Elliot was born in January 2001 with profound, bilateral hearing loss and received a cochlear implant at 9 months of age. In August 2006, Elliot was implanted with a second, bilateral, implant. Our fourth child was born in May 2006 and we learned in the first week of his life that he also had profound bilateral hearing loss. Oliver received his first implant at six months of age, exactly, and his second CI at a little over 11 months. Our first two children, Nicholas and Alexander, were both born with normal hearing.
To go directly to the blog:
News and Comments
MAY is BETTER SPEECH
and HEARING MONTH!
(May is Oliver's birthday, too!) Let's Celebrate!
1. Order a copy of Ellie's Ears for your child or a
friend
2. Watch an inspirational video about JQ, son of an actress and
bilateral implantee
3. Tell someone you know about cochlear implants, newborn
screening or Auditory Verbal Therapy
4. Spend time listening to your favorite music, talking to
your friend on the phone or listening to the birds on a
lovely spring morning
5 Listen to your Buds... don't play your
itunes too loudly!
(More to come!)
"Stand
before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if
your voice shakes."
Maggie Kuhn
"No pessimist ever
discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an
uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human
spirit."
Helen Keller
Along with cochlear implantation, we are
firm believers in the power of Auditory-Verbal Therapy to
fully develop both receptive and expressive language. We
are currently using the services of the AV center in Atlanta, GA
where we live. Elliot used
to participate AVT in Denver when we lived in Colorado,
"graduating" after 2.5 years of weekly sessions.
..."identification of newborn hearing loss should be
considered a neurodevelopmental emergency!" Carol Flexer,
from "Neurological Foundations of Listening and Talking" a
chapter from
CHILDREN WITH HEARING LOSS:
Developing
Listening and Talking Birth to Six
Both of Elliot's
cochlear implants and Oliver's implant are manufactured
by Med-El which is headquartered in Innsbruck,
Austria. As a clarification (due to skepticism about us
and our site)-- though we are very happy with our
manufacturer, we have never received any compensation or
recommendations regarding our website, which we created
on our own. We are thankful to the inventors, engineers,
surgeons and all involved in the making of these great
devices. Welcome, enjoy and feel free to contact us with
questions!
"Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing
that we see too late the one that is open."
Alexander Graham Bell