by Amy Lapain
Editor’s Note: Thanks to our friends at CASPLA for calling this article on Cochlear Implant Online to our attention!
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away… well that is how it seems. As I prepared to write this article, I was sent searching through my pictures to find one the day Andrew was diagnosed as profoundly hearing impaired. You see, he was born before the digital age, so I had to go through a few boxes of actual print pictures to find it! I was recalling all the fun, and difficult times we have had over the last 10 years as I thumbed through the pictures.
Andrew was born with a profound sensorineural hearing loss and was implanted at 13 months of age. He was born early, received the proper hearing test in the NICU and I was told by the pediatrician that he might “grow into his hearing.” I was a new, first time mom. This, my dear friends, is not the case and I find it difficult to believe that such a good doctor could even utter those words. Thankfully, I am a pursuer. And pursue I did. We went ahead with the appropriate testing and on October 31, 2000, just two months after Andrew was born, we had a confirmed diagnosis.
The “good” audiologist told us that our Early Intervention folks would call us. Again, I am thankful I did not sit on my laurels. My husband and I made calls, got in programs, had our first run in with IEPs and so on. We have in our area passionate teachers of the hearing impaired. Don’t tell anyone this but they let us in the classes even before we had a signed IEP.
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