Now let's get some things straight. We don't see ourselves as needing to "fix" Ben, or "cure" his deafness, because it's so much a part of who our boys are. We love their voices and love the fact that they sign. Colin's hearing aids are working well for him, and Colin's learning to speak with therapy. Hearing aids don't work so well for Ben and his speech therapy has been rendered essentially useless. Both our boys are learning to speak and already sign quite well... and if you didn't already know, Abby's hearing is just fine... but Ben's situation is a bit unique. In fact, he's been the subject of at least one major conference of doctors and surgeons.
It's unique for two main reasons: First, Ben has a genetic condition called Usher syndrome that may lead to a loss of his sight when he reaches his twenties. This cochlear implant will hopefully allow Ben to hear more of the world around him, hear it properly. Also, the speech therapy that has been useless to this point would begin to do him some good and he would be able to learn to speak. If he loses his sight, Ben would still have four of his five senses to rely on, and hopefully his speech will be improved to the point that he'll have a voice in the world that he can use to communicate (in addition to ASL). Second, doctors suspect he has a degree of auditory neuropathy - basically the sound in the world isn't the sound in his brain - and a cochlear implant can often correct that problem.
What the deuce are you talking about? ...you might say... :)
You can learn all about Ben's situation by checking out the following links:
Cochlear implants
Usher syndrome
Auditory neuropathy
ASL Browser (must have Quicktime Player installed)
We appreciate your thoughts and prayers today!
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