Survey for CI users using ASL as primary/secondary language

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:

1. be 18 or older,
2. Must have had cochlear implant(s) at one time...either currently using or discontinued use accepted, and
3. must use ASL as a primary or secondary language.
   

The survey should take 15-20 minutes, and your help would be very much appreciated. This research project has been approved by the Gallaudet Institutional Review Board.

Below is an short bio of the researcher, an explanation of this research and why this survey is useful:

I am the survey administrator and my name is Kristine Moore. I am a 3rd year Doctorate of Audiology Graduate Student at Gallaudet University. Gallaudet is a university in Washington, D.C. exclusively for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Gallaudet accepts some hearing people each year, but it is designed and run with deafness as the primary and most influential factor. It's an incredible place. The discussion of ASL and cochlear implants and how the two can coincide successfully is a pertinent topic for the campus and for culture as a whole. For my research project I hope to study this area further by researching the factors influencing the decision to obtain cochlear implant(s) in individuals who use American Sign Language as a primary or secondary language. PLEASE click on the link to take the COMPLETELY CONFIDENTIAL survey to further the understanding of this topic. THANK YOU for generous gift of your time and survey responses.

PLEASE click on the link below to take a CONFIDENTIAL survey about Cochlear Implants and American Sign Language:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ASLandCochlearImplantUsersPLEASETakeThisGallaudetUniversityResearchSurvey

Study finds Toddlers with Implants Process Language Slower than Hearing Peers

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:
http://www.niu.edu/northerntoday/2010/feb22/grieco-calub.shtml
Briefly, 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 article about how to help the kids with implants overcome the obstacle.

One thing I did not see was whether or not the kids with implants had one or two implants. I have seen my daughter's language processing time get better since she got her second implant. I am curious if having two implants would make a difference in the speech processing time in a study.

If you or your child has bilateral implants, have you noticed a difference in the speed at which understanding of speech takes place, compared to only having one implant?

Impact of CIs on sign language interpreters

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 interpreters.

I'm very curious to know what we, as future sign language interpreters, have to keep in mind when interpreting for children with a CI.
Unfortunatly it's very hard to find information about this subject. I was hoping maybe you will be able to help me with a few questions.

-Do children with a CI have different needs when it comes to interpreting and what aspects should interpreters pay extra attention to?
-What kind of interpreting is preferred for children with a CI? ASL, Manually Coded English or other?
-Do you believe children with a CI will be in need of a interpreter (sometimes) as they grow up?

I apologise if I made language errors, English isn't my native language. I hope you will be able to give me some information, or maybe you'd like to share some stories.

Kind regards,

Marrit Slemmer

m_slemmer@hotmail.com

Student Researcher needs young CI users to participate in a online survey

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. He has created an online survey for those who would like to participate. Please click on the link below. It takes about 20-30 minutes to complete the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CochlearImplantsOnlineSurvey

This study is not limited only to Cochlear Implant users who use ASL, but anyone who is above the age of 18 and has a cochlear implant. Your help to reach out to the emerging population of cochlear implant users to participate the online survey would be greatly appreciated.

This research study has been approved by the the Institutional Review Board.

Can We Help Marina?

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 and the deaf community is not well informed about cochlear implants. I do have a site, called http://www.unheardvoicesofarmenia.blogspot.com/. Please advise."

My answer is this: It is very important, if anyone is contemplating getting an implant, to be as educated as possible. You need to know what to expect for both the surgery, and the aural therapy required afterwards. You need to decide what type of therapy you want; Auditory/Verbal, Auditory/Oral, Total Communication, ASL-Verbal (or whatever sign language is called in Armenia); Verbal with Cued Speech or some other combination of the above. You also need to become educated on where the implant works well and where it doesn't, so your expectations are reasonable. To get an implant without understanding the therapy needs afterwards is a very bad idea. The doctors absolutely need to be sure that the patient (and/or the parents if the patient is a child) clearly understands that the implant is not a quick fix, and that it will take years of dedicated therapy to get the maximum value out of the implant.

It is also important to become well educated about the local Deaf Community. There is support there and options for families that many parents do not even know about. But whatever decision the parents make, there needs to be trust and continued communication between the parents and the Deaf Community. That can only happen if everyone is willing to be open without condemnation for choices made or not made. This goes both ways, and is essential for trust to be given.

How about it? What advice can you give Marina?

Can you be a little bit Deaf?

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 her deafness. If she could wave a magic wand and "fix" her hearing so that she no longer needed implants, would she do that? Or would she wave that wand and remove her implants so she could neither talk nor hear at all? We talked about both options, and how if she had never lost her hearing, she would not have sign language. We would have never learned it nor taught it to her. If she had no implants, she would not have any hearing at all, so she would not have music and she would not be able to communicate easily with most of our extended family, especially the cousins she is so close to.

Turns out she is perfectly happy where she is. She would not wave that wand in either direction. She likes the hearing she gets with her implants, and she likes the ability to take them off and go silent. She loves to sign, and loves to use that ability with other deaf kids. Many people would say she is sitting on the fence between the deaf and the Deaf worlds. She sees herself as being able to fully participate in both. Does that make her a little bit Deaf? I don't know. I am just happy that so far, she feels good about herself and sees herself in a positive light.

Deafhood foundation

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 exploitation of deaf people. This did not make it into the English text version though.

The Deafhood foundation is run by well respected Deaf people in the Deaf community, and many Deaf people are impressed by the video and its powerful message. But all I see is a huge obstacle to the acceptance of all of these Deaf children with cochlear implants. Would this lead to increased intolerance for Deaf children who happen to have cochlear implants?