The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community

Cochlear Implants and Music: Your Thoughts?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Click on English subtitles and enjoy!
Wed, Dec 14 2011

Deaf Community and Cochlear Implants- new book!
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community The cochlear implant debate has changed, as evidenced in this cogent collection that presents 13 chapters by 20 experts, including several who communicate through sign language but also utilize cochlear implants. The impetus for this change stems from recognition that both visual and aural input can enhance the education of deaf children.Divided into four sections, Co...
Mon, Dec 05 2011

Deaf Families with Cochlear Implants Study
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community An online survey for Deaf parents of Deaf children with cochlear implants and their perspectives on bilingualism:What is the purpose of the study?There are few studies from deaf families’ perspectives on deaf children with cochlear implants. The purpose of the study is to explore deaf families’ beliefs, perspectives and attitudes about language development in ASL ...
Tue, Nov 15 2011

Good Educational Resource
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I am always looking for links to reliable, informative websites regarding educational research for D/deaf kids. When I find them, I pass them on. Here is one from RIT and Marc Marschart. [link]
Wed, Jan 19 2011

BKB-SIN test
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I promised I would give an update of my daughter's booth test when I got it. She was tested last summer, but there was a mix up in getting the report out, so it took a bit longer than expected to get the results, but here they are:She took the BKB-SIN test, which tests signal to noise ratio compared to "normal" hearing. In this case, it compares how loud t...
Fri, Nov 19 2010

Myths
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community One of my biggest frustrations when doing my research on ALL THINGS DEAF was the vast amount of myths I encountered. If the people and groups giving me information would have just limited themselves to telling me what they did well and why, it would have been fine. But they could not seem to stop themselves from also telling me what "the other side" did poor...
Tue, Nov 02 2010

Another Viewpoint
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community In an earlier blog, "Does It Have To Be Either/Or", a person added a comment that has stuck with me. I have been mulling it over for a while, and I thought it was important enough to repeat it here in its own blog.The comment is as follows:I can only respond to this comment with my experience as a hearing person who learned ASL as an adult. I am an interpr...
Fri, Oct 15 2010

Bullying
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community All the recent tragedies in the news about suicides from bullying and harrassment has me concerned. I have seen some nasty bullying in comments over the years on various blogs in DeafRead. It is the biggest reason I won't yet let my daughter participate on this blog. I just can't trust the commenters to behave themselves around a 12 year old girl. The anonymity of...
Mon, Oct 11 2010

Does It Have To Be Either/Or?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community If there is one thing that confuses me about Deaf Culture, it is the seemingly insurmountable wall between ASL Deaf and oral deaf. I know absolutely that there are people out there who happily live in both spaces. They sign, they talk, they live their lives. But there also seems to be this attitude that proclaims "If you were oral and are part of the ASL Deaf Cul...
Mon, Sep 20 2010
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Audiogram
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I have said before that my daughter has made amazing use of her implants. She has especially good use with her left one, which she has had since she was 12 months old. She had a booth test the other day, along with testing in noise. I don't have the noise test report back yet, but here is her audiogram. CL is her left cochlear implant hearing, and CR is her right coch...
Mon, Aug 02 2010

This Week - Church Camp
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community My on-the-go kid got back from deaf camp, spent a long weekend with us at a family get-together, spent half of the next week with her grandparents, and is now off to church camp.She has been a busy girl, but that is what summer is for. She loves deaf camp, but she also loves church camp. There are no other deaf kids at church camp that I know of. She will spend the...
Mon, Jul 19 2010

Will She Win the Chatty Kathy Award This Year?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community We took our 12 year old daughter to camp yesterday. Such an insecure child (not). She was barely aware of us as we drove off, just managing to wave goodbye, before she was off to visit old friends and make new ones. Her counselors this year are totally ASL, with no voice. She didn't seem to have any concerns, and dove right in with her signing. It does not matter...
Mon, Jun 28 2010

Creating Divisions
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community What is the point of this?On twitter, AGBellTweets made derogatory comments about sign language:This was later found to be a fraud:Why are we creating divisions when we should be working together for the future of deaf children?
Thu, Jun 17 2010

Speaking of Camps...
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community If you are in or around Oregon, there is a wonderful kids Deaf Camp called Camp Taloali. Here is the link: [link] They use primarily ASL, but are capable of handling both SEE sign and kids who are primarily verbal with implants. They also allow siblings and friends if room is available.My daughter has gone there for the past two years, and she loves it. She has ...
Fri, Jun 04 2010

Camp Mark Seven for HoH and CI users
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Hard-of-Hearing and Cochlear Implant Camp SessionsYouth Session: Hard-of-Hearing & Cochlear Implant users July 25 to August 6, 2010Children’s Session: Hard-of-Hearing & Cochlear Implant users August 8 to August 20, 2010Information:CM7 is offering a new camp program this summer for children and youth who are hard of hearing or with a cochlear implant. Spoken E...
Mon, May 31 2010

Grateful
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Back in late 1998, my baby girl came down with meningitis. It was a scary, stressful time for our whole family. We knew before she left the hospital that the disease had claimed her hearing. We also knew we wanted to look into a new option for partial restoration of hearing - the cochlear implant. It was a mad scramble time for us. She still had many health issue...
Fri, May 21 2010

Your Child Has a Cochlear Implant: Why Include Sign...
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community This article was published in the Spring 2008 edition of The Endeavor, the magazine of the American Society for Deaf Children (www.deafchildren.org). It is reprinted here with permission.Debra Nussbaum is an audiologist and coordinator of the Cochlear Implant Education Center at the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University.Over the past 10 ...
Tue, Apr 20 2010

ESOL/Bilingual Programs Don’t Apply to ASL/Spoken English...
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community -written by Anonymous Deaf mother of Deaf ASL CI UserI just visited a public school in our neighborhood to consider enrolling my son for Kindergarten next fall and my son's current speech therapist joined us for the visit to provide support. We met with the school’s speech therapist and she was very excited to work with my son who has a CI as she has never worked...
Thu, Apr 15 2010

Survey for CI users using ASL as primary/secondary language
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community An audiology student at Gallaudet University sent us an email asking us to share with the rest of the community the link to her research project with the hopes to get more survey responses.Survey participants must:be 18 or older, Must have had cochlear implant(s) at one time...either currently using or discontinued use accepted, andmust use ASL as a primary or second...
Wed, Apr 14 2010

Study finds Toddlers with Implants Process Language Slower...
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I came across a very interesting article that falls right in line with what I have observed with my daughter. Here is the link to the study: [link] it states that of the two year olds in the study, the ones with implants processed language slower than their hearing peers. I fully agree with that, and the recommendations in the
Wed, Apr 07 2010

Impact of CIs on sign language interpreters
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I am forwarding a request from a interpreting student for his assignment. Could you help answer his questions below?Hello,I'm a first year student at the Hogeschool Utrecht, The Netherlands, where I study to become a sign language interpreter.For an assignment I'm trying to find out what kind of impact the rising number of CI users will have on sign language interpret...
Sun, Mar 28 2010

Gallaudet needs young adult CI users to do online survey
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community A deaf/hh graduate student majoring in Audiology at Gallaudet University is doing a research study project titled "Young Adults’ Perspectives on Their Communication Experiences with Cochlear Implants." He is looking for participants (with cochlear implants) that would like to share their thoughts and communication experiences using their cochlear implants. ...
Sun, Mar 21 2010

Can We Help Marina?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I received a response in the comments section of my last blog from Marina. She needs advice, and I think it needs a bigger response than any one of us can handle alone.Marina writes: "I am an advocate for the Deaf in Armenia, a country where the latest "trend" or "fashion" is to have deaf children implanted. The tragedy is that the parents an...
Mon, Mar 15 2010

Can you be a little bit Deaf?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Admittedly, my daughter is only 11 years old, living in a hearing family, using bilateral cochlear implants and has verbal speech as her primary language. However, she is fluent in SEE sign, and is quickly improving in ASL. She tends to hang out with the D/HH kids at lunchtime.Is she deaf, or Deaf? We got into a conversation the other day about how she feels about ...
Fri, Feb 26 2010

Deafhood foundation
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I just finished watching the welcome video for the Deafhood foundation. Before I started watching the video, I was wondering- would they mention cochlear implants? I was actually hoping that perhaps the message would be positive and inclusive. Wishful thinking.. Butch mentioned cochlear implants 33 seconds into the welcome message as an example of economic exploita...
Sun, Feb 21 2010

The Development of Bimodal Bilingualism
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community (click on images to enlarge)
Fri, Feb 19 2010

Ossified Cochleas are a Different Animal
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community When my daughter decided she wanted an implant for her other ear, we were told that since that cochlea was fully ossified (filled with bone), there was no way to predict how well it would work, or how long it would take to get maximum benefit. With most implant proceedures, two years is the general time frame between implantation and maximum benefit. Since she got h...
Fri, Feb 19 2010

Musing on the Future
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I was talking with friends the other day, and the subject came up about what the future would hold in regards to hearing loss issues. Things are in such flux right now. The scientific and medical communities are working together to find the causes and cures for deafness. Gene mapping is beginning to find out the "why" of many genetic forms of deafness. S...
Mon, Jan 25 2010

Update Time
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I promised to do a follow-up blog on my daughter's visit to her cousin's ASL class, and a follow-up on her one year anniversary for her second implant.First, the ASL class. My daughter had a written speech that she read to the class, then I took over and talked about how hearing works, how hearing aids work, how the implant works, and a little bit about the different ...
Mon, Jan 11 2010

Deaf Children and Literacy
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community My daughter recently had her three year school evaluation in accordance with IEP elegibility requirements. Yes, she is still deaf. Yes, she still qualifies for an IEP. However, her academic test scores were all at or above grade level, so she only qualified for audiological services, not academic assistance. We were very happy with her progress.That got me to wond...
Fri, Dec 11 2009

Show and Tell
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Last month, while we were at a family birthday party, my niece came over to ask a favor. Could my daughter and I come to her high school ASL class for show and tell? It seems that she (my niece) missed a number of days and her grades are not the best. She could get extra credit points for doing a presentation on different deaf related subjects. She asked her teach...
Mon, Dec 07 2009

Gallaudet Professors' CI Journey
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Gallaudet Professors Josh and Sam Swiller received their cochlear implants a couple of years ago, and this video summarizes their journey since then.  Gallaudet Professors' CI Journey
Fri, Oct 16 2009

Anti-CI vlog/movie
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community In response to the furor over these two anti-ci vlog ( [link] and movie (www.isignilive.com), it is very important to keep in mind that not all of those who are members of the deaf community think the same way. The most important fact here is that many of us in the deaf community either have children with cochlear implants and/or have
Sun, Sep 27 2009

Conundrum – Why Parents Make the Decision
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Many Deaf children’s advocates recommend waiting to implant until the child is old enough to decide for him or herself if they want to get an implant. If all else was equal, I would be right there with them. The problem is that for the implant to be successful, the brain needs auditory input during the critical first three years. If hearing aids work for the child,...
Thu, Sep 10 2009

Why Sign Language is So Important
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I was scanning the DeafRead blogs this morning and came across this one: [link] so clearly explains some of the hidden pitfalls in the path of kids being raised as oral deaf. As a hearing parent, I have grieved over my child's loss of hearing, and rejoiced over the success she has with her implants. She loves music, and is considered a very
Fri, Aug 28 2009

New Technology for Deaf/Blind
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Here is an interesting article published in the Seattle Times about new assistive technology for deaf/blind people. [link]
Wed, Aug 12 2009

How Would You Feel about a Deaf Interpreter?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community My daughter is 11. What an 11 year old wants to do when they grow up can change with each sunrise. However there are two dreams that come up regularly. She wants to be a swim instructor, and she wants to be a Deaf Interpreter.I can actually see her doing both with relative ease. But what intrigues me is the idea of a deaf person being an interpreter for another de...
Thu, Jul 30 2009

D.E.A.F. Project
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community The D.E.A.F. ProjectWe provide....Empowerment for families with children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing so they can receive the most effective services and their children can enjoy the greatest educational opportunities resulting in productive and enriched lives.We believe....Deaf and Hard of Hearing children can accomplish anything!Families are the key to any child'...
Mon, Jul 27 2009

Bilateral Progress
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Our daughter received her first implant shortly after her first birthday back in 1999. Back then, implanting prior to 18 months of age was not common. She lost her hearing due to meningitis as a baby, and her right cochlea ossified (filled with bone) very quickly. Since we wanted to have her receive the implant, the doctors needed to move very quickly to insure a f...
Fri, Jul 17 2009

Musings on the Brain
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I have been wondering on and off about how visual language differs from verbal language in the way the brain reacts. This post is strictly my thought process, and is not backed up by any professional studies or doctor’s opinions. Just my observations and ideas.From what I understand, brain MRI scans of people using sign language lights up different areas of the brai...
Wed, Jul 08 2009

Research Links
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community For those of you who love links and research publications. Many of you frequently ask for the links to the research articles we talk about regarding cochlear implants. And many more of you are asking for research that has already been published. The links below are mostly links to links. If you have links to other research articles, please add them in the comments sec...
Wed, Jul 01 2009

Where is the Line?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community In my last blog, I was talking about tolerance and respect between people with different viewpoints and opinions. The comments took a decided turn, after Melissa commented about the threats she and her daughter had received. Those threats were turned over to the police. There is a line between free speech and threats of violence. At first it seemed that those thre...
Fri, Jun 19 2009

Enough with the CI Blogs?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community I read a blog post recently that basically stated that they were tired of the Cochlear Implant updates. No more surgery posts, IEP updates, mapping news or anything else of that sort. They wanted posts about Deaf Experiences. More emphasis on the whole person, not just their technologically enhanced hearing experience. Most of the comments were in full agreement.I...
Wed, Jun 17 2009

Survey for Adult Signers with CIs
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Survey for Adult Signers with Cochlear ImplantDear Respondent:You are invited to participate in a survey on how deaf adult signersexperience cochlear implant. This project has been approved by theInstitutional Review Board of Gallaudet University. It will takeapproximately 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.Through your participation we hope to provide a descrip...
Tue, Jun 02 2009

Is it Speech or Language Therapy?
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community As I read different blogs and comments, I keep running into a similar comment. ASL teaches the child language. Speech therapy teaches kids to parrot sounds. ASL involves brain development. Speech therapy revolves around voice and ears only.I would like to clearly and distinctly refute that claim. First off, I fully agree that teaching ASL teaches language. No qu...
Thu, May 21 2009
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New Documentary about a Deaf Family with CIs
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community The Stark family of Chicago: a deaf, ASL using family with cochlear implants.  Jeffrey (almost 3 years old) has had a CI since he was 17 months old and and 7 month old Melissa who will get a cochlear implant soon. Their mother, Jill, will get a cochlear implant this month. The documentary will be released soon. Here's the link to the ABC story on this documentary a...
Tue, May 19 2009
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Video of an ASL- CI user
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Click here to watch a video of Michael Chorost talking about his cochlear implant and how it works. He is currently a visiting professor with the ASL & Deaf Studies Department at Gallaudet University and is learning ASL. The video is on Exploratorium website in the Listening section; this section also includes x-rays of Michael's skull, links to Michael's written...
Thu, May 14 2009

Line in the Sand
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community My daughter was implanted in May of 1999. She was 12 ½ months old. At that time, the minimum recommended age of implantation was 18 months of age, unless there were extenuating circumstances. Ossification from meningitis was one of them. Newborn hearing screening was a rarity. The doctors had yet to truly understand how critical the magical first three years was ...
Thu, May 07 2009

ASL-CI Families Needed for Book
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community A Book about Your Family’s Story: In Narrative and Photographs   Families with children who are deaf and who use ASL are invited to participate in a project that gives families an opportunity to share their experiences as a family. Families with deaf child(ren) who use ASL and CI are also welcome. What is life like with a child who is deaf—at home, in the community,...
Wed, May 06 2009

What I hear you saying
The ASL-Cochlear Implant Community Many Deaf advocates are trying to get the message out. ASL is a wonderful language. It is beautiful, expressive and complete. Deaf people don’t need anything else. Why can’t hearing parents understand this? Why can’t hearing people in general understand this? Why do they continue to discriminate against Deaf?Before my daughter lost her hearing, my interaction wi...
Thu, Apr 30 2009