Hearing Aids or Cochlear Implants?



Fun at the lake!

 

 Recently, I have been trying to read everything I can about hearing loss, what works best and the different approaches to take with speech.  Our hope is to have Dylan speaking on the same level as his peers.  Something that has been hard for me to comprehend is that children with hearing loss have to be taught to listen and speak.  I guess this is what sparked my research.   I’ve realized that as Dylan’s parents, we have to be his #1 advocate; therefore, we have to be as knowledgeable as possible!

This is where the cochlear implant debate started.  Is Dylan hearing everything he can?  Are his hearing aids powerful enough? Dylan had recently received new hearing aids when this debate started and we had not started seeing improvements.  We found out that to even be considered for cochlear implants, a child under 2 has to have a profound hearing loss and a child over 2 has to have a severe loss and not hearing in the normal range with hearing aids.  Cochlear implant recipients have to be evaluated, have an MRI and go weekly to UAB prior to receiving implants and after.  This is a major surgery that does away with any residual hearing.  This would be a major change for us all if we went down this path.  After this research, we found out Dylan wouldn’t be candidate until 2 and after further research, we don’t think he ever will because he is hearing in the normal range with his hearing aids.  PRAISE THE LORD!!! And PTL for our audiologist who saw the need for more powerful aids!

Shortly after finding this out, Dylan and I were on our way home for the day and “Shout to the Lord” came on the radio. I was singing away and happen look in the rear view mirror to see Dylan clapping along!  What a sight this was! He had not done this before and I know this was God’s way of showing me we were on the right path with his hearing aids.

Fast forward a few weeks: Dylan has made TREMENDOUS progress! He has said mama bye-bye (when I leave), eat, uh oh and up.  What sweet music this is to hear him speaking!

 Next up: Our approach to speech therapy, sign language and much more!