My daughter, age 7, was implanted a couple of months before her third birthday.
She was born profoundly deaf (hearing at 90 db with hearing aids). She was
hearing no speech at all before the implant. Now, almost 5 years after implant, she
is mainstreamed in second grade in a public school and doing wonderful. Today she
had her first piano recital. No one probably even knew that she was profoundly deaf by the
way that she played (not just coming from a proud parent). Her teachers at school
tell me all the time how she fits right in with the other kids and they have to remind
themselves that she is hearing impaired and that she may need some extra help. She
has won the spelling bee in her class the last three weeks (the words given to her orally)
and her math teacher says she always gets done first and helps the other kids. The kids
accept her and seem to have little or no problem understanding her. As far as
language, she has come a long way (which without the implant she would not have been able
to do). She hears things that surprise me at times. I don't feel that she is
in any "twilight". She goes right along with the other kids. She has
played on a soccer team for the past two years and loves being with other kids -- she is
very social.
To our family, the implant has been a "miracle" for Jenna. There is so
much she has been able to do because of it and she continues to amaze me every day.
Each day brings new words, new meanings, etc. She has become an avid reader
and is reading chapter books that my fifth grader also reads. She may not comprehend
every word she reads, but she gets a lot more than I thought she would.
As you can tell, I'm a very proud parent of the accomplishments of my daughter -- I don't
feel we push her past what she can achieve (with the help of her implant) and she loves
the challenge.
