Returning to the list after a break

[Guest guest]

Just a note of reintroduction....My name is Jeane . My husband and I

have six children.

Our youngest child, andra, is four and she is the reason we find ourselves

on the Listen-up list.

She was identified shortly after birth with a severe to profound loss. Fitted

with aids at four months,

she immediately began to jabber away. By the time she was 18 months, we

realized that she had a

progressive hearing loss. In July of last year she was implanted with a

Clarion. Her speech and

language comprehension has increased dramatically since then.

is currently enrolled in our county DHOH preschool that is TC with an oral

emphasis. We

really struggled with the decision as to where to place her educationally and

went against

conventional wisdom and placed her in a TC environment rather than a completely

oral one....

She is doing well, we feel fortunate to have had such a great school year.

struggles with

some other significant health challenges like mild CP, swallowing dysfunction,

sensory integration

disorder, possible apraxia...we know she is not on the level with other 4 year

olds but she

has come so far.

Well, its good to be back.

Jeane

[Guest guest]

> Anyway, I did have a general survey question : How many of you out there

have

> kids with implants?

JD has had an implant for 13 months now.

> Secondly, how many of you have kids that use a TC program?

JD's in the mainstream program through a private oral school for the deaf,

but one of the 13 year olds in that program, with an implant, will be going

to a TC program with an oral emphasis next year.

> Is this usually a general standard that most school districts follow (the

use of

> a TC based program)?

It's supposed to depend on the needs of the child, but in reality, a lot of

it depends on where in the country you are.

> Oh and I do not know if anyone out there has had a child with an actual

increase

> in hearing over the years.

I've heard of a few.

> but when do the " experts " usually decide that a

> child is old enough to be classified as Deaf or HOH?

A lot of this depends on how the child views themself, or the parents. JD is

deaf (little d) or HOH. Big D usually means you embrace the Deaf community.

I say both because he views himself as HOH when his equipment is on and

functioning. He views himself as deaf otherwise. It also depends upon how

your child functions. If your child uses his voice and residual hearing with

amplification well, they're usually called HOH, but if they rely on sign

language for communication or mostly speech-reading, deaf. A lot of it also

depends upon the " experts " .

> And how much are these

> school programs dependent on my son's placement in their program so they

can get

> " benefits " ?

I think they get benefits if the child has an IEP. If I'm wrong, I'm sure

someone will correct me.

Hugs,

Kay