If you’re not familiar, here’s what a cochlear implant looks like. My son received his when he was two years old.
Here’s what he had to say in 4th grade: “The best part of me is my ears because I am slightly deaf. I also like my ears because if I didn’t have them I wouldn’t be able to hear.”
Only 10% of prelingual children who receive cochlear implants at about age 2 will achieve age-matched oral speech and language. We were lucky to have regular access to auditory-verbal therapy at CREC Soundbridge in our home state of Connecticut 6 times per month in the first couple of years after activation as well as at a rigorous 3-week summer program at John Tracy Clinic in southern California. Auditory-verbal therapy is an intense program of language immersion (“bathing the child in sound”) that is caregiver-oriented and home-based; practitioners are certified through AG Bell, an important organization that values the perspectives of both professionals and families in their journey with sound.