical conditions. Some of which she has had operations to correct such as scoliosis and kidney reflux. Since her diagnosis we have spent many years in speech/physical/occupational therapies, with little results. When she was originally diagnosed in 1986, CI was not approved for children and we were told she was not a candidate. Once told that, we never pursued the CI avenue. While spending most of her life to this point trying to “fix” her medical problems and trying therapies and various types of hearing aides, sign language etc, we are now actively pursuing the CI option. Our first attempt was the CHOPhiladelphia, she was DENIED. Through this first attempt we have now learned that she has the Mondin deformity. If anyone can help us find a hospital/doctor which is not looking for the ideal candidate for the CI procedure, we would appreciate your help. We truly believe the CI would be of benefit to her, please contact us. |
| Megan Brock (3) Parents: April Brock [email protected] USA 4/00 |
My daughter is three years old and completely deaf since birth. She will be under going the Coclear Implant surgery March 6, 2000. |
| Nicholas (8), Andreas (5) Parents: Bill & Caroline [email protected] christchurch, New Zealand 4/00 |
Our 8 year old boy, Nicholas was diagnosed as deaf at the age of 3. He copes really well socially and academically.
No need to use sign at this stage. He has unfortunately been diagnosed with enlarged vestibular aqueducts which we understand lead to progressive loss ultimately going profoundly deaf. I am curious to know any one else with a child with this syndrome as both my boys have been told they have it.
Andreas is now 5 and we found at at age 4 that he has a loss although minimal. Moderate in the right ear and mild in the left ear. Both boys are mainstreamed. |
| Molly (3) Parents: Rhonda Parker [email protected] 4/00 |
My daughter has Waardenberg Syndrome. |
| Madison (2) Siblings: Molly (6), Jordan (8), Jared (9), Asher (12), Aaron (13) Parents: Caroline Givens [email protected] 4/00 |
Madison was diagnosed with bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss at 12 months. I later found out that she has bilateral mondini’s with enlarged vestibular aqueduct’s. She is to be implanted in April 2000. She has been in A/V therapy since Sept. 1999 with no sign of progress with her aids and or f/m system, but enjoy’s her therapy so much, as she is a great lipreader. Would be interested in hearing from other parents with similar situation and especially those with children with enlarged vestibular aqueduct. |
| Miles Johnson (4) Siblings: Desmond Johnson (6) Parents: Shelley Foster, Colin Johnson [email protected] Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 4/00 |
My little guy was finally diagnosed at 2.5 and just recently we found out that the original diagnosis of a sloping loss was incorrect and that he has a sever to profound loss across all frequencies. We are now awaiting assessment with the Cochlear Implant Team at our local children’s hospital. We are continuing with AV although progress is slow. It is very good for me to learn that I am not alone in my roller coaster ride. Shelley |
| Chanel-Lee (5) Siblings: Michael-Dean (9) Parents: Martin & Freda [email protected] Johannesburg, South Africa 4/00 |
Chanel-Lee contracted pneumococcal meningitis at 6 months of age in May 1995. After this began a 1 year battle with constant ear infections. At the age of 18 months she diagnosed as being profoundly deaf. At 2 years old Chanel-lee was implanted with a N22 cochlea implant. Chanel-Lee is now 5 years and 3 months old. She has a small vocabulary and is saying a few 2 word sentences (her favourite being “shutup Chappie” when her dog Chappie howls at the sound of a motorbike or aeroplane).
I have learned quite a bit and picked up some great tips through a great e-mail support group (CI Circle) and would recommend it for the parent/s of any CI child. |
| Jessie (6) Siblings: Kailee (10), Samantha (2) Parents: Maarten and Sue [email protected] Canada 4/00 |
Jessie has a mondini defect and is losing more of her hearing as she grows older. Please e-mail with any information on this type of hearing loss….info is appreciated |
| Kylie (1) Parents: Sarah [email protected] Brenham, Texas, USA 4/00 |
I am a single mother of a 11 month old girl. I found out Kylie was born profoundly deaf when she was 7 months. We have been working on the sign language thing, but I am looking into teaching her orally. I live in a small town that does not have very many opportunities for a hearing impaired person, so it is hard for me to talk to anyone here. I was just wondering if anyone could share some of their experiences with me. I’m still at that point where I don’t know what to do. I really want my daughter to talk. The only problem I have with her is getting her to wear her hearing aids. She HATES them. As soon as I put them in her ears she rips them out. I hope to hear from someone soon. Thank you, Sarah |
| Jehan J Daboo (3) Parents: Vahishtai J Daboo [email protected] Mumbai, India 4/00 |
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| Jessica (6) Parents: Lynda Coxe [email protected] 4/00 |
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| Arron (7) Sibling: Connor (4) Parents: Jay & Renee Markwell [email protected] Wichita, KS, USA 4/00 |
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| Emily (1) Parents: Jennifer and Jeff [email protected] Long Island, NY, USA 4/00 |
Our daughter Emily has just undergone her first round of audiological testing and it is apparent that she has some degree of hearing loss, though more tests are needed for an accurate diagnosis. We are a bit overwhelmed with all the info and talk of hearing aids and cochlear implants. We would love to hear from anyone who is at this stage or who has already gone through it. There are so many important choices, we want to make informed decisions. |
| Julia (4) Siblings: Brian (11), Krista (7) Parents: Karen & Irek Biernat [email protected] Bristol, CT, USA 2/00 |
Julia lost her hearing as a result of contracting pneumococcal meningitis at the age of 10 months. She received a N24 cochlear implant at the age of 19 months and continues to make a lot of progress with her speech and language. We attend AV Therapy twice a week and Julia attends pre-school five afternoons per week.
I have been involved with the start-up of three separate e-mail support groups. The names of these groups are: the CI Circle–for parents of children with cochlear implants, Meni Moms and Dads–for parents of post-meningitic/deaf children, and CHIN–Connecticut Hearing Impaired Network. Please contact me if you would like info on any of these support groups. |
| Elijah (8) Parent: Aileen [email protected] Urbana, OH, USA 1/00 |
My son is 8 years old.His hearing loss was not discovered by medical field (I knew long before) until he was 3 and a half. He hs a severe hearing loss and a huge delay in his speech. I have a 17 year old son who is MR/DD, so I know ho to fight the system, to get what my son needs. I am happy with his school placement. He refuses to wear his aids, except at school. I got tired of fighting him.His hearing seems to improve… only because he is learning to use what hearing he has. This is a fighting point with the school.However, Elijah is only willing to interact with other kids, without them. I also don’t think he likes how he hears with his aids. My son’s self-esteem comes first. Without it, anything else is useless. (MY opinion). He has both sign and speech,at his school. At first, he liked the siging. But, has chosen, on his own, to lip read whenever possible. He used to sign often, but doesn’t at all, anymore. I want his speech to improve, and I have seen it. But, the increased hearing is encouraging, too! Any thoughts? |
| Natalia (2) Parents: Ewa Rakowska [email protected] Poland 1/00 |
My daughter has been hearing impaired since birth. She’s been aided since she was 7 months old with analog hearing aids. She’s been making continuous progress since then, she’s now hearing a lot, speaks more and more words and attemps her first sentences. She’s been tested (BER) to find out profound to severe hearing loss. 2 weeks ago she changed her aids to new digital ones, which are presumably better. However, I’m not sure what I should expect. If anyone has been is similar position, I’d love to hear their experiences. |
| Caitlyn (5) Parents: Chris & Barry Rothdeutsch Sibling: Tyler (7) [email protected] Bethlehem, PA, USA 1/00 |
Caitlyn lost her hearing at 3 months of age due to meningitis. Initially she had a moderate loss in one ear and profound in the other. By 9 mths. we started AV therapy at the Beebe Center. I wondered what we were doing there with an infant, but now I have to thank her first therapists tremendously because she has such good speech. Over the years her loss became severe/profound and in the summer of 1998 it became evident that she had an increased loss. In January of 1999 she was implanted with the Nucleus 24 and the transition was amazingly smooth. She loves having the implant and I thank auditory-verbal therapy her adapting so well. She has always been in the mainstream and now I wish she had the implant at an early age. |
| Megan (5) Parents: Michael & Cori Calik Siblings: Caitlyn (10), Samantha (8) [email protected] Conyers, GA, USA 1/00 |
Our youngest daughter Megan, now 5, was diagnosed with a severe to profound bilateral hearing loss at the age of 9 months. After much testing it was determined to be caused by a malformation of her cochlea in each ear. Due to the type of loss, Megan is not a candidate for an implant, however she has been wearing bilateral BTE hearing aids since the age of 1 year. She attended Atlanta Speech School for auditory-verbal education during her infant and preschool years, but is now successfully mainstreamed and attending kindergarten in our local public elementary school. Megan still receives speech therapy once per week, and is doing just awesome! Her speech is very near to that of her “hearing” classmates. Since Megan has been mainstreamed she has very little interaction with children with a similar hearing loss. We would love to hear from families in a similar situation! |
| Zachary (1) Parents: Lara [email protected] Rochester, NY, USA 1/00 |
Hello everyone. My name is Lara. I am the parent of a 17 month old baby boy named Zachary. He was diagnosed at 15 months with bilateral severe profound hearing loss in both ears. My son is going to NYU hopefully next month to see if he is a canidate for a CI. As it stands right now he appears to be. We are in the process of researching all the CI’s and are looking for parents storys. Particularly why you chose the paticular CI for your child? And any information we can find on auditory verbal therapy. I would like to get as much information from parents who have children with a CI and use auditory verbal as I can. ANY information would be greatly appreciated. O’ and if any one can point us towards were to find a auditory verbal place in Rochester, NY or any good web sights for auditory verbal would be great also. |
| Alex (7) Siblings: Erich (10), Paul (5) Parents: Bernie & Heidi Karthan [email protected] Parma, OH, USA |
– Our son Alex lost his hearing from pneumoccocal meningitis in January of 1994 (age 8 months). In January of 1995 he was implanted with a Nucleus 22. We have been using auditory-verbal therapy since his diagnosis. We would be interested in learning about other children who have suffered bacterial meningitis and how they have faired. Alex is doing well with the implant and has terrific speech. AVI and the Helen Beebe Center have been a great source of information and support for our family. 3/00 – Alex is now in Kindergarten and continues with auditory-verbal therapy. He enjoys music, swimming, and skipping stones! He will be 5 years post implant in January 2000 and continues to progress! |
| Madeline (4) Parents: Doug & Joan Frost [email protected] San Diego, CA, USA 1/00 |
– Madeline has been working with a certified auditory verbal therapist since early December 1997. She is really progressing. I would like to be in touch with other parents who are using this approach and would also like Madeline to be in touch with other children using this approach. 3/00 – Madeline has been attending the CCHAT Center in San Diego since July of 1998, and has made great progress!! She is only wearing one hearing aid now, as the right aid didn’t seem to give her any benefit, and is still coming along great with her speech and language. We are hoping for mainstream kindergarten fall of 2001. |
| Adam (4) Siblings: Ryan (8), Jeremy (2) Parents: Dan & Amy Fessler [email protected] Manitowoc, WI, USA 4/99 |
– Our son was profoundly deaf. We have since had him implanted with the Nucleus 24 implant. We are so proud of him and the implant. It has made such a difference in his hearing! We would love to share our feeling about his progress and information on the CI if any one is interested. We would love to talk to anyone also who is interested in this type of therapy for their child. Adam is currently in a early childhood program at his local public school and is doing well. 3/00 – We have since found out that our 2 year old son also is hearing impaired. He had a moderate loss in both ears. We are in the process of getting him fitted for hearing aids. We would like any type of feedback on digital aids and what brand you are fimiliar with. Also, any one with a genetic history of this in there family I would love to have you email me about this. – We have now had our son Jeremy fitted with the Oticon Digifocus II hearing aids. He loves them! |
| Jacqui (6) Sibling: David (7) Parents: Joanne Baskin & Jean Taschereau [email protected] Montreal, Canada |
– Jacqui was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss at 12 months of age. She had a Clarion Cochlear Implant in June 1998 and attends the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf nursery program. We are interested in hearing from others experiencing a similar journey with their child(ren) and would love to share our experiences as well. 3/00 – Jacqui is now 5 1/2 years old and has had her implant for almost 16 months. She is using spoken language quite effectively and her progress continues. We note in others how early implantation impacts positively on acquiring speech and language and would urge parents to explore the option of a CI as soon as possible. The “waitlists” in Quebec are now at 18 months; our daughter had to wait one year. Feel free to e-mail us anytime! |
| Erin (4) Siblings: Jennifer (7), John (9) Parents: Peggy O’Reagan-Salva [email protected] 1/00 |
Erin is a very small (22 pounds)4 year old. She was born with translocation of chormosomes 4,5 and 7. This resulted in profound bilateral sensorineural hearing deficit due to Mondini’s dysplasia, short stature, optic nerve hypoplasia, esotropia (crossed eyes) one missing toe and motor delays. She received a chochlear implant in June of 1998. progress has been very slow. We do not know if this is due to the Mondini’s. Studies read prior to the implant showed those with Mondini’s progressed well. We have not found this to be the case. I am looking for others who have knowledge with Mondini’s or are frustrated with their child’s progress post implant. |
| Emily (5) Sibling: Jeremy (8) Parents: Kelly & Tim O’Reilly [email protected] St. John’s, NF, Canada updated 1/00 |
Our daughter Emily was diagnosed at 11 months of age with a profound hearing loss. For the first 2 years we were learning and using sign language. In June 1998 , Emily received a cochlear implant. She was doing very well in her first 6 month post implant. She is hearing a great deal but she is not vocalizing. We would love to hear from parents with the same circumstances. We feel very frustrated, I am wondering if she will ever speak. |
| Clarissa (2) Siblings: Dylan (5) Parents: Daniel & Claudia Plato [email protected] Reading, PA, USA |
– We recently found out that our 9-month old daughter Clarissa has a profound hearing loss (bilateral), the cause is undetermined. She started wearing hearing aids two weeks ago, although they help, we are still considering CI, since her hearing loss is so severe. Anyone who is willing to offer pros and cons of the CI or experiences with hearing aids in young infants would be greatly appreciated. 3/00 – Clarissa has been wearing her hearing aids for 10 months now and is progressing very well. She has excellent listening skills, her vocabulary expands every day and her pronounciation improves also day by day through her AV Therapy. Currently we are not considering a CI. |
| Laura (7) Holly (6) Siblings: Mandy (18), Thomas (16), Jessica (13) Parents: Mary & David Jenkins [email protected] South Carolina, USA |
– What a wonderful place! We started down this new and exciting and ever learning path when Laura was diagnosed 3 years ago. Laura is profoundly hearing impaired and a total AV kid. Then came Holly who has a moderate to severe loss, and following in her sisters foot steps. I am the Childrens Rights Co, for AGBell in two states. When God gave me the girls he also gave me direction! Would love to talk to other parents raising AV kids! 3/00 – Just an update 🙂 Laura was implanted about 3 months ago! We are thrilled watching the new challenges everyday 🙂 Laura and Holly are both mainstreamed now, and doing great! I am still amazed everyday with thier listening and thrilled to watch them accomplish goals and dreams. We have never looked back…but look forward to each new change and each dream we see through AV 🙂 |
| Ellen (2) Parents: Epp Sibling: Madis (5) [email protected] Estonia 1/00 |
We are very interested in CI rehabilitation programmes as our daughter is a candidate to CI. We have taught her orally (HA since her was 8 mth old) with very little benefit. |
| Sophie (6) Parents: John and Kate Phillips Siblings: Michael (8), Juliette (1) Washington DC, USA 1/00 |
Sophie is now 2 years after implantation at Hopkins by Dr. John Niparko. He write the children’s page every month in the AVI magazine “Voices”. He is a wonderful person and physician. Currently, we are preparing to move from the area but would like to be in a location which other parents believe is the BEST for mainstreamed children with implants. That is, schools with outstanding in-house speech pathologists/sound-field systems/audiology, all those things which currently we are going to three different places for. |
| Devin, Lauren Parents: Linda Smith & Taylor McCauley Siblings: Blair, Brenna [email protected] 1/00 |
Devin & Lauren (severe-profound)were aided & began therapy at the Beebe Center – Paoli at 11 mos. They have been mainstreamed in all their educational settings from Montessori pre-school thru present. They are in 6th grade, receiving support from the Del. Co. IU in SE PA. We feel A-V was very successful for them and welcome questions from other parents. Both girls would like to correspond with other children |
| Iana Tan (5) Parents: Manny & Cecile Tan Sibling: Cara Tan (12) [email protected] Manila, Philippines 1/00 |
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| Jessica (6), Jared (2) Parents: Andrea & Steve Hill [email protected] Madison, AL, USA 1/00 |
Jessica and Jared were both born with severe to profound SNHL’s. We began AV therapy with Jessica at age 9 months, which coincides with the time at which she was fitted with HA. She received a CI in 9/1996. Jared’s hearing loss was identified at birth through newborn hearing screening. He was fitted with HA at 5 weeks of age and AVT was started immediately. Both children are doing very well and are fully mainstreamed. Jessica’s favorite activity is ballet. |
| Joshua (1) Parents: Brian & Andrea Franich Siblings: Brandon (4), Haley (3) [email protected] Lacey, WA, USA 1/00 |
Our son Joshua was diagnosed at 9mo. of age with a profound hearing loss in both ears. He has been enrolled in an Auditory-Verbal School since 10mo. Now at 15mo. we feel he is not recieving enough amplification with his hearing aids & FM system. We are researching the Cochlear Implant and would love to hear from other parents whose child has an implant. Or any parents who are currently in the Cochlear Implant Process! 🙂 |
| Jayanth (3) Parents: Latha & Lakshman [email protected] Cupertino, CA, USA 1/00 |
Our Son Jayanth has been diagnosed with Profound deafness when he is 2 1/2 years old. Now he is 3 yrs. We are planning to go for Cochlear implant in March 2000. Need info on Auditory -verbal therapy and any resources like who can provide that in area i live Bay area,California. We are trying with Impact digital hearing aids. He seems to be getting almost al the sounds. It is a tranpositional hearing aid. It works great because of his hearing loss – he was not able to hear high frequencies and this hearing aid is helping him. Any one intrested to know more about it , can contact us. Latha & Lakshman. |
| Danny Ramos (5) Parents: Marlenis Caboverde [email protected] Miami, FL, USA 1/00 |
Danny is a bright 5 year old boy. He gradually became profoundly hearing impaired due to a viral infection doctors call CMV. He is scheduled to receive a cochlear implant on January 11th, 2000. I decided to go for the Nucleus 24 after studying other possibilities. Please, if you could help point the right direction with information about programs, etc., feel free to e-mail me. Thank you, Marlenis |
| Carson (4) Parent: Candace Rogers [email protected] 1/00 |
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| Niki (12), Joseph (3) Parents: Deloris & Lonnie Hicks Siblings: Felicia, (10), Shelby (6), Rebekah (1) [email protected] TX, USA 1/00 |
I have two children recently implanted, ( ages 12 and 3) We have always used TC and SEE sign language. We are currently converting to AV and need info on phasing out sign and going oral without jeapordizing academic success for the twelve year old. Her language ability is above average and she has always been mainstreamed with an interpreter. The interpeter has quit and we are faced with a dilema. HEEEELLLLLP! |
| Dayna (4) Parents: Norman & Rubina Blustein Siblings: Frances (11), Seth (9) [email protected] Toronto, Canada 1/00 |
Dayna was diagnosed with a profound bilateral hearing loss after pneumococcal meningitis recently. She is about to be implanted with a Nucleus 24. We plan on starting AV therapy immediately after she is hooked up mid-January,2000. We would love to chat with other families who have been in a similar situation. |
| Hannah (3) Parents: Suzanne Wight & Ben Wilson [email protected] San Mateo, CA, USA 1/00 |
Hannah was initially diagnosed at 21 months with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. Chronic ear infections complicated the diagnosis and fitting of her hearing aids. She has had AV therapy at Phoenix Education Center and her hearing aids for a little over a year now, and she is speaking in short sentences and has several hundred words in her vocabulary. Up from exactly zero words a year ago! It is truly amazing. |
| JaMarcus Murray (4) Parents: Marsha [email protected] 1/00 |
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| Jade Nowak-Hahlbohm (5) Grandparent: Danise [email protected] Central Islip, NY, USA 1/00 |
Infant grandaughter attending av school for about two months. No real benifits yet. She has been and still is very verbal even before digital device. However we are having a hard time with mold fittings and it is a constant battle to keep Jade from pulling and loosening the mold. Jades parents are young and do not put any effort in the use of the hearing aid. Fortunately the baby is with me alot. I have stressed the importance of her wearing the device all her waking hours. but when she is with either parent it simply is not being done. I have put an enormous amount of time into research and schools and what is available, and do not want my grandaughter to lose any av because the parents do not do their part. What can i do or who can help me to protect my grandaughter from not receiving the time and effort from her parents. If the device falls out it stays out. If it whistles it gets shut off. Half the time the device is simply forgotten. I am beside myself. |
| Mason (3) Parents: Dan & Gina Gooch Siblings: Maidson (5), Cati (10) [email protected] Owensboro, KY, USA 1/00 |
My son Mason recieved a cochlear implant at 22 month’s of age. He now close to 3yr.’s old. He say’s a new word every day. He is also starting to put sentence’s together. He’s doing great,we go back for his one year check up in December. |
| Maud (1) Parents: Tania & Jeroen [email protected] The Netherlands 1/00 |
We found out about Maud’s bilateral profound hearing loss when she was about 12 months old. She has been aided for a few months now. We are using Signing Exact Dutch at home and she’s taking really well to it, using about 90 signs in one to three-word sentences now. We are waiting for the selection for CI to start, it is unclear when this will be done, and, of course, whether she’ll be selected to receive a CI. She’s receiving hearing-speech-and-listen-therapy, they use Total Communication. Love to hear from you all. |
| Ashley (6) Parents: Debbi & Ray Terwilleger Sibling: Joseph (12) [email protected] Middletown, NY, USA 1/00 |
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| Simon Peter (6) Sibling: Paul Anthony (8) Parents: Daniel & Kathleen Rocha [email protected] San Antonio, TX, USA 8/99 |
Simon was 17 months old when he was diganosis with a severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss with the absence of any responses seen through either unmasked bone conduction or air conduction to either ear. He was aided right away and has worn his aids since then. We use total communication in our home. In Oct. of 98 I took Simon to see an Neurologist , because his teacher was thinking that Simon was having seizures. Well, the EEG indicated no seizure activities. My concern was that his attention span was short and he had a hard time focusing, The doctor tried to test Simon, but I guess it was too hard for him. We decided to put him on Adderall for a trial basic and it has made a different for Simon, he can sit and listen to someone read a book and stay focus and many other things. He even started using his more. In June he went for a hearing test and there the Doctor told us that Simon is a good canidate for a Cochlear Implant. It kind of shocked me because I was totally against this surgery. I just listened to the Doctor and now I know that this is what best for Simon right now. I find myself reading about the cochlear implant and the different it has made is some people’s lives. I know there are chances that of it not working , but there is greater chance it will. If there is anybody out there that wants to talk about this procedure or have questions, I would like to hear from you. Simon is a very active and happy 5 year old who is out going and very smart. 1/2000 Just wanted to let you all know, that my son; Simon got his cochlear implant Sept. 26 and he will be hooked up tomorrow. I am so nervous that I have been a crack. I know everything will be okay, but I guess all this waiting and the day is finally here, it is just so much. Well, I just wanted to share with people who understand where I am coming from. By the way, Simon is doing great. Right now he is outside playing with his rabbits. He also did great with the surgery. |
| Isabelle (7) Parents: Kathleen [email protected] Pembroke Pines, FL, USA 1/00 |
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| Jesse (1) Parents: Kathlene & Peter Badeski [email protected] Marshall, IL, USA 1/00 |
At 10 months Jesse was diagnosed as profoundly deaf. We immediately got him his hearing aids and started working with him to teach him how to listen. After a few months on the waiting list he started AVT. He loves his therapist, but cannot hear enough to learn. He has just been approved for the Cochlear Implant, and we are awaiting his surgery date (sometime in the new year). Once he receives the implant we are hopeful he can learn to hear and speak. Jesse is a wonderful, happy little boy who makes us proud everyday… deaf or hearing! We welcome any contact from parents. |
| Kennedy (4) Parents: David & Angela Siblings: Madison (2) [email protected] Dallas, TX, USA 1/00 |
We are looking forward to speaking with any parents who may have questions or concerns about their hearing impaired child. We have a 4 year old daughter with a Nucleus 24 who has been implanted for 2 years. She has been seeing an Auditory Verbal therapist since she was diagnosed at the age of 13 months. She is making incredible progress and we would really love to talk to parents of newly diagnosed children. We know there are lots of questions that you may want to ask anwd we would love to give you suggestions or advice! |
| Shayan Usman (1) Parents: Usman Ishaq [email protected] Lahore/Punjab/Pakistan 1/00 |
I hope every one is fine with you. Let me give a chance to introduce my self to you my name is Usman Ishaq I am 25 years old I am a father of a Baby boy. The most impossible thing for me happened to me and my wife was that we got a news that our son has a hearing loss of 60db in right ear and 70db in the left ear. His age is 22 months. Time is passing It seems my life has a fullstop in it. I want my son to speak like every other normal child. I want him to go to school in a normal manner. He has starting using BTE Hearing Aids (NHS 3000). I dont know I am in a state of no where I want him to respond Some time he does some time he dont. I live in Pakistan as you know we are not a develop country we dont have that much litersture available in our country in teaching a todler with hearing aids. help me I want your help. Its been fourteen days he has starting wearing them . It take how many days when he will start responding to his name or he will start saying mama or baba. Me and my wife are always with her daily for at least two hours saying names and telling him things teaching him the names of his own saying baba mama etc. Please help us if you can email or send us any litreture that can help me teaching him please do send me and i will pay you what the amount will be. Or at least give me hints will he be able to speak we are trying our level best what is the time span for getting results. Please write to every thing that will help me teaching me. From a father who is desprate to listen Daddy from his son. Thank you |
| Jeremy (6) Parents: Robert & Theresa Abbott Siblings: Todd (12) [email protected] USA 1/00 |
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| Jacob (2) Parents: Michael Maryo http://home.fuse.net/escape Cincinnati, OH, USA 1/00 |
Jacob was born in April 1997, and is currently 2-1/2. He has a Clarion S-Series Cochlear Implant, which he received in September 1999. He is turned on as of late October 1999, and all the information, pictures, and updates are available on my web site. http://home.fuse.net/escape |
| Cristian (2) Siblings: Samantha (8), Anthony (3) Parents: Mary Fragale [email protected] Mt. Prospect, IL, USA 1/00 |
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| Mitchell (5) Parents: Beth Starnes Siblings: Tommy (12) [email protected] Valparaiso, IN, USA 1/00 |
I have an HI child and a hearing child. All of us have adapted to Mitchell’s disability by learning to sign as he has adapted to our world by learning to speak. Mitchell is a dazzling and overwhelming child, always with a smile on his face. His brother is his idol and I, as his mother am his guidance. We form a small but functional family. I would love to hear from others with HI children as I am frequently overwhelmed by not only being a single parent but one with an HI child. Thanks. |
| Trystan (5) Parents: Dana & Dirk Siblings: Tyson (11), Damon (8) [email protected] Paris, Idaho, USA 1/00 |
We are in process of finding out if our son is hearing impaired. He is 3 years old and has almost no understandable communication skills. It is suspected that he has a hearing loss from the mild to moderate range. He seems to us to hear pretty good and we wonder if any other parents had the same experience where you’r child seems to hear you fine, but they don’t speak well, and it is associated with a hearing impairment. We are a nervous wreck waiting for our next appointment at the audiologist and hoping that this time Trystan will cooperate enough for them to get an accurate evalutation. We would appreciate it if anyone else has had this same experience would let us know how you coped and should I be beating myself up over missing a hearing problem in my child, or does it happen more often than I am aware of? |
| Katie (5) Parents: John & Deborah Burke Siblings: Ryan (7) [email protected] St. Louis, MO, USA 1/00 |
Our lives have changed for the better since discovering AVT! We desperately sought ways to arrange for our daughter to receive the intense therapy that she needed, even though we were hours away from the nearest AV therapist. We traveled four hours each way to a place that provided excellent services, but the traveling began to take it’s toll on us. Then we began searching for places that we could move to in order to help our daughter. We went to the A.G. Bell convention in Little Rock to explore our options. We discovered several places that were definite possibilities, and we made a final decision to move to St. Louis and send our daughter to preschool at St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf. She needed the daily auditory/verbal therapy and intense language stimulation that the school provides. Now she is entering her second year there, and she should be ready to fully mainstream by kindergarten or 1st grade. She has made tremendous progress and I know we made the right decision to move. The move was not an easy one to make, but we know that our daughter will be much more successful in the “real world” because we moved from a place that had little help to one that has an abundance of opportunities. I know not everyone can make such a radical change in their lives, but if the opportunity presents itself, I highly recommend doing whatever it takes to obtain whatever your child needs. It was definitely worth it for us! |
| Patrick (3) Parents: Rhonda Siblings: Paige (7) [email protected] 1/00 |
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| Christopher (3) Parents: Karen [email protected] Jacksonville, FL, USA 1/00 |
I am so happy to find this site. We are very blessed to have The Clarke School here in Jacksonville. My son started attending in Jan. and was aided bilat with power aids and wore them for 6 months before he could be implanted with a Med EL Combi 40+ which is still in clinical trials for children. With the auditory/oral training and the implant he now has 3 words in less than 2 months since he was “Turned On”. Please email me, I would love to hear from others in our situation or who have questions. We also have a very strong parent support group named CODE-Clarke Oral Deaf Education. |
| Zachary (5) Parents: Mike & Deb Bartnick Siblings: Lauren (11), Joseph (9), Brendan (8), Lucas (1) [email protected] Marshall, IL, USA 1/00 |
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| Audrey (8 months) Parents: Matthew & Stephanie Opperman [email protected] 1/00 |
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| Julian (6 months) Parents: Elizabeth & Ed Wenger [email protected] Miami, FL, USA 1/00 |
Our son Julian was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at 2 months of age. He has been wearing hearing aids since that time, and we are going to AV therapy once a week at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. We are hoping for a cochlear implant at the age of 12 months. We would like to e-mail with parents of infants with hearing loss who are considering cochlear implants for them, or with parents of kids who were implanted before rhe age of 18 months. |
| Nicholas (5) Siblings: Tyler (8), Sydney (3) Parents: Al & Claudia [email protected] Orlando, FL, USA  Click on pictureto view full size |
Hello! At Eighteen months of age our son Nicholas was diagnosed with a severe to profound sensori-neural hearing loss. He was aided immediately and attended The Helen Beebe Speech & Hearing Center in PA. We feel we were very lucky to be so well educated on hearing loss and the Auditory-Verbal Approach which we are currently doing. We relocated to Fla. and Nick attends an oral preschool and just started at the Bolesta Center. Nick is now 3-1/2 and we are very hopeful that he be a mainstreamed student. We have learned a lot in the past two years and would be happy to share our knowledge with any needy parents. We are also interested in hearing from parents or related professionals regarding mainstreaming an hearing impaired child. |
| Ashton (1) Sibling: Whitney (5) Parents: Jeff & April Fowler [email protected] or [email protected] Buford, GA, USA 1/00 |
Ashton was diagnosed with sever hearing loss on 9/3/99. He needs 2 programmable hearing aids. We are searching for some sort of financial assistance. Ashton has been through a lot in his 8 months. He just had major back surgery on 6/22/99. We just can not believe this is happening. We are so unsure of what to do. Please advise. |
| Desmond (5) Parents: Shelley and Colin [email protected] Canada 1/00 |
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| Leonardo (6) Parents: Jame Wilson [email protected] Italy 1/00 |
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| Daley (4) Parent: Velma Jackson [email protected] Camden, SC, USA |
Daley received AVT this summer. Her results from evaluations look really great! She is able to hear and discriminate between all sounds! We are very excited! We begin again in Sept. This is a wonderful program! Daley continues to make great progress after almost 1 year of AVT. She is speaking by using many 4-5 word sentences now. We can not believe the progress. Please email if you’d like to share experiences. She is doing very well in a mainstream pre-school class, also! |
| Anastasia (9) Parent: Fira Sesilia [email protected] Indonesia 8/99 |
Anastasia, my beloved daughter, is profoundly hearing loss. Through hard effort and patience, we manage to train her communicating with us orally. Thanks God, she speaks very well and fluently now at her age. She did her good job as well at her school, competing her classmates at her 1st grade of elementary school. Any parents who wish to share with us your/our experience, pls do so. I learnt myself that several kids with severe hearing impaired seems do not react at all at their H/A. Problems which I found out are either the incorrect H/A given to the kids (either emphasizing in medium to high frequency or low)or incorrect H/A’s volume. My advise is to take special care on these 2 points. Do hope these wl be a valuable tips for parents. |
| Alex (5) Parents: Freda Charap [email protected] Buenos Aires, Argentina 8/99 |
I’m extremely interested on any information you can provide regarding coclear implants as it has been suggested for my grandson, age 4, and we really require more data regarding different types, results, etc. etc. Thanks for anything you can provide. |
| Evan (3) Sibling: Chandler (5) Parents: Jamie & Howard Curtis [email protected] Shelton, CT, USA 8/99 |
Evan was 6 wks. premature and in the nicu they discovered he had CMV. We soon discovered Evan had a profound bilateral hearing loss. He was aided at 3 months old. His hearing loss progresivley got worse so as soon as he was 18 months he was implanted with the nuc. 24. We have always done av therapy. We love it. Evan is now 23 months and really jabbering away. He says alot of single words. We are so proud of him. av therapy is wonderful. I have also found myself doing what his therapist does when she covers her mouth to talk to Evan. He understands almost everything by just listening. email anytime would love to chat. Jamie Curtis |
| Tate (7) Sibling: Lee (11) Parents: Michelle & Bob Janasek [email protected] 8/99 |
Looking forward to hooking up with parents with implanted children who are mainstreamed in school and have been successful in the auditory/Verbal approach. |
| Gareth (5) Daniel (3) Parents: Jane & Dave [email protected] England 8/99 |
We have 2 profoundly deaf little boys. We have no family history and yet now find it must be of genetic cause. Gareth was diagnosed at 18months and because of his hearing loss Daniel was offered neonatal screening. Dan failed his first hearing test at 11hours old! He had his hearing aids at 7 weeks old.(I believe this was the youngest in the country at that time and may still be.) Both boys have been turned down for cochlear implant as their aided hearing levels are better than the criteria. We have just about come to terms with that decision. As yet neither of the boys are talking although Gareth does have about 40 single words. We are active members of the Shropshire Deaf Childrens Society and are hoping to get a web site going any day now. This charity strongly supports the oral approach. |
| Chase (5) Sibling: Markenzi (12) Parents: Steve & Tami Fanning [email protected] Everett, WA, USA 8/99 |
Chase is four years old and was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss at 13 months. He received a cochlear implant at 22 months at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. We moved to Everett, Washington in August of 1998 for Auditory-Verbal services. Chase currently attends Listen and Talk School in Seattle. He is making great progess everyday. We would love to hear from other parents. |
| Kira (2) Sibling: Tyler (8) Parents: Katie [email protected] Hastings, NE, USA 8/99 |
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| Alexandria (4) Siblings: Steven (5), Kathleen (4 mos) Parents: Kathyann & Steve [email protected] Youngstown, OH, USA 8/99 |
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| Andy Hungerford [email protected] Australia 8/99 |
Hi there, I hope that you don’t think that I’m being absurd …. My name is Andy Hungerford and I’m a Saxophone and Clarinet tutor currently based in Australia… soon to be based in Cape Town South Africa. I’m extremely interested in the possibilities of teaching instrumental music to people with hearing disabilities…. some of my friends think that I’m crazy…. To me it will be an incredible challenge, and I honestly believe that it can be done. I have a few ideas of how to do it, but would really appreciate talking to some people who are in the deaf community or who may have experience in this area. I am always amazed at the sign choirs. I’ve only ever seen them signing the christmas carols on TV, but it just blows me away every time. It would just be amazing for us all to see a group of deaf kids (or adults for that matter) actually on stage performing instrumental music… I’m not deaf, and I can’t sign… but I am a good teacher. To be able to achieve results with such a project truely would be a career highlight. I’d really appreciate it if you could possibly if you could refer me to a few people who are invloved in this sort of thing…… Thanks for you time and hopefully I’ll be able to hear back soon, Kindest regards, Andy Hungerford. |
| Sean (7) Sibling: Steven (10) Parents: C.D. & Gina Lackey [email protected] Birmingham, AL, USA 8/99 |
Our son Sean was diagnosed with a bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss at the age of 10 months.We are not sure what caused his hearing loss. At 2yrs.1mo. he received his Cochlear Implant. Sean has had his implant for 4 yrs. He receives auditory-verbal therapy. He will begin the first grade this year.Sean is very interested in sports. We would love to hear from You! |
| Sydney (4) Parents: Fiona Russell & Sasa Stevanovic [email protected] Hamilton, Ontario, Canada 8/99 |
Our daughter, Sydney, was diagnosed at 18 months, with a severe-profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. We were devastated at the time, and at a loss to explain why this happened to our only child. To our knowledge there is no history of hearing impairment in either of our families. She wore hearing aids for one year, with the notion that we’d re-evaluate her progress after six months. Sydney was unable to hear high frequencies — she consistently showed the “lower left corner” audiograms. So, we investigated cochlear implants. Sydney was implanted exactly one year from when she began wearing hearing aids. It has been 3 months since her “turn on”, and I am starting to see progress. I was warned it could take several months before she’d begin to “repeat” what she was hearing. She has definitely been hearing things she never heard before her implant — the phone ringing, music, us calling her name, etc. Her audiogram now shows 25 dB straight across the frequencies!! However, until just recently, she wasn’t doing as much vocalizing as I’d hoped. Now, she’s babbling, “singing”, dancing to music, and is approximating words. This is truly a miracle. I am so thankful for the cochlear implant. It has changed our lives, and more importantly, Sydney seems happier now. Her frustration is greatly diminished — I attribute it to the fact that she is hearing now. We did experience some real problems getting Sydney to wear her transmitter, microphone, and processor for the first 3 or 4 weeks. She’s quite strong-willed, and decided she wasn’t going to agree to this new system easily. If anyone is going through something similar, I’d be happy to share the suggestions and ideas that were given to me. |
| Sherri Bergmann (35) [email protected] 8/99 |
I am seeking deaf/hearing impaired adults who have acquired their hearing loss since birth/childhood and would like to share their testimony of how their auditory-verbal education has helped them to succeed personally and professionally. I would like to compile a collection of stories to encourage other deaf/hearing impaired children and to motivate parents who have discovered their infant/child can’t hear. As a professional publisher, and one who has a profound hearing loss, I would like to donate this to many. Response by e-mail or by mail is appreciated. |
| Kristi (20) Siblings: Travis (17), Kari (15) Parents: Becky Fulwider [email protected] Bristol, TN, Sullivan 8/99 |
My daughter Kristi is profoundly deaf in left ear and severe to profoundly deaf in right ear; wears hearing aid. She was mainstreamed and completed sophomore year and transferred to tenn school for the dear/hard of hearing. She learned sign language her junior year at TSD. She graduated and is enrolled to attend college at ETSU in the fall. Mainstream was good acedemically but was terrible for her socially. TSD was the answer! |
| Abbigail Jana (2) Parents: Chris or Jennifer Kolar [email protected] Kearney, NE, USA 8/99 |
Our daughter Abbigail was diagnosed with a profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss approx 1 month ago. We are attempting to try the new AVR Impact hearing aids as a trial before considering a cochlea implant. Would love to hear from other parents about their opinions and also advice on “getting through it.” Abbi is 18 months old and is only babbling. We believe she ‘lost’ her hearing around 10 1/2 months to a elevated fever. We are also beginning to sign with Abbi using the S.E.E. method. Any information or support from other parents or children that have grown up with a hearing loss would be greatly appreciated!! Thank You in advance, Chris and Jen |
| Brian (6) Siblings: Douglas (10), Heather (5), Caleb (2) Parents: Ellen Dunn [email protected] Wichita, KS, USA 8/99 |
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| Aaric (7) Siblings: Rachel (11), Nathen (5) Parents: Shawn [email protected] Indianapolis, IN, USA 8/99 |
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| Alexis (3) Siblings: Austin (7), Brayden (2) Parents: Craig & Wendy Rinas [email protected] WA, USA 8/99 |
Our daughter possibly has some sort of hearing loss but we’re still in the process of testing. She has chronic ear infections that have left her with tympanosclerosis (calcium deposits on the eardrum?). She’s having her 2nd set of tubes put in on the 13th because we can never seem to get her ears clear. She is definitely speech delayed and preliminary results of her audiogram show that she can hear the middle pitches at 10-20db, lower pitches at 40-50db, and the high pitches at 15db in her right ear and 60db in her left. It’s hard to tell if that’s accurate though because she gets distracted easily. I’m not sure what those results really mean anyway because nobody has sat down and explained it to me. Hearing aids was mentioned in passing once by one of the students doing the exam. We’d love any information because we really have no idea what’s going on. 🙂 |
| PJ (Paul) (5) Parents: Paul and Kate Ciarfella [email protected] Groton, MA, USA 8/99 |
PJ was diagnosed with LVA at age 2 and has moderate-severe high frequency hearing loss. He is currently aided in one ear and is receiving speech therapy. We have his hearing tested every six weeks. He’s a bright and active kid with a great personality – which is a plus since he will have a tough road ahead of him. |
| Karolinka (4) Sibling: Kasia (13) Parents: Stachowiak Iwona & Wojciech [email protected] Pozna�, Poland 8/99 |
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| Lisa-Marie (10) Parents: Priscilla King [email protected] Georgetown, TX, USA 4/99 |
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| William (16) Sibling: Christie (13) Parents: Loren & Carolyn [email protected] Washington Court House, OH, USA 4/99 |
I became deaf gradually around age 3, and used AV from the time I lost my hearing till I recieved a cochlear implant at age seven. Now, I am 15, and am very happy with the implant overall. I am interested in talking to other AV/implant families, especially ones that went to the Beebe Center as part of their therapy. I would welcome Emails from any hearing impaired person or family member, as I have had no contact for the most part with other individuals “in the same boat.” Questions, comments, or just plain bored chat welcome! |
| Hamid Walid Qadri (5) Parents: Affan & Aisha [email protected] Milwaukee, WI, USA 4/99 |
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| Caleb (6) Sarah (2) Parents: Scott & Vicki [email protected] West End, NC, USA 4/99 |
We are the first family in the United States with every member using the Cochlear Implants. I was born with hearing loss and received my implant 12 years ago. My husband had the menigitis when he was 2 and it left him with hearing loss. He got his implant 3 years ago. My son and my daughter were both born with hearing loss. My son had the implant when he was 2 and my daughter recently got hers a last month. The Cochlear implants help all of us. We love the sounds. We support the Auditorial oral and Auditorial verbal methods. My son is talking well and loves being in the regular Preschool. |
| Christopher (13) Siblings: Brianna (8), Betsey (14) Parents: Deb Benefield [email protected] Millis, MA, USA 4/99 |
My son is only moderately hearing impaired and after having the choloesteatoma removed was finally doing well in school.
That is, until he had to take a foreign language. Well, he was in speech therapy for 5 years for ENGLISH, so it makes sense that he would have trouble with a second language.
Anyone have any suggestions? He’s taking Spanish, and I’ve had only German and French. |
| Anna (4) Siblings: Jessica (11), Lauren (7), Isaac (3) Parents: Jeff & Lisa [email protected] MO, USA 4/99 |
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| Tanner (8) Siblings: Blake (14), Brittnee (12) Parents: Jeff & Lisa [email protected] Olton, TX, USA 4/99 |
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| McKenzie (5) Parents: Kyle & Melissa [email protected] Portland, OR, USA 4/99 |
McKenzie has a bilateral severe-profound loss in both ears. She currently wears hearing aids and is learning to listen and talk.
Tho she goes to the public preschool and is around total communication, we do not sign at home. She does well.
We are considering a cochlear implant and will have her evaluated next month. I am interested in talking with anyone regarding deafness, I am very interested in hearing from deaf adults who communicate orally and thier opinion of being raised oral, good or bad. |
| Pieter (10) Parents: Retha en Ryno Nel [email protected] Welkom, South Africa 4/99 |
Our son, Pieter, is born on 30 January 1990. Amongst various defects, such as cleft lip and -palate, he also has a severe hearing loss. This was only discovered at the age of two, although we suspect it for quite some time, but due to his medical condition, no attention was given to our requests as far as tests was concern. We attended the Carel du Toit Centre in Cape Town for about five years, where us, the parents was taught to work with Pieter in the correct way. He is currently attending a Main Stream school in Welkom and is coping well. We are very proud of our son’s achievements and he is a brave little boy. Thanks to the Carel du Toit Centre for all their continues support and motivation. We did it and it worked. All parents should give their deaf child the opportunity to communicate verbally. Correspondence are welcome! |
| Mateo (6) Siblings: Jill (18), Daniel (14) Parents: Edd & Pam [email protected] Burlington, WA, USA 4/99 |
Mateo was implanted in December of 1996. He was born deaf. We do not live in an area with a Speech therapist who has been trained to work with implanted children. Would like to know how others have dealt with this problem. |
| Alex (4) Sibling: Evan (2) Parents: John & Kim Ball [email protected] Cedar Bluff, VA, USA 4/99 |
Alex received his implant when he was 19 months old and he will be three in a month. He is now putting 3 and 4 word sentences together and I am amazed at how well he has done. |
| Daniel (11) Parents: Terrie & Barry [email protected] Winston-Salem, NC, USA 4/99 |
Daniel was diagnosed as severe-proundly deaf at age 18 months. He initially received hearing aids with no success. At age 6 he was implanted with a cochlear implant (nucleus 22). He’s currently in the 3rd grade, primarily mainstreamed with assistance from an HI teacher and transliterator. He’s making great progress but remains language dealyed. I’d love to hear from other parents with children of similar or older ages. |
| Michaela (6) Sibling: Jonah (2) Parents: Mike & Brenda Watts [email protected] Everett, WA, USA 4/99 |
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| Ashley (15) Siblings: Dale (18), Yeager (5) Parents: Joy Gaston [email protected] Valdosta, GA, USA 4/99 |
My daughter, Ashley, is 14 years old now is doing remarkably well. Ashley started school at Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis when she was 3. She did not benefit from hearing aids. She received a cochlear implant at age 7. She was mainstreamed in public school at age 9. She receives no special ed services. She is able to function in the regular classroom and is an honor roll student. She learns to use her implant more and more each day. Two years ago, she could not hear music well enough to enjoy it. Now she has a CD player and knows all the latest hits. Thanks to a good oral background and much auditory training, Ashley is very successful and has a bright future! |
| Merissa (9) Parents: Gail Siddell Johnson [email protected] 4/99 |
My daughter, Merissa, was diagnosed with bi-lateral, sensorinueral hearing loss and was aided at 15 months. Initial dB loss was 55-60, currently it is 70-80. She has attended regular daycare since she was 6 weeks old. She had the normal speech therapy training 1 hour, 3 days/per week until she was 4 years old.
At that time, an oral program was opened in Little Rock and Merissa attended for 11 months. This program gave Merissa the intensive speech and auditory training she desperately needed to start kindergarten the next fall. Merissa has done so well in mainstream classroom (socially and academically), that she was PROMOTED from kindergarten to the 2nd grade, and continues to be a straight-A student in the 3rd grade. I attribute her successes to having had the opportunity to attend the oral school. Unfortunately, this oral program closed May 1998, after 3 1/2 years. I am committed to seeing an oral program open again in Arkansas. I am asking all Arkansas parents to contact me so we can advocate for oral education for deaf and hard of hearing children, ages 0 – 12 years.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. |
| Caroline Kobek (24) Sibling: Terry Greene (30) Parents: Michael & Marsha Opauski [email protected] USA 4/99 |
My “child” is now twenty-three years old and getting ready to attend grad school in the Fall. Her early training was in the “acoupedics” method so we really pre-date AV! Carrie is now multi-dimensional in her communication as she learned to sign in her teen years but depends on her auditory skills. Knowing Carrie is a powerful lesson that even children with almost no hearing can benefit from listening. |
| Rileigh (3) Sibling: Logan (7) Parents: Chris & Diane [email protected] St Albans, VT, USA 4/99 |
We have a 30 month old daughter with a mild to moderate bi-lateral sensorineural loss. She was aided at two years old, and she is believed to have been impaired since birth. We are trying to find answers as to how well she will be able to develop speech and language, and how much intervention she will need. We are also worried about her being able to hear and speak the high frequency sounds. We would also like to know how they will do with early childhood education in school. If there is anyone that has been through this similar situation please send us a message. Thanks. |
| Juli (15) Bobby (8) [email protected] Jackson, MI, USA 4/99 |
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| Stephanie (8) Alex (2) Sibling: Nicole (6) Parents: John & Michelle Sarnese [email protected] Landsdale, PA, USA 4/99 |
Our 6 month old son Alex was recently diagnosed with a profound hearing loss. We are confident that his hearing loss is genetic since our 6 year old daughter Stephanie was also diagnosed with a moderate hearing loss (40db) at age 3. We are currently in the process of getting Alex fitted for hearing aids and will be closely watching his development over the next 3 months. In the event that he does not benefit from the amplification of hearing aids we are also looking at other alternatives such as implants. Our son Alex was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss at 6 months of age. We confident that his hearing loss is genetic since our 7 year old was also diagnosed with a moderate hearing loss (40db) at 3 years of age. She wears Phonak hearing aids and is doing great with them. Alex is now 16 months old and has not been showing much progress with his Phonak E-Prom hearing aids. We have recently switched to the doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and finally got a complete audiogram. His unaided audiogram is starting at 80db on the left and sloping down to 125 db at the far right. We think he has lost hearing since November, because he was picking up sounds and making progress up until then. Last month we decided that it is time for Alex to be evaluated for a CI. So far he has had a CT scan in which everything was normal. We are scheduled to speak with the surgeon on Wednesday, April 14th. If everything goes well Alex will probably have his surgery during the second week in July. We haven’t decided on the CI manufacturer yet but we suspect that the center is leaning toward the Clarion. |
| Sophie (6) Siblings: Michael (9) Juliete (2) Parents: John & Kate Phillips [email protected] Bethesda, MD, USA 4/99 |
Sophie is a happy and energetic 3 year old who was identified at 18 months with an asymmetrical (profound and moderate-severe) sensory-neural loss. She has been doing well with auditory-verbal therapy but we are living with the fear that she is losing more hearing. A delayed CT scan recently revealed that she has Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Anomaly – the condition commonly associated with progressive loss and, in her case, also putting her at high risk for “sudden loss”. It is the latter which is difficult for us… any minor bump on the head, common cold or other pressure change could possibly cause a complete loss. We would love to find someone who has experience with this condition to exchange info. and share thoughts. We would also love to hear from anyone with a H.I. child of about the same age to exchange info., share joys and frustrations and the like… in raising/teaching a H.I. child of this age. We are grateful to have found this personal and valuable place to finally connect with other parents! Hi again! Our old message is way down on the list. Since then, we’ve moved from Connecticut to here in Washington DC. Sophie is doing well and is a thriving 4 year old although her hearing has had some rough days. She is being seen by the staff at Johns Hopkins for cochlear implantation this spring. Sorry if we haven’t returned any e-mail…it went to my old address. Would love to chat with any parents of children in our area. There are no certified AV therapists anywhere in the county even though the Bell headquarters are here! Sophie has enlarged vestibular aqueduct so would also be interested to hear how other children are doing with this. Sophie has now been implanted for 9 months and is doing well. However, she is so vocal/aural that she does not fit into the classic oral/hearing impaired programs offered by our county, which are among the best in the world, and she is not quite up to speed with her hearing pre-K classmates. Would like to speak with a parent who has hired “in-class” facilitators or educators that help the child to keep up with their mainstream classmates in terms of understanding directions, vocalizing concepts, taking chances, scholastic exercises etc. These are things which are “givens” in the mainstream classroom and treated differently in an oral one. Thanks everybody! |
| Brandon (3) Siblings: Jacob (2), Jared (2) Parents: Dave & Stacey Call http://home.san.rr.com/callzoo/ [email protected] San Diego, CA, USA 4/99 |
Brandon was diagnosed with a severe to profound hearing loss on 2-20-98. He started wearing his hearing aides in March and is doing quite well. We are excited about his progress and are anxious to start working with his speech. He is already babbling and making new sounds. We would love to talk with other parents who have also chosen this approach to educate their child.. Update on Brandon. Brandon is in the process of getting a cochlear implant. We hope to have the implant done within the next 2-3 months. He had twin brothers born who so far appear to be hearing and have been tested. However we did not discover Brandons hearing loss until he was 14 months old. Brandon attends the CCHAT Center in San Diego and is doing very well. |
| Benjimen Moore (16) Siblings: Richie Moore (18), Michelle Moore (20) Parent: Karen L. Lutrick [email protected] Alexander, Arkansas, USA |
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| Jessica Ruth (13) Sibling: Forrest (11) Parents: John & Mary Lou Powell [email protected] Las Cruces, NM, USA |
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| Robby (2) Sibling: Allissa (5) Parents: Sherri & Rob [email protected] Ledyard, CT, USA |
Our son was born with multiple congenital anomalies, which includes profound hearing loss, due to a mondini defect.He was also born with floating thumbs, which required amputation of the existing thumbs and now we are in the process of reconstruction surgeries, which will leave him with three fingers and a thumb on each hand.He currently receives auditory verbal therapy at Chips hearing services at UCONN in Storrs, CT.We are looking into cochlear implants and information on floating thumbs and syndromes related to this.He also has Duanes syndrome which pertains to the muscle control with his eyes. There are no related problems in our families.If anyone has any information pertaining to any of these please e-mail us. Thank you very much! |
| Janice Lau (4) Parent: Christina Lau [email protected] Tumwater, WA, USA |
I am not doing a good job being Janice’s mom. Her father and I did not know she is profoundly deaf until she is 27 months old. We did not know she is a candidate for cochlear implant until she 3 years old. She is 3 1/2 now. We are waiting for our insurance approval to get her implanted. I hope that will happen fairly soon. Janice is on the waiting list at our closest Auditory Verbal center. They will try to make a room for her after she is implanted. I know choosing Auditory Verbal will be a hard work for me. I am really looking forward for it because it will benefit Janice for her whole life. In the mean time, I like to hear more from other parents who have hearing impaired children. |
| Rebekah (3) Sibling: Robby (6) Parents: Bobbie & Rob [email protected] MtJackson, VA, USA |
Just would love to talk to other families in avt and how are they doing. |
| Hillary (9) Jeremiah (4) Misha (1) Siblings: Amber (18) Ashley (15), Hali (6) Parents: Jen & TJ Pearce [email protected] www.clis.com/zoe NC, USA |
We are the parents of 5 children, 2 of whom have a severe to profound sensori-neural hearing loss. Due to an unwillingness to test on the part of the doctors, Hillary was not identified until she was 3 1/2. Because of Hillary’s diagnosis Hali & Jeremiah were both tested as soon as possible. Hali tested with no hearing loss, however, Jeremiah tested in the same Range as Hillary. We have since discovered a deaf cousing on the Paternal side and a two year old cousin has just been identified with the same type of loss on the maternal side. We feel very blessed to have the chance to parent these awesome kids!! We have since gone through the home study process and been approved by the adoption committee in Carteret Co. North Carolina. I know this is a long shot, but we are trying to get the word out anywhere we can. We are seeking to adopt a deaf child. It’s possible that some parents may,through contacts with your child’s school, know of a deaf child that is in DSS care. Anytime a child is separated from their biological family, reunification with the family is the first choice. Since this is not always possible, some children are available for adoption through DSS. also, some children may be in DSS because of death or other family emergency that prevents the children remaining in the birth family. We are not looking to disrupt ANY family, rather provide a loving home for a deaf child that will be readily accepted and have the opportunity to communicate freely with all needed services provided. We have excellent health insurance which pays for hearing aids as well as speech therapy. TJ has been employed by the US Govt. for 15 years while Jen spends full time taking care of the home and carrying the children to school and therapies. We would love to hear from anyone who would like to share their experiences with their child or if anyone has any information to share about a deaf child that may be available for adoption. THANK YOU! 4/00 – We are very grateful to have added a new member to our family. His name is Misha, which is Russian for Michael. We adopted him on Sept. 28, 1999. He is truly a miracle, and if you are interested in reading the story, you can access our adoption web site at www.clis.com/zoe/adoption.htm. I would encourage anyone considering adopting either a deaf or hearing child to follow your heart, we did and we are eternally thankful! |
| Martijn (3) Parent: Therese Oostrom [email protected] |
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| Allison (5) Sibling: Amanda (9) Parents: Ellen & Phil Baird [email protected] Gilbert, AZ, USA |
Allison was born with a profound hearing loss and was aided and started AVT at 15 months old. She has done excellent with her hearing aids but because of some really bad back to back ear infections in January, she lost all of her high frequency residual hearing and it never returned. We are currently in the process of scheduling her for CI surgery next month (July 1998). Our daughter Allison was implanted with the Clarion “S” series in July of 1998. She will have her 6 month evaluation this month. She is doing great and adapted to her “new ear” without any problems. She attends preschool 4 days a week and is extremely outgoing around her peers. I would love to correspond with other parents raising hearing impaired children. |
| Lindsey (10) Siblings: Christopher (6), Rebecca (2) Parents: Lori & Brian McCane [email protected] The McCane Family Page Independence, MO USA |
Lindsey has Waardenberg’s Syndrome. She got her implant in Dec 1995. Please write, I love to talk about everything. |
| Brandon (3) Parents: Rick & Kris Root [email protected] Emmaus, PA, USA |
Barndon is 2 years old. He received a cochlear implant on July 17, 1998. He is doing very well. We would love to hear form other parents. |
| Shelby (8) Sibling: Amanda (11) Parents: Jim & Amy Meyer [email protected] Alta, IA, USA |
Our 7 year old has vestibular aqueduct syndrome and this is fairly new to us. We would like to know a little more about it, I am also doing a college term paper on the topic. |
| Deanna (4) Parent: Louis & Anita Colello [email protected] |
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| Sarah (4) Siblings: Katie (7), Rachel (3) Parents: Rebbecca & Jeffrey Odom [email protected] Sumiton, AL, USA |
Sarah is profoundly deaf w/ cochlear implant. She was diagnosed at the age of 15months, and has been implanted for 12months. She is enrolled in auditory/verbal therapy. She is mainstreamed into a private pre-school and is gaining language skills very quickly now, after a long 11 month struggle. We would love to hear from other parents. |
| Rachael (5) Parent: Tameka Harris [email protected] Indianapolis, IN, USA |
I need information on the best education for my 4 year old daughter. She has moderate to severe hearing loss in her right ear and moderate hearing loss in her left ear. We are in Indianapolis Indiana. I do not want her in the public school system. |
| Michelle (19) Siblings: Andria (14), Dawn (12) Parent: Adrian R. Agard [email protected] Bridgetown, Barbados |
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| Sage (6) Parents: Madeleine-Claire Guilis [email protected] Rye Brook, NY, USA |
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| Braden (11) Mary Ellen (6) Sibling: Merrill (14) Parents: John & Dawn Cook [email protected] Cullman, AL, USA |
Our son Braden (10) has a severe-profound loss and is has been aided since 2 ,Mary Ellen (5) was implanted at 3. Both were enrolled in Auditory verbal therapy immediately after being diagnosed. Braden is in 5th grade and has been completely mainstreamed. Today he won 1st runner up in our school spelling bee!!!Imagine that! He did wear his FM unit. Mary Ellen said “Good job brother”. |
| Stephanie (7) Sibling: Peter (12) Parent: Trisha Pagano [email protected] Pittsford, NY, USA |
At 18 months, Stephanie was diagnosed with a moderate to severe loss. By the time she was 4 she was profoundly deaf. At 4yrs.9months,she had a cochlear implant. She is now 61/2. Her speech and use of auditory processing has amazed us all. She is fully mainstreamed with services and continues to amaze us with all that she is learning every day. |
| Rachel (6) Abigail (4) Parents: Innes [email protected] Vancouver, WA, USA |
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| Warren (4) Siblings: Megan (11), Christian (2) Parents: Elijah & Angela Landrum [email protected] Lumberton, MS, USA |
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| Lucas (4) Sibling: Ryan (14), Beth (13), Amber (11) Parents: Greg & Janet Johnson [email protected] Olympia, WA, USA |
Our son, Lucas,3y, was diagnosed in late 1997 beginning of 1998 with mild-moderate hearing loss. At first they put tubes in his ears but that didn’t quite do the trick. They said that his hearing had improved some but not to where they were satisfied. Next they referred us to Mary Bridges Children’s Hospital where they did a sedated BER. They were able to confirm his hearing loss. We then went to Seattle’s Children Hospital for all types of testing. He thought it was great. We or should I say I knew something was wrong with his hearing. I kept with my gut instinct. My husband had no other children so didn’t notice that his speech was a little behind compared to my other children. They don’t know what caused his hearing loss or at least haven’t bothered to tell us. He got his hearing aids in August of 98 and liked them right from the beginning. He tried to give them back at the end of the day, thinking that he was borrowing them. Lucas is in a hearing impaired preschool and loving every minute of it. His speech has improved and we’re understanding him more everyday. He’s a very determined little boy and it doesn’t seem to slow him down or act like much of a problem for him. The teacher has been great with giving us information about educational right of hearing impaired children. Stand firm with your concerns and insist on everything. If you don’t know they aren’t going to tell you. We don’t know if Lucas’s hearing will get worse as time goes on or what but he’s hearing airplanes and the wind now. To me the greatest thing is to watch his face when he hears something, his eyes light up as if he never heard it before and that’s probably the truth. It’s scary when you find out your child is hearing impaired no matter to what extent. Dig and search for any and all information. Don’t be afraid to ask questions God knows I ask enough and still come up with more everyday. I came upon this sight by pure accident. Please feel free to e-mail us we would love to talk to anyone about hearing impaired things and get more information. This is all so new to us, we need all the help we can get, and who knows we might be able to help someone else out there. |
| Ohad (3) Sibling: Nadav (7) Parents: Marlene & Asher Saban [email protected] Haifa, Israel |
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| Ryan (9) Parents: Cindy & Scott [email protected] Canada
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| Tyler (3) Siblings: Ryan (8), Jace (6) Parents: John & Lori [email protected] Katy, TX, USA |
Tyler is now 2 years old and has had his hearing aides for almost a year. He babbles constantly! He started with just vowel sounds and now he is saying many consonants. He is a very bright little boy. But we seem to have a problem with his temper. He is going through the terrible twos right now, but it seems much worse than it did with our other two sons. We are using an oral approach to his therapy. We are also considering cued speech. We are very open minded about his therapy and are just waiting to see what will be the best approach to getting him to communicate. We are involved with a program from the Katy school district called Project Tyke. We have a speech teacher that comes to our house once a week, free of charge. When he is 3 he will be able to attend a free pre-school with other hearing impaired and special Ed children in Katy. We are also taking Tyler to the Houston Center for Hearing and Speech once a week. We want to give him all the advantages that we can to help him to succeed in life. I would be interested in talking to anyone about mainstreaming their children in school versus private school for HOH or deaf children. Also about the discipline problems that we have been facing. Would love to hear from any Texans. We are originally from West Texas. The Abilene and Lubbock area. |
| Kelly (22) Sibling: Mark (18) [email protected] Platteville, WI USA |
Hello! I’m Kelly and I have a bilateral moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. I was diagnosed at the age of 2 because I wasn’t speaking normally. I was in a special education program until I was of kindergarten age, when my teachers and parents decided to mainstream me. I’ve been mainstreamed ever since. I do not sign, but I do speechread and I use 2 hearing aids. I graduated from high school in June of 1996 and am currently in college in WI. I would love to hear questions and comments and talk with other kids with hearing loss. I am open to comments, too. Hope to hear from others soon! This is an update Fall 1998. I did some research this spring on what may have caused my hearing loss. I requested my medical records and learned that after my premature birth, I was given 35 mg of Gentamycin, which caused nerve damage to my cochleas. If anyone has any information about Gentamycin and its history, please let me know via email. My doctors refuse to talk about my medical treatment following my premature birth. This information will not go towards any legal action. I just want this information for my own peace of mind. I still have lots of questions regarding my medical treatment. |
| Abigail (7) Sibling: Hannah (4) Parents: Bruce & Karen [email protected] Charlemont, MA, USA |
Our daughter, Abigail, was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss in her left ear at age 3 and received a hearing aid in that ear at age 4. She was recently diagnosed with a similar and progressive loss in her right ear at age 5 and it has now been attributed to large vestibular aqueduct syndrome. We are putting her on a low sodium diet at the suggestion of our audiologist who has had some success at arresting further loss with this treatment. We are shooting for 1700 mg a day of sodium. He says he has been using this treatment for a short time and has seen some success, and will publish it soon. We would like to hear from others with experience with LVAS. Also, any sources for articles on it? We have been going to Dartmouth -Mary Hitchcock Medical Center for the last 6 months to have Abbie’s hearing tested and to consult with a specialist – Dr. Glenn Johnson. Since our July visit, when Abbie’s hearing had dropped by 15db in some frequencies in both ears, the specialist reccommended a lower sodium diet of 1300 mg/day. This October he say a significant increase in hearing in both ears (5-10 db at the same frequencies). We are very encouraged by this low sodium diet! Another key seems to be keeping hydrated by drinking lots of fluids -especially during the hot months. If you want info on how to do this, feel free to contact us. |
| Tyler (4) Brent (3) Siblings: D.J. (5) Parents: Rich & Diane Masci [email protected] A Prophetic Start For Diane Coram, NY, USA |
Hi! I’m not new to AV therapy as I’ve been profoundly deaf and oral all my life. (I’m 28). I have two deaf children. We moved New York from Arizona so that Tyler and Brent could be implanted at NYU. We also wanted to make the most of Early Intervention and AV/oral services. E-mail me anytime! –Diane |
| Heather (14) Siblings: Ashley (12), Billy (11) Parents: Bill & Holly Brewer [email protected] Balto, MD, USA |
Heather has been hearing impaired since birth. She’s had hearing aids since she was two. She’s been in a total communication program at school since she was four. She does excellent in school. In December she’s scheduled to have a cochlear implant. Would like to hear about experiences of implanted children at a similar age. |
| Kathy (6) Parents: Terri & Richard Charles [email protected] San Diego, CA, USA |
Our daughter Kathy was diagnosed at 27 months with a severe bi-lateral hearing loss. She is now 4 and appears to have a progressive hearing loss. She is now profound at LOW frequencies and severe at moderate and high frequencies, with about the same levels in each ear. We had a CT scan done which showed a normal cochlea and we have no idea of the cause of the hearing loss. Kathy is currently enrolled in a private auditory oral preschool where she is doing very well. We would love to correspond with anyone who has been through or is going through a progressive loss, either themselves or their child. We don’t know what to expect or what to do next. |
| Benjamin (15) Siblings: Bethany (10) Parents: Susan & Frank [email protected] Rockport, MA, USA |
Our son was diagnosed as an infant with a severe to profound loss in one ear and a total loss in the other. He has learned to listen and to speak through A.V. therapy and functions quite well in the mainstream. We recently purchased a digital hearing aid and are more than pleased with the results. Would like to share our experience with others and would like some tips on the up coming teen years. |
| Eduardo Tomas Oteiza (4) Parents: Eduardo Oteiza V. [email protected] Santiago, Chile |
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| Chloe (4) Parents: Carl & Debra Becht [email protected] Paoli, PA, USA |
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| Zachary (9) Siblings: Hannah (10), Rebekah (5), Jesse (3) Parents: David & Dawn [email protected] Orlando, Fl, USA |
Zachary has LVAS and has progressively lost his hearing. He is now a cochlear implant user. He was diagnosed with a severe-profound loss at 18 mo. and had used hearing aids with good results until approx. 1 1/2 years ago when he started to lose his residual hearing. He was implanted in May, 1998. During this last 1 1/2 years he has experienced severe headaches and dizziness associated with the hearing loss. We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has experienced this sort of thing or who has lived with LVAS. We are also interested in any research that has been done or articles on this syndrome. |
| Samantha (8) Sibling: Peter (12) Parents: Mark & Barbara Beger [email protected] Dumont, NJ, USA |
Samantha underwent cochlear implant (CI) surgery on Oct. 14,1998 and we are awaiting her turn-on, on Nov. 10. Samantha has severe hearing loss and just recently became a CI candidate. She has good residual hearing and was able to achieve excellent speech with the use of her FM system and hearing aids since age of ten months. After graduating from The Summit Speech School in July, she attends a mainstream kindergarten class in the morning and a collaborative hearing impaired program in the afternoon. We decided to proceed with the CI because we’ve learned from CI users, it will make Samantha’s life easier. We felt very responsible to make this technology available to her at this crucial moment when she’s young and has so much to learn, she will benefit from the CI every day in school and on the playground. |
| Miranda (4) Sibling: Jennifer (18) Parents: Lisa Reznik & Danny Meyers [email protected] New York, NY, USA |
Our daughter Miranda is almost 2 and is profoundly deaf. We believe she was born deaf, however she was not formally diagnosed until 17 months due to hour first pediatrician failing to recognize the signs and refusing to refer us for a hearing test, even when we expressed concerns about her hearing at the age of 2 months. Miranda is currently using an FM system, from which she seems to get minimal benefit. We are planning a Nucleus 24 implant, hopefully in November. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone with questions or comments about similar situations. We especially would like to hear from parents of implanted kids who were born deaf with little or no residual hearing or benefit from their hearing aids. How do such children do after the implant? How is their language development? We have also learned alot, and would be happy to answer any questions from anyone that we can. |
| Matthew (4) Tori (6) Parents: Joanne & Paul Travers [email protected] Ipswich, MA, USA |
I organize a parent group called PBI Parent Connection, which now has over 110 families in the greater Boston/North Shore region. We have a few members from other states. We do 4 family gatherings, 4 newsletters, 4 parent meetings (agenda with speaker), and offer all parents the opportunity to host a “Pillow Talk” (casual get togethers) as often as one wants. We do all this from September through June of each academic year. We started in 1997. To date there have been anywhere from 20 to 65 people attend the events. There is a $15 membership contribution. |
| Rituparna (7) Parent: Bijon Sharmacharya [email protected] Voorhees, NJ, USA |
We have our beautiful daughter of 5 1/2 years. She was born normal, at her age of 5 months she had an attack of Meningitis and have profound loss of hearing in both her ears. She wears behind the ear hearing aid and attends school under IEP. We are looking forward for all the expert’s information and guidance to enable us to provide her with the best that we can within our ability. |
| Michael (13) Sibling: Jennifer (18) Parents: Steve & Felicia [email protected] GA, USA |
My name is Michael,and I’ll be twelve in December.I had meningitis when I was two which left me totally deaf. I’ve had a cochlear implant for eight years.I’m in the sixth grade and I make all A’s and B’s. I would like to have some keypals!! Also if anyone wants to ask me or my mom about cochlear implants or auditory verbal therapy just send us an email. |
| Lindsey (11) Siblings: Dar (14), Casey (9) Parents: Dave & Gail Edie [email protected] North Carolina, USA |
Lindsey received her cochlear implant when she was 5. She is now mainstreamed in the 3rd grade and doing well. She still uses a sign language interpreter for clarification but relies on her hearing more and more. It was wonderful when she told me she heard her pet mouse say “squeak.” With her love of animals, I’m sure she will be a vet some day. Because of her influence I returned to college and got a degree in Speech Language Pathology. I now use the auditory-verbal method with my hearing impaired students. If you have information or comments that could help please send them my way.
Lindsey completed 3rd grade with a great report card. She made all A’s and B’s with 3 C’s for the year. Unfortunately she failed the End of Grade tests. I still haven’t figured out why. Each time I spoke to her teacher I was informed she was doing just fine. Be very aggressive when it comes to your child’s education. Keep in close contact with the teacher and visit the classroom regulary. Her oral vocabulary increased tremendously yet her sign vocabulary remained the same. We are going to try going strictly oral this year without the sign interpreter. Because I am the speech therapist at her school my speech room just happens to be across the hall from her classroom this year. Unfortunately I will also have to be her speech therapist also. Working with her at home and now at school too, I just don’t feel that it is fair to either of us. Any comments or suggestions, please send them my way. |
| Laura (10) Siblings: Kimberly (13), Jessica Lynn (18) Parents: Amy S. Englehart [email protected] Crofton, MD, USA |
Hoping for some research guidance. I have an 8 year old daughter that had persistent otitis media from 2 months until tubes at 18 months of age. Adnoidectomy was performed at same time. She did not speak (comprehensibly) until 2 1/2 years of age. We then worked with her to correct word formation.
Since then, she has had severe difficulties in school. Hearing tests are in the normal to above normal range with the exception of distinguishing words when background noise is present. To work with her, she is indifferent to most spoken commands. Educationally, she is seemingly unable to follow verbal instruction though she does well with written example and direction. Intelligence ranges from average to above average in all areas with exceptionally high marks in grammar. The school system has her working with a speech therapist to help her recognize when she doesn’t understand an instruction and to request extra help. After speaking with her pediatrician, I would like to further study auditory processing problems and how they can be EFFECTIVELY resolved. Anyplace you are willing to direct me would be greatly appreciated. I’m happy to repay the favor by documenting my research, the educational process, etc. and turning over to all those that help.
Kindest regards. |
| Austin (9) Sibling: Courtney (2) Parents: Tony & Jennifer [email protected] Olympia, WA, USA |
Our son Austin, 7, was just diagnosed on 9/4/98 with a moderate-severe permanent hearing loss in both ears. We’ve suspected a hearing loss since he was about 3 because he was not speaking as well as we thought he should be by this age, but our doctor (who is no longer) assured us that his hearing was fine and some children learn speech a little slower than others. When he went to kindergarten, the teachers could not figure out why he wasn’t understanding oral direction and again assured us that they had done a hearing test and it was fine. At the end of the year the school’s psychologist had determined that Austin had a learning disability surrounded around his speech and listening skills and they would be working with him in the fall and we wouldn’t need to go to our doctor (a different one than the first) to get his hearing checked. Well I did it anyway, as this time we finally had a doctor who would listen to our concerns about his speech. She referred us to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital where they did a sedated BER and confirmed our suspicions. All this time, our little guy has learned some pretty good compensating skills. We are extremely proud of our son and considering the amount of hearing loss he has suffered I can hardly wait to watch him excel even more once he get’s his hearing aids. I’m just really glad I followed my gut feeling about his hearing and pursued the matter rather than listening to someone else regarding the well being of our child. Austin will get his aids about the middle of October!! |
| Colton (3) Sibling: Shelby (5) Parents: Guy & Debra Heberling [email protected] Racine,WI, USA |
Our son Colton was found to have a severe to profound hearing loss at the age of 2 days old. He was fitted with hearing aides at 3 months of age. He has had back to back ear infections but is doing very well with the aides. He is now 10 months old and is just starting to use some sign language. He, as I describe him, is the poster child for blessings. I am unsure where this road is going to take us but if you’ve been down this road and wouldn’t mind sharing some of your experiences with us, please contact us. |
| Aaron (7) Parents: Donna & Fran McGarvey [email protected] Honeybrook, PA, USA |
Aaron is a 5 year old who received a cochlear implant in Nov. of 1997. Would like to communicate with other parents of implanted children. |
| Michael (9) Siblings: Justin (17), Mandy (12), Allie (10) Parents: Mike & Michelle Shryock [email protected] Berea, KY, USA |
Michael has bi-lateral moderate to severe hearing loss and began wearing hearing aids in k-garten when condition was diagnosed. We moved and he started new school in 1st grade and basically spent the year being isolated by the other children and without a friend. It was very difficult for him, this year when school began his HA’s were gone for repair and he began school without them. Now that the HA’s are back he refuses to wear them. He has friends this year at school and he believes they will no longer be his friends if he wears his HA’s. We don’t know what to do- don’t want to force him to wear them as he is doing very well in school and we don’t want to make him angry & resentful- but are also very concerned about what he may be missing. He has gone from speech at the age of five that only family could understand to near normal speech since he got his HA’s. Will this regress if he doesn’t wear his HA’s?
Does anyone have any suggestions about getting a kid to wear HA’s that has already experienced first hand discrimination from other children? Would appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance! |
| Mohammed Umer (7) Parents: Mrs&Dr Shamim Akhtar Memon [email protected] Katy, TX, USA |
Information regarding hearing impairment and helpful organization |
| Christopher (3) Parents: Stephen & Shirley Rexrode [email protected] San Carlos, CA, USA |
Christopher is 16 months old and has just received a cochlear implant (he was implanted before 18 months due to ossification in the cochlea). Christopher was born three months premature and had bacterial meningitis at two weeks. In addition to his hearing impairment, Christopher is dealing with other issues that are common with bacterial meningitis and extreme prematurity. He was aided at two months and seemed to be doing well until his hearing loss progressed. Christopher receives auditory/speech therapy three times a week as well as physical and occupational therapy. Although we work with him at home a great deal, we do try to let him just be a kid some of the time. He is a very happy child and we are all looking forward to the months ahead (after his October, 1998 hook-up). We’d be happy to share thoughts and experiences with other parents. |
| Nick (17) Siblings: Thayne (23), Lance (19) Parents: Joe & Laura [email protected] Fallon, NV, USA |
Nick is our third son. He was born with a severe to profound loss in both ears. His right ear has had a drastic decrease in hearing just recently. Nick is a Sophomore is High School and is mainstreamed. He is doing well in school, better than I expected for High School, and is also playing football and is on the State Weight lifting team. We recently lost our Deaf Resource Teacher so this will be the first year that we our on our own with no support. The school is looking for another Teacher but living in a rural community it could be a while before one is found. Nick has friends who sign even though he doesn’t and he also has hearing friends. At 15 his opinion is that we did the right thing in teacher him Auditory/Oral. |
| Daley (4) Parent: Velma Jackson [email protected] Camden, SC, USA |
Daley received AVT this summer. Her results from evaluations look really great! She is able to hear and discriminate between all sounds! We are very excited! We begin again in Sept. This is a wonderful program! Daley continues to make great progress after almost 1 year of AVT. She is speaking by using many 4-5 word sentences now. We can not believe the progress. Please email if you’d like to share experiences. She is doing very well in a mainstream pre-school class, also! |
| Danielle Llouise (4) Sibling: Shaira Kayna (6) Parents: Jason & Melanie [email protected] Philippines |
I am a mother of two lovely daughters, Shaira and Danielle. I had German measles during my first month of pregnancy that brought about Danielle’s present condition, she was diagnosed as profoundly deaf on both ears at the age of 3 months and had started wearing hearing aids one year after. With the hearing aids on, she now vocalizes a lot, however we felt that this is not enough and thus we are planning on a possible cochlear implant this October, 1998. We have had a lot of exposures regarding the procedures before and after the implant but very little info on its direct effect upon the implantee, its advantages and disadvantages including the importance of doing it right now at 18 months of age or waiting for another year or two?? We really need all the information we can get, and whatever that may be it will definitely be a vital factor in deciding for our daughter Danielle… |
| Matthew (2) Sibling: Stephanie (6) Parents: Dean & Linda Klotz [email protected] Cameron Park, CA, USA |
Matthew was diagnosed 1 month ago as moderate-severe in both ears (July 98). He has had his hearing aids for 2 weeks. He is currently testing at 15db for speech when aided. We are looking into the CChat school in Sacramento as well as our local EI program through the County. Any input from members on how their children are doing with the auditory-verbal method would be helpful. |
| Samuel G. Santiago (10) Parents: Wanda Valent�n [email protected] |
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| Haley (2) Sibling: Connor (3) Parents: Reggie & Brenda [email protected] Boca Raton, FL, USA |
We discovered Haley was severely (bilateral) hearing impaired when she was two days old, and confirmed at one month old. She now has bilateral digital hearing aids, and seems to be adapting to them very well. I would like to hear from parents who are using an auditory verbal approach what a typical day of hearing training is like. I would also like to know how you keep your infant from taking her aids out and sucking on them!? 🙂 I am interested in information on finding this therapy in my area. Please contact me to share your experience and thoughts |
| Haley (8), Devon (4) Parents: Tom & Heidi Smart [email protected] MN, USA |
Our son received his implant on 5/1/98 and was “turned on” June 4. If anyone has any questions on how he did with the surgery and how he is adjusting to his implant you are welcome to contact us. |
| Brendon (14) Siblings: Melissa (12), Meagan (7) Parents: Gert & Marlene Tighy [email protected] South Africa |
Brendon is profoundly bilaterally deaf due (probably) to a birth trauma. We relocated from Johannesburg to Cape Town so that he could attend the Carel Du Toit centre at age 3. He initially went to De La Bat School for the Deaf, but after his CI in 1994 now attends Mary Kihn School for the Partially hearing-impaired in Cape Town. The latter follows an A-V approach. He is now in Grade 5. We are fortunate that his sisters are very supportive. He is very proud that he is ‘Not deaf’ |
| Davis (9) Siblings: Brandon (13), Andie (6), Dustin (3) Parents: Tim & Therese [email protected] Walnut Creek, CA, USA |
Davis, our energetic 5 year old contracted spinal meningitis when he was 13 months of age, and suffered a severe to profound hearing loss. Teaching our son to communicate with speech and listening through using the technology that we now have available to us with high powered hearing aids has given him the freedom to communicate with anyone he wants to. We receive Auditory-Verbal therapy through the Phoenix Education Center in Foster City, CA. It has become a way of life for our family of six. We would love to encourage any families new to the hearing impaired world through our own experiences, and welcome communication at anytime. We are looking forward to hearing from other parents! |
| Nathan (7) Parents: Anne Camp, John Flanders [email protected] Cromwell, CT, USA |
Nathan lost his hearing from meningitis in April, 96 at age 3. He has profound loss. He is mainstreamed at a pre-school in New Haven, and is receiving AV therapy at CREC in Wethersfield. Nathan will be entering a regular kindergarten this fall. He has made remarkable progress over the past two years, and continues to be a very verbal child. |
| Samantha (9) Parents: Richard & Patricia Burns [email protected] Samantha’s Home Page Covina, CA, USA |
Samantha was born with no useable residual hearing. When investigating cochlear implants, we were discouraged by comments that she was “too deaf” to benefit from an implant. Please remember that only the implant surgeon and the parents can make that decision. Samantha was implanted at the age of 2 y. 3 m. Today, she is a happy, mainstreamed 3rd grader and enjoys open set discrimination. She attends public school, is an avid swimmer and is in Brownie Girl Scouts. She also receives auditory-verbal therapy. She enjoys her pets and has several email pen pals. She would like more! |
| Steven (5) Parent: Lance Bradwell [email protected] Northampton, England |
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| Erin (2) Sibling: Jack (4) Parents: Susan & Kyle [email protected] Gilbert, AZ, USA |
My daughter Erin is 4 months old and was diagnosed yesterday with moderately severe bilateral hearing loss. She was born 10 weeks prematurely and was given Gentamicin while in the NICU. I would desperately like to receive support, advice and information on AV Therapy and cochlear implants. |
| Frank (4) Parents: Ralph & Elizabeth [email protected] Wheaton, IL, USA |
Our son was just diagnosed with moderate/severe hearing loss and we are just beginning the educational process for ourselves in this area. We are most interested in how/where/with whom to start his therapy. We would appreciate any referrals in the suburban Chicago area. |
| Rachel (12) Jessica (5) Sibling: Adam (9) Parents: Melissa & Elliot Chaikof [email protected] Atlanta, GA, USA |
Rachel and Jessica were both born profoundly deaf, most likely due to Waardenburg Syndrome. Rachel received a Nucleus 22 cochlear implant in December, 1989, now hears and speaks very well, and attends a mainstream fourth grade. Jessica received her implant when she was all of fifteen months old and is doing beautifully. Both girls receive A-V therapy at the Auditory Education Center in Atlanta. |
| Taylor (7) Sibling: Dylan (5) Parents: Brian & Gretchen Wardle [email protected] Layton, UT, USA |
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| Mitchell (5) Sibling: Dylan (8) Parents: Diane & David d&[email protected] Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
Mitchell was diagnosed at 11 months old with a severe to profound hearing loss in both ears. He was fitted with aids just before turning 1 year old. We have been following an AVT program every since. While Mitchell is progressing, he is still behind in speech development. We are considering a cochlear implant for him with a hope of making it easier for him. There is so much information both for and against CI. I would like to hear from people who have opted for an implant as well as those who decided against an implant. |
| Justin (11) Jacey (8) Sibling: Jordan (9) Parents: Jennifer & Terry Fraser [email protected] Dayton, NJ, USA |
Justin was diagnosed with Large Vestibular aqueduct Syndrome at 5 years old. We were hit by a drunk driver and he bumped his head. He was COMPLETELY deaf on the right side. He previously had normal hearing tests. After a CT scan we found out he had LVAS, on the right side. The left was normal and his hearing in that ear remains good.
We went to see Dr. Parisier who had written an article in the New England Journal of Medicine about the syndrome. Luckily he is only an hour away in New York. We were astounded to learn there is no treatment for this. At least in Justin’s case as the hearing loss was so complete. Jacey was just diagnosed with LVAS, after failing a hearing test in school. We insisted on a CT scan as we know from our research that if she did have it in both ears.. a head trauma could result in complete deafness..in BOTH ears. She DOES have it in both ears and now we are dealing with the potential if not guaranteed continued loss of hearing. I will now have a CT scan done on my other son to see if he also has it as the potential for hearing loss with LVAS is so great.
I would urge any parent with unexplained hearing loss to have a CT scan and find out for sure. It is extremely important to avoid possible head injury if this is present. It can mean the difference in use of a hearing aid or total deafness. |
| S�bastien (13) Parents: Marc-Andr� Chiasson & Gis�le Desjardins [email protected] Dieppe, N.B., Canada |
S�bastien is presently integrated in a regular grade 6. He wears one hearing aid and has a severe to profound loss in the left ear (aided) and no residual hearing in the other ear. He speaks French very well and manages well in English. He doesn’t have too many friends and would like to correspond with other hearing-impaired children. He sometimes finds life difficult particularly in school where he doesn’t feel like he fits in with the other hearing children. |
| Spencer (4) Parent: Christy [email protected] San Antonio, TX, USA |
Spencer was diagnosed with his hearing impairment when he was 7 months old. We enrolled in the parent/infant program at the Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children with a completely auditory/verbal approach. He has done pretty well with the hearing aids, but it seems we have reached a plateau with what he can do with the hearing aids. Therefore we are seeking to get him a cochlear implant. We have seen some marvelous result with the implant on other children in the program and hope it will help Spencer. We have recently been dealing with a lot of frustration with Spencer this is my only child and I don’t know if it is just because he’s two or because he is really frustrated because of the lack of communication skills. I would like to talk with anybody who is having similar problems, so we can exchange ideas and provide support. This is an update on Spencer. He got a cochlear implant of May 28, 1998. His surgery went very well. We will go back for activation on July 2 and 3. Can’t wait to see what happens. |
| Kevin (7) Sibling: Kelsey (10) Parents: Patty & Rick Martin [email protected] Kennewick, WA, USA |
Kevin was identified as hearing impaired when he was 25 months old. He was just recently identified as having Mondinin’s malformation. His hearing has been stable since he was first identified in February of ’95. He has a moderate-severe sloping to profound loss. He loves his hearing aids and has worn them all day every day since he first got them. Right now he loves to show off his new colored ear molds (they’re red, blue and black). He is doing very well in a “normal” hearing pre-k and will start mainstreamed kindergarten in the fall. His speech is still delayed but he is catching up by leaps and bounds. He has therapy 3 times a week and is a very talkative child. |
| Reid (16) Siblings: Tiffany (23) Barbara (22) William (20) Parents: PAM & Ross Candlish [email protected] http://www.sentex.net/~candlish Kenilworth, Ontario, Canada |
The disparity between people with different levels of hearing loss continues to amaze me. My son uses a hearing aid in the one ear which responds to sound. At his IPRC recently, his home room teacher spent ten minutes stating Reid did not really need his hearing aid and FM. In another meeting with an Ontario Ministry of Education consultant, all his teachers agreed he suffers from learned helplessness and would do better if he would try harder. After eight years of name calling in the school yard, it has finally become a detention to call my child a retard or stonehead. This is the discrimination which exists for many children with mild and moderate hearing losses. They face ignorance and indifference in a mainstream classroom, and have no social support, and very little educational support. Reid had no speech at age two, and hearing aids. We used the Ling system and taught him to talk. Children who talk well are considered to not have hearing problems. Reid’s childhood is the subject of my book Not Deaf Enough published by A.G.Bell, and enthusiastically encouraged by Dan Ling, Judy Simser and Carol Flexer. It highlights the use of the Ling system to teach language to children with mild and moderate hearing losses. Not Deaf Enough is also about becoming an effective parent to a child who does not hear well. All the reviews so far have considered the book to be excellent. |
| J.D. Parents: Dave & Kay Powell [email protected] Listen Up! & Talk It Up! Texas |
I am the parent of a 10 year old hearing-impaired child. I know first-hand how difficult it is to find the information you need to help a child with a hearing loss, so I decided to put this information on my web site. My goal is to make this web site your one stop place for information, answers, help, ideas, resources, and anything else related to hearing – impaired children. |
| Kuah Liang Yen (4) Sibling: Kuah Pei Yee (6) Parents: Paul & Vivian Lee [email protected] Malaysia |
My son, Liang Yen was diagnosed with a moderate-to-severe hearing loss when he was 18 month He is 2 years old now. He has hearing aids which were selected by a provider. Quite recently I have read about auditory-verbal therapy. We have used and use at present both total communication and oral approach with him but he progresses very slowly. We would like to learn what the AV therapy is. We would love to hear more about programs available. Please write. We would be very grateful for any information, ideas, resources, and anything else related to hearing-impaired children. |
| Na-Rae Kim (16) Jin-Hyuk Kim (15) Parent: Yong-Ki Kim [email protected] Seoul, Korea |
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| Anastasia Anette (9) Parent: Anette [email protected] Indonesia |
Severe hearing impaired, but thanks God, speak very good and get a good rate at her 1st grade of normal school. |
| Daley (4) Parents: Velma & Rusty Jackson [email protected] Camden, SC, USA |
My daughter wears binaural aids. I have recently had one of them repaired due to moisture, we think! She’s very active. I have been using a drying agent at night to help reduce moisture. It has already stopped working again since repair. Please contact me if you have any information that could help. We are very careful with the aids and she wears them all of the time. I worry about her being without them during this repair time. |
| Tommie G. Wells [email protected] DefBird’s Nest! Fort Worth, TX USA |
I am a cochlear implant user and a Children’s Rights Coordinator for AG Bell Association. I am interested in talking with adults who are raising their deaf child to be oral. I would also like to talk with any of the children who are old enough to use the computer in this way. |
| Dries (4) Siblings: Eline (5), Floris (3) Parent: Stefaan Vernieuwe [email protected] Antwerpen, Belgium |
My name is Stefaan Vernieuwe, my wife is Martine Lembregts. We live in Antwerp, a town in Belgium. Our son Dries, who is 2 years old also has the ‘Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome’ (LVAS). We found out that he was deaf at 1year and 3mths, but until last month there was no formal diagnosis. Since he was suffering from dizziness, we decided to take a CAT and NMR scan of his head. This showed that he has some deformations on the inner ear, known as the LVAS. Dries has a significant loss on both ears. he’s wearing hearing aids since over a year now, and his speech is developing now. He is under treatment with linguists, 3 days a week. I would love to get in contact with parents who’s child suffers from the same syndrome, so we can exchange experiences. Also I’ve been scanning the internet, but I didn’t find any additional information VLAS. Someone can help us on this? |
| Brooke (6) Sibling: Cole (3) Parents: Rick and Shelli Edgley [email protected] |
We found out last week that Brooke has Large vestibular aqueduct syndrome and is deaf in one ear and has lost some hearing in the other. There is no really good data on the problem and we would love to hear from other people with the same problem. What has helped? We have her currently on lasix. |
| Alexandra (5) Siblings: Katy (10), Rebekah (8) Parents: Doug & Debbie [email protected] Tottenham, Ontario, Canada |
Our daughter, Alexandra, was recently diagnosed with bilateral Mondini syndrome and large vestibular aqueduct syndrome. We are actively immersed in the auditory-verbal approach and she is eager to learn to listen and to speak. We are eager to speak with other parents who also have children at risk of progressive hearing loss. We are members of Voice for Hearing Impaired Children. |
| Joy (21) Parent: Pat [email protected] Newton, NC, USA |
Our family received services at the Helen Beebe Speech and Hearing Center in PA. Joy was successfully mainstreamed and is now an independent adult in college. The auditory verbal approach worked for us and I am available to encourage or assist you in any way. I may have already walked through what you are in right now. I have also recently completed a teacher education program for teachers of the hearing impaired. If you know of an opening where I can utilize my experience and knowledge in the south – please let me know!! |
| Sandy (13) Siblings: Jacquelyn (11), Andrea (8), Lance (4) Parents: Rose Smith [email protected] Douglasville, GA, USA |
Sandy has a severe to profound loss in both ears and wears a hearing aid. Sandy is a graduate of AEC in Atlanta. She has been mainstreamed in the public school system since kindergarten. She is now an honor roll student in 6th grade. She loves basketball and horseback riding. She is thinking about getting a cochlear implant when she gets older and would like to hear from other teenagers who have already been implanted about all the pros and cons. |
| Julia (2) Siblings: Eric (8), Dana (6) Parents: Victor and Jessica Silvestri [email protected] USA |
Hello, We are the proud parents of 2 boys, Eric and Dana and recently a beautiful baby girl named Julia. Julia was diagnosed with a profound, sensorineural hearing loss. We are looking to get feedback from hearing families who have been in this situation, what communication approach they chose and why, and how every day life is affected. Many thanks. |
| Andrew (6) Siblings: Sarah (5), Jessica (3) Parents: Terry & Mary Seifert [email protected] Stoughton, WI, USA |
Our son Andrew was diagnosed at 21 months with a moderate to severe hearing loss due to the Mondini deformity and also has enlarged vestibular aqueducts. Two months later he received his first pair of hearing aids and has been AV therapy since. He is currently enrolled in a special ed. communications classroom and will be mainstreamed into public school for Kindergarten. His progress has been remarkable with AV therapy. He has however experienced sudden and unexplained fluctuations in hearing and we still do not know for sure why. We would love to hear from anyone who has also experienced fluctuating hearing losses, or anyone with ideas/experiences about AV therapy and advice on mainstreaming. It is great to finally find people who are going through what we are! |
| Tyler (3) Siblings: Ryan (9), Jace (6) Parents: John & Lori Matthews [email protected] Houston, TX, USA |
Tyler has just been diagnosed as having severe to profound hearing loss(3-5-98). He will be wearing a new type of hearing aide that is partially programmable. He is enrolled in a ECI program at our local school. We do not know anyone who is hearing impaired except for our Tyler. Right now he is a year behind in his speech development. We will be working with him to understand speech. Our ultimate goal is to have in mainstream education, talking and hearing as close to normal as possible by the time he is 5. |
| Colleen Winter (9) Sibling: Mason Patrick (5) Parents: Jacqueline & Richard Redmond [email protected] Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada |
Anyone wishing to send information please do so. |
| Drake (7) Siblings: Ashton (5), Casey (9) Parents: Shawn & Kerri Crawford [email protected] Attica, IN, USA |
I have a 5 year old boy who has moderate to severe hearing loss. I don’t know whether to send him to a deaf school or a school who has a hearing impaired program (oral). |
| Chase (3) Parents: Gene & Kristine Henderson [email protected] Huntsville, AL, USA |
Hello! We are the doting parents of a nine month boy (our first child), Chase Waller. Chase has a bilateral profound hearing loss that was detected as part of an early hearing screening test performed two days after his birth. We have determined that an auditory-verbal way of life is best suited for our son. Accordingly, Chase has been using hearing aids and participating in auditory-verbal therapy since he was 3 months old. We now are considering him for a cochlear implant due to mixed audiological test results. We welcome any and all comments, questions, advice, etc. from others impacted by hearing loss. |
| Cory (6), Alex (5) Parents: Bob & Yvonne Mahl [email protected] West Branch, MI, USA |
We have 9 children aging from 20 to almost 2 with 2 of them having hearing loss. One has moderate loss in one ear and the other has severe in one and profound in the other, all the other children have normal hearing. |
| Sean Abuedo (4) Parents: Ramuel & Rizalina [email protected] New Milford, NJ, USA |
We would like to meet/communicate with parents of hearing impaired children. |
| Alexus (5) Grandmother: Nadia [email protected] Griswold, CT, USA |
I am the grandmother of a 3 year old girl who was implanted with cochlear implant about 8 months ago. She is showing very little progress with speech. I would like to hear from other people who use both sides of the fence. (Speech only vs. speech & sign) Alexus’ mother is trying the oral approach. I am interested in learning sign so I can communicate in the mean time. I would love to hear from someone soon. Thank you for a great web site!! Also interested in a chat room on subject if there is one. |
| Christopher (14) Parents: Donna & Bill Robertson [email protected] Rittman, OH, USA |
Christopher is 12 years old, he was diagnosed with a bilateral severe to profound hearing loss at 2 years 6 months and aided at 2 years 9 months. We started Auditory-Verbal therapy at 2.9. From pre-school to present in 6th grade he has been mainstreamed. During this time he has been in Cub Scouts, Church and School choirs, plays trumpet in band, plays golf, baseball, basketball, loves working on the computer and he enjoys his model railroading hobby. Most recently he played trumpet in a mixed ensemble in a County wide solo and ensemble contest. The ensemble received Superior, the highest rating, and we were very excited.
We always welcome questions from parents starting in the Auditory-Verbal approach. |
| Jillian (6) Sibling: Samuel (4) Parents: Ronald & Cindy Diamond [email protected] Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Jillian was implanted with the Clarion in November of 97 at the age or 4 and a half. She is doing great. With our system of socialized medicine and long waiting lists if you have a borderline child, pursue an implant immediately. We waited almost a year from when the protocol began with the implant center. Any parents have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact me. |
| Heath (6) Sibling: Austin (5) Parents: Matthew & Rachel [email protected] OH, USA |
Heath was an advanced speaker, at 11 months he was saying please and thank you to the astonishment of the nursery workers at church. Looking back we see that at 18 months his vocabulary stopped, although at the time we honestly didn’t notice. Nothing happened during this time, no ear infections (he never had one until he got his hearing aids), no trauma. It wasn’t until his brother, 13 mos. younger turned two did we notice that Heath was not as advanced as his brother in communication. After a big run around, he was diagnosed with a moderate to severe bilateral sensorinural hearing loss. We would love contact with ANYONE that IS going through this, or HAS hone through this (i.e. an adult hearing impaired person to explain what may be going on in our son’s mind). Thank you. |
| Kevin (7) Siblings: Kyle (9) Leigh (4) Parents: Kevin & Joan Crossett [email protected] Blue Bell, PA, USA |
Our son Kevin Patrick is almost 4 years old and has been implanted with a Clarion cochlear implant over a year ago. Kevin is enrolled in the auditory-verbal program at the Helen Beebe Speech & Hearing Center. |
| Rebekah (9) Sibling: Justin Long (22) Parents: Edward & Jennifer Scott [email protected] Merriam, KS, USA |
Rebekah has a cochlear implant. She is mainstreamed in her first grade, neighborhood school. She is above grade level in reading and plays soccer, ice skates, and is in the Girl Scouts. Dedicated Auditory-Verbal professionals and their theories have made this possible. We would be happy to correspond with any parents about our experiences. |
| Sandra (9) Siblings: Anne-Marie (3) Parents: Bill & Kim [email protected] Louisville, KY, USA |
Hi we are parents of Sandra age 7 she has a profound to severe hearing loss. She has been mainstreamed into our public schools in the 1st grade this year, and we have run into some challenges. We would love to hear from anyone that is currently going through this situation, or that has gone through it. She is a very bright and capable girl, she is not having problems academically it is more the social area. Also some misunderstandings with the teachers.
Sandra would also love to correspond with children in similar circumstances. |
| Lauren (5) Parents: Kelly [email protected] IN, USA |
Hello everyone! Our daughter was diagnosed as profoundly hearing impaired at age 18 mths. She wears 2 hearing aids and does benefit from them. we are looking into CI Could you please give info about them. EX: Does it restrict you in any way from doing things? How is hearing from them different from hearing from your aids? Please help if you can |
| Morgan (3) Parents: Barri & John Schlitz [email protected] Moorestown, NJ, USA |
I am hoping for information on starting to use speech in addition to sign with my 1 year old son. thanks, Barri |
| Paden (4) Parents: Bob & Michele Richiel [email protected] Franklin, TN, USA |
Diagnosed at 18 months with bilateral severe to profound hearing loss. After 10 months of hearing aid use & progressive hearing loss, Paden was implanted 12/97 with Clarion. |
| Artoym (6) Siblings: Kirill (3) Parents: Olga & Vladimir, Grandmother: Tatyana [email protected] Ekaterinburg, Russia |
My grandson, Artyom, was diagnosed with a moderate-to-severe hearing loss when he was 1,8. He is 4 years old now. He has hearing aids which were selected by a provider. Quite recently I have read about auditory-verbal therapy. We have used and use at present both total communication and oral approach with him but he progresses very slowly. We would like to learn what the AV therapy is. Can it be adapted to Russian speaking children? We would love to hear more about programs available. Please write. We would be very grateful for any information, ideas, resources, and anything else related to hearing-impaired children. |
| Hussein (9) Parents: Jeedu & Ibrahim Siblings: Sabra (13) [email protected] Roseville, N.S.W, Australia |
Hussein was born with a severe to profound hearing loss. He was diagnosed at 9 months and was fitted with hearing aids. In September 97 he was implanted with a 24 electrode Nucleus Cochlear Implant. He is now 7 years old currently receiving AV therapy. We’d like to hear from other parents and share information. |
| Nathan (4) Parents: David & Lynn LeMahieu Siblings: Matthew (7) [email protected] Hortonville, WI, USA |
Our soon to be 4 year old son had pneumococcal meningitis 5 weeks ago and was left profoundly deaf as a result. We are going to pursue a cochlear implant very quickly. We will be forced to travel out of state to get the latest Nucleus or Clarion technology. We definitely want to follow up with Auditory-Verbal training but cannot seem to connect with anyone here in east central Wisconsin that knows what we are talking about much less has training. Our implant hospital will be 4+ hours away and is not practical on a regular, weekly or semi weekly basis. Can anyone help us get started to search out this expertise in our area?? What can we do to impress on the school “M-Team” and the IEP that this is needed. Thanks. |
| Mikala (4) Parents: Kenny & Joanna Dabney [email protected] Madison, VA, USA |
I am the mother of Mikala who has a cochlear implant and goes to auditory verbal therapy. I am interested in sharing our experience with you about Mikala. She was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at 3 months of age and first wore hearing aids. |
| Mitchell (5) Parents: Larisa & Marat [email protected] New York, USA |
Mitchell was born with severe to profound hearing loss.He was diagnosed at age 1,6. In May 1997 he was fitted with the Nucleus 24 cochlear implant. His hearing is improved. He currently receives speech therapy and utilized an oral communication. He is 3 years old.We’d like to hear from other parents and share information about children with implants. |
| Carly (3) Parents: Chuck & Jennifer Becknell Siblings: Kaitlyn (6), Garrett (4) [email protected] Ft. Mill, SC USA |
Carly was diagnosed at 2 month old with profound severe hearing loss. She has been wearing hearing aids since she was 4 months ago. We have just finish taking Cued Speech classes and have starting Aural Habilitation therapy. Our family has been very supportive, 8 members took the Cues Speech classes with us. My husband & I are very committed to Carly and will do whatever it takes for her.. We are interested in other parents who are experiencing similar circumstances. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. |
| Aaron (6) Siblings: Cara (25), Shannon (20), Josh (11) Parents: Myrna Wolfe-Maxwell, Richard [email protected] Scarborough, Ontario Canada |
Just want to learn more and chat with others about our concerns and share good things. |
| Karissa (6) Parents: Betty [email protected] |
Our granddaughter, whom we are raising, is 4 years old and has a profound bilateral hearing loss. She has a Cochlear Implant which was implanted 2 years ago and is doing very well. I would like to hear from other parents who have questions that I might answer or other parents who have children with Cochlear Implants. |
| Katie (5) Sibling: Ryan (7) Parents: John & Deborah Burke [email protected] Mobile, Alabama, USA |
My daughter, Katie, was diagnosed with a moderate-to-severe hearing loss when she was 19 months old. She is 3 years old now, and we have recently discovered auditory-verbal therapy. In the past, we have used both total communication and the oral approach with her, but she has really progressed rapidly in the few months that we have used some of the auditory-verbal goals with her. I want to learn more about how to use AV therapy, so Katie and I will be driving to Birmingham once a week (a four hour drive) in order to use the services at Children’s Hospital of Alabama’s Center for Hearing-Impaired Children. I am very impressed with their auditory-verbal program and feel that it is worth the drive. I would love to see more programs available to children who live in rural communities or areas of the nation that are underserved. |
| Colton Guy (2) Parents: Ronald Guy and Leslie Michelle Gatti [email protected] Rock Springs, Wyoming, USA |
I am in search of information and suggestions on the medical treatment options and education of my four month son. He has been diagnosed with a profound hearing loss since birth and has had hearing aids since he was a month old. I am desperately trying to provide my son with all that I can. My wife and I are committed to doing what ever it will take to help our son. I am also interested in a chat line with people who are experiencing similar issues as I am Thank you. |
| Jackson (3) Parents: Tammy & Ryan Whisenant [email protected] Rock Hill, SC, USA |
My son Jackson has a profound hearing loss due to Bacterial Meningitis at 5 mths. He is scheduled for a Cochlear Implant at 18 mths. He currently has hearing aids in both ears and seems to hear OK with them. We are just learning about AV Therapy and hope to start using this soon. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. |
| Jacob (5) Sibling: David (3) Parents: Greg & Jennie Bulman [email protected] Spartanburg, SC USA |
Our son Jacob was diagnosed at age 2 with a moderate to severe hearing loss. He was fitted with two hearing aids and began AV therapy. We have been impressed with Jacob’s progress. At age 3, he is attending a Montessori Preschool and his language is close to that of his peers with less than one year of therapy! We plan for Jacob to attend public school in two years when he enters Kindergarten. We are interested in hearing from parents whose preschooler has made the transition to public school or from anyone whose child has been recently diagnosed. |
| Daniel (4) Parents: Linda & Jurgen Pannock [email protected] Brentwood, TN USA |
Daniel was diagnosed at 8 months with severe-to-profound bilateral hearing loss. Currently, he is receiving intensive a/v therapy at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and from Tennessee Infant Parent Services. He is also mainstreamed at the Montessori Centre here in Nashville. Anyone with knowledge or experience on the Montessori education philosophy and hearing impairment education, please write. |
| Tamar (5) Sibling: Ma’ayan (7) Parents: Dalia & Danny Sternberg [email protected] Israel |
Tamar was born at 12/4/94 with profound hearing loss. She was diagnosed at age 4.5 months. We tried hearing aids for about a year, but she could not benefit from them. Finally, when she was a year and 7 months old, she underwent the cochlear implant surgery in New York. Tamar is now 2 years and nearly 10 months old. She hears beautifully. She’s developing speech, and is now at the stage of 2 word sentences. She goes to a regular kindergarten. We have been doing auditory-verbal therapy from the beginning. Indeed, Tamar is completely auditory. She still has a ways to go as far as her speech is concerned, but she’s improving all the time. |
| Adam (7) Sibling: Brett (6) Parent: Naomi & Chris [email protected] Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
Adam suffered a profound loss due to bacterial meningitis October 1994 (age 2). Implanted with Nucleus 22 January 1995. Currently mainstreamed in preschool and starting school in January. Would like to hear from other parents of kids who have had meningitis. Also any ideas from parents whose hi kids have started school, about things he needs to know to make the change easier for him. I love this page and it continues to grow every time I visit!!!! |
| Kyle (9) Sibling: Katie (12) Parents: Sherry & Russ Zeilstra [email protected] hearing Ferndale, WA USA |
Kyle is now in first grade. He is becoming more verbal and is catching up to his peers with his language. I would love to hear from other parents who are trying to use AV guidelines without a formal therapist. Or anyone in rural areas. |
| Hailey (4) Parents: Marlene & Scott [email protected] Vernon, NJ, USA |
Hailey is our 10 month old daughter who was just diagnosed with a senorneural hearing loss which is severe to profound. I would like to hear from anyone in our situation and know what life is like for them and their child. We are in the process of enrolling Hailey in an early intervention program for deaf/hearing impaired children. I have so many questions, will she speak, etc? Please write us with your stories, suggestions, etc. |
| Katelyn (5) Parent: Milissa Graves [email protected] North Carolina, USA |
Hello everyone!! Looking for lots of input on AVT. We know some but not much. We are looking for good therapist in our area. We are military and are subject to move overseas. Input on AV Centers overseas would be excellent!! Thanks, Milissa |
| Gabriela (8) Sibling: Natalia (14) Parents: Julio y Crista [email protected] Cochabamba, Bolivia |
Gabriela was born with a profound hearing loss. We knew the diagnostic when she was 2 years old, and we started with an Auditory-Verbal program assisted by a Educational Center from Chile. Now, Gabriela is learning to speak, she is going to a normal Kindergarten, and she is doing very well. We would like to know about other parents experiences, specially in Spanish speaking countries. |
| Michelle (6) Sibling: Matt (4), Brad (4) Parents: Cyndi & Tony Bailey [email protected] Cyndi Bailey’s Web Site Chico, CA, USA |
Our daughter, Michelle, age 3 was diagnosed at 8 months with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. She has been aided ever since and is scheduled to receive a cochlear implant this October. We sign and speak to her, as she is enrolled in a TC program. We will be using AV as our therapy method post-implant and are wondering about the continuing use of signing. We don’t want to give up our ability to communicate with her. We’d love to hear from other parents with CI kids who use AV. |
| Alexander (7) Parents: Katrina Tranos [email protected] Salem, Mass, USA |
Alex has been using a cochlear implant for two years now and is doing very well. I am interested in hearing about older children and how they do after they have used the implant for a longer period of time. |
| Rachel (6) Siblings: Brandon (13) Heather (15) Mike (17) Parents: Brad & Staci Henks [email protected] Columbia, MO, USA |
Parents of HI 3 year old child, diagnose at 15 mo. with moderate/severe and profound/sloping hearing loss respectively in right and left ears. We are using the AV therapy method, but are transitioning from private speech therapy to speech therapy provided by the public school systems. Interested in obtaining information regarding IEP, frustrations, happy times, sad times, similar happenings with other parents. |
| Laurin (10) Elena (6) Parents: Bobby & Rene Swink [email protected] Claremont, NC, USA |
Laurin, our oldest, is in the second grade. She is fully included in the regular class with her hearing peers. She is profoundly deaf and wears a cochlear implant. She also plays basketball, soccer and baseball at our local YMCA. We are very proud at how well she adapts in all hearing situations. We are interested in hearing from any other families who have any tips and/or advice for us with regards to the classroom or upcoming situations i.e. peer pressure. Elena who is three has a moderate loss and is following in her sister’s footsteps. She is fully included in a vocational childcare program at the local high school she receives more than one on one care. Her language is pretty much on target. There is a whole new can of worms with a kid who has a moderate loss. We would also appreciate any advice and/or tips on the possibility of Elena losing her hearing down the road. I am a Parent Educator for the Parent Training and Information Center for NC. If there are questions that any one may need answered on educational rights i.e. IEP’s, IFSP’s or Sect 504 you can either e-mail me or call me at work 704-892-1321. |
| Benjamin (4) Parents: Julie & Ian [email protected] Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
We are the parents of a 16 month old son who was diagnosed with a severe to profound hearing loss at the age of 10 months. We are currently pursuing auditory-verbal therapy in Akron, OH. We would love to hear from other parents for information, tips, advice etc. |
| Stacy (21) [email protected] Ohio, USA |
I am an eighteen year old Auditory-Verbal graduate who was mainstreamed from the beginning. I was born with a profound hearing loss. In June of this year, I was implanted with the Clarion device. Because of my Auditory-Verbal background, I did not have problems adjusting to the sounds I hear with the cochlear implant. This fall, I will be attending college and will be majoring in Audiology. |
| Kevyn (3) Sibling: Kyle (3) Parents: Sandy & Tim Kowalczyk [email protected] Huntingdon Valley, PA, USA |
Kevyn was born April 3, 1997. He was diagnosed as severely/profound deaf a month later. We do not know exactly how this happened. He was premature but born very healthy. He did have hyperbillirubinemia shortly after birth. And he was treated with Gentamicin. His twin, Kyle, is not hearing impaired. Right now we are struggling with which direction to go with his therapy, education etc. We’d love to hear from other parents with similar circumstances. |
| Melissa (17) Siblings: Erin (11), Mina (16) Parents: Jasmine Taskiran [email protected] Istanbul, Turkey |
My daughter who was born in Atlanta, hard of hearing, now age 14, living in country called Turkey, well it is not that bad, very modern country, lots of sunshine, only 200 miles to the Greek Islands by car, and ferry boat. My daughter will be moving back to states by the summer 1997, I need to find out about mainstreaming guidelines for her. Please help. Also your children can write to Melissa. Thanks. |
| McCall (12) Siblings: McKay (14), Emily (9) Parents: Kent & Julane Scadlock [email protected] Provo, UT, USA |
What a great forum! Our daughter, McCall, lost her hearing when she was six-years-old due to an auto-immune disorder. She wears a hearing aid in her left ear and has very good speech. We as parents would love to hear from others in similar situations. She is the only deaf child in her school and getting teachers and administrators to work with us has been difficult. We would love to receive any ideas or solutions you might have.
McCall would enjoy communicating with other kids in her situation. She loves riding her bike, animals and making new friends. |
| Alanna (5) Parents: Teresa & Bill Kilroy [email protected] Franklin, MA, USA |
Alanna was born with a profound hearing impairment. She is doing very well in AV Therapy. We are also investigating a cochlear implant. Alanna has what is termed a ‘common cavity’ instead of cochleas. We’d love to talk to anyone who has investigated a cochlear implant for their child with similar circumstances. |
| Luciano (9) Sibling: Giancarlo (6) Parents: Landon & Joanna Hamlin [email protected] Apopka, FL, USA |
Luciano lost his hearing to meningitis at 18 months of age. He is an AV kid with a Nucleus 22 cochlear implant. As his parents we are actively involved in issues related to AV and increasing and assuring its availability. Always glad to hear from other parents and professionals. |
| Logan (3) Siblings: Jamie (5) Parents: Cathy & Mark Shore [email protected] Raymond, NH, USA |
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| Jessica (17) Parents: Pat & Andy [email protected] Florida, USA |
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| Sabrina (15) Siblings: Brendan (8) Lauren (22) Parents: Donna & Brad Perry [email protected] Lake Tahoe, NV, USA |
Sabrina is mainstreamed in 7th grade and is the only child in her area that is hearing impaired. She is struggling in school. She can hear pretty well with her hearing aides. She would like to talk to a girl her own age with the same problems. I wouldn’t mind hearing from some parents in the same boat. |
| Nehama (12) Sibling: Aviva (9) Parents: Jim and Marci [email protected] University Heights, OH, USA |
Interested in sharing ideas with other parents and hearing impaired adults. A penpal for my nine year old daughter would also be wonderful. |
| Adrean (19) Siblings: Jason (22), Dominic (21) Parents: Amanda & Bruno Mangiardi [email protected] Allentown, PA, USA |
Am interested in a chat room for my deaf son, Adrean, so he can talk to other teens. |
| Haim (4) Sibling: Shachar (6) Parents: Jeremy and Lisa Barkan [email protected] Jerusalem, Israel |
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| James Isaac (7) Sibling: Kirk Robert (4) Parents: Karrie & Charles The “Speaker” Page Florida |
Visit The “Speaker” Page dedicated to childhood hearing loss and inspired by James! He was diagnosed with a mild to moderate hearing loss last April. |
| Jennifer Smith (15) Sibling: Gavin MacEwen (12) Parent: Deb Meitin [email protected] Kingsland, GA, USA |
Hope to connect with anyone near us. |
| Aaron (5) Siblings: Shane (11), Jeffrey (8) Parents: Jeff and Dorie Kincaid [email protected] Dublin, VA, USA |
Aaron is two years old and profoundly deaf. We live in a rural area where little or no services and no parent support groups are available. Aaron has an FM system and knows a small amount of sign. I am interested in learning cued speech. We want Aaron to be mainstreamed but don’t know what we should do to prepare him and ourselves. Any advice from other parents will be greatly appreciated! |
| Harry (5) Sibling: Allie(9) Parents: Elizabeth & Allen Walpert [email protected] Brookline, MA, USA |
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| Nicolas (9) Siblings: Levi (20), Justin (13) Parents: Larry & Belinda Coffelt [email protected] Springerville, AZ, USA |
Wanting to learn more about how to help Nic deal with social issues where his impairment is concerned. Also ANY information on educating him in public school or just anything of interest that helps our child go towards the best he can be in life. |
| Matthew (8) Sibling: Emily (6) Parents: John & Margaret Crouse [email protected] Olathe, KS, USA |
My son Matthew is a cochlear implant user. He also uses auditory-verbal communication. I am willing to share info and experiences with anyone interested. |
| Justin (14) Parents: Cheryl & Howard Exner [email protected] Regina, SK, Canada |
Justin has a cochlear implant. E-mail us (Justin loves penpals) ! |
| Justin (14) Siblings: Dylan (7) Jessica (5) Parents: Cliff & Linda Mazurek [email protected] Las Vegas, NV |
Would love to share ideas re: education |
| Tristan (14) Sibling: Julian (16) Parents: Stephen Treasure & Chris Hall [email protected] OR [email protected] Aurora, Ontario, Canada |
Tristan is a profoundly hearing impaired 10 year old who is happily mainstreamed in Grade 5. We would be delighted to share our experiences and communicate with other families with H.I. children. We are members of AVI and VOICE for H.I. children and are active advocates for the H.I. and their families. |
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