Cochlear War

I have been almost forcing myself to read the other side of the argument regarding cochlear implants. This argument comes from the Deaf community. It seems important to understand their views, since they have actually know what it is like to live the life of deaf person, and I have no firsthand knowledge of this. For Lily's sake, I have sought out the deaf persepective. I came across this site, Cochlear War, which has an open letter to parents who are considering implanting their prelingual children. It was an eye-opening thing to read and gives me lots to think about in this week before our appointment with the cochlear implant surgeon.

There is a lot to read in that letter and I have read it a couple of times now. In my last re-reading, I picked up on this part, which I missed the first time around. Makes me feel better somehow...

We don’t believe that a cochlear implant should be installed in prelingually deaf babies and young children. If a child already has experience in hearing and speech before losing her hearing, and has become profoundly deaf as a result of sickness or trauma after learning how to speak, or was born hard-of-hearing but lost her hearing gradually, we have no objection to the implant, because the child is simply reconnecting with her previous mode of communication. That child already has a basis for spoken and aural language. An implant will enable the child to build on the existing foundation.

On the opposite of the spectrum, this story came out about a little girl in Boston who was just bilaterally implanted: Special Ear Implants Help Girl, Born Deaf, To Hear. There is a short video to watch and you can hear her converse just like a hearing person. I wonder how hard she had to work to speak that clearly. I wonder if we can pull off Auditory-Verbal Therapy in a way that won't make Lily need therapy as an adult.
- Kriste