Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site mot.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!mot!fred From: fred@mot.UUCP (Fred Christiansen) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: the new handicapped net Message-ID: <230@mot.UUCP> Date: Thu, 5-Sep-85 14:12:14 EDT Article-I.D.: mot.230 Posted: Thu Sep 5 14:12:14 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 5-Sep-85 17:25:59 EDT References: <124@pyuxv.UUCP> Organization: Motorola Microsystems, Phoenix AZ Lines: 38 our youngest daughter experienced a 100+ dB hearing loss in both ears as the result of an adverse reaction to a normal childhood immunization. as she was 6 months old at the time, we were fairly soon able to perceive a change in her sound perception (we are very active with our kids). after some "home-brew" tests (which, in retrospect, were largely faulty), we went to her pediatrician. the nurses all told us we were "over worked-up" (or some such), but the doctor accepted our perceptions. he came to the same general conclusion and pointed us at ENT's and audiologists for physical exams, hearing tests, and brainstem audiometries. she was diagnosed as having a permanent (irreversible), profound (degree of loss) sensori-neural (type of loss) hearing impairment. she has not, to this date, benifitted from hearing aids (although most deaf kids do, to varying degrees). our contacts with the House Institute in L.A. indicate that the cochlear implant would not likely benefit either (cochlear implant is a substitute cochlea, requiring a basically intact aural nerve, which our daughter does not evidently have). nevertheless, we keep in touch with medical advances. in the meantime, because there is so much to learn and share, we employ Total Communication with her, and work with an excellent speech therapist. all development tests so far (she's nearly 5) show no falling behind hearing children (in fact, she surpasses in several areas, tho is behind in sentence formation, a fault that lies at parents doorstep). the upshot of it all is that our experiences frequently stand in stark contrast to experiences of others parents with severe-to-profound hearing loss kids. frequently doctors put off parents for years, or diagnose a child as retarded. the result is needless development delays. many health care professionals have no real-world experience with this sort of thing and send parents down communication blind alleys. and, unfortunately, many parents do not care to put forth the extra effort. my uncle, a pediatricion, almost chokes at the failure of his colleagues to faithfully test hearing, sight, etc., things that seem to be overlooked when examining an otherwise intact, healthy child. -- << Generic disclaimer >> Fred Christiansen ("Canajun, eh?") @ Motorola Microsystems, Tempe, AZ UUCP: ihnp4!{attunix, btlunix, drivax, sftig, ut-sally!oakhill}!mot!fred ARPA: oakhill!mot!fred@ut-sally.ARPA AT&T: 602-438-3472