I'm so thankful Marcia agreed to write our final guest post for National Better Hearing and Speech Month! She was one of Cole's last therapists in Illinois before we moved back to California. I remember meeting Marcia before the school year started, and knew immediately she and Cole would hit it off wonderfully! We were so thankful for the clear JOY she had for her profession and for the students she got to work with along the way. I hope you enjoy her thoughts and that any of you who are considering a cochlear implant for your child would be encouraged by the research she's also shared with us too! We're so thankful for cochlear implants and the therapists that have helped our Cole use this technology to the best of his ability!
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Danice asked me earlier this month to write for her blog and I am very honored that she would ask me to write about my experience as an SLP during Better Hearing and Speech month.
I had the privilege of working with Cole while they lived in Illinois and attended Carle Auditory Oral School (CAOS). I got to see so much growth from him during his year at CAOS. It was so exciting to see him begin to express his ideas, his likes his dislikes and his wonderful imagination. I got to really see him grow up from a toddler to a student. I couldn’t ask for a better family to work with my first year at CAOS. This month means so much to me because I truly love my job. I get to work with children with hearing loss and help them to communicate more effectively. And by work I mean play! It is so much fun to play a game, read a book, make a picture, or play pretend games while secretly working on their speech or language targets.
Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s frustrating, but it’s always rewarding. In the end, dedication and perseverance can create great outcomes. I am also a nerd at heart and love to see the results of the children who have benefited from having early access to sound through technologies like the cochlear implant. We (at CAOS) are lucky enough to have a full team for our children and adults who receive cochlear implants (CI). For our children specifically we have been tracking language and speech production (how children make speech sounds in English) through a continuing research project.
I recently went to Baltimore for a cochlear implant symposium to present our results. One of the most exciting results comes from the language data of our children implanted at 18 months of age or younger. Those children (red and blue lines and dots) are close to the dotted line which represents typical language development in hearing children. This means as a group the children implanted at our center before 18 months are age are catching up to their same age peers. The other exciting news in our data is the speech production results of our 12 month and younger group. All of our children implanted before 12 months of age have articulation in the normal range at their most recent speech testing!
Our families and children often struggle and are constantly faced with challenging situations. I love my job because we get to support them and show them what is possible for their child. You must have high expectations for these kids so they can truly reach their full potential. It is such a blessing to be there at the challenging times for theses families and show them how it can be better and guide them in the steps to get there.
