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A site that flashes fingerspelling at you, with different levels of speed and complexity, of various vocabulary. I good resource for working on receiving.

Cochlear Implant The Nucleas 24 Contour Cochlear implant. Cindy mother of 2 teens. Progressive loss Worse and worse in the twenties Had nightmares about becoming deaf. Music did not sound good anymore. Then overnight completely lost hearing at 30. Her kids remembered her before the implant not being able to hear anyone if her back turned. Could not make play date over phone. Constantly on edge. Could read lips, but felt guilty wondering if she was being a good mother. Couldn't hear people if her back turned. Hear little things like washing machine, coffee pot, cashier saying have a nice day, etc. She cried that she could hear music playing so much more clearly. She doesn't have to think about her hearing issues anymore. Jessica. Age 16 months. Discovered deaf at 2 months old. Her twin sister Rachael can hear. At 15 Jessica making strange noises. Whereas Rachael was asking for things. Small enough to plant into child's head. First with BTE = Behind the Ear. NRT, , helps in calibrating the device strength. She was not afraid or crying to hear all the noises, just very curious. But though 18 months old, she had only had cochlear for 1 month, so had a lot of catching up to do for language. If she fell asleep in the car, if her mother mentioned her name, she would open her eyes in recognition. Going to be 3 in the fall. Speaking words, like Leaf. A little behind her twin sister but catching up at a rapid pace. Daniel. Diagnosed at 17 months old. Attended summit speech school for 5 years. Father is a physician. Accessed medical library. Kids who had residual hearing who received implant, all benefited. Implanted 3 months before. turned on 2 months ago. Distinguish a wren from a crow. He answered the phone and handed it to his father. His parents trying to stop him from reading lips, by hiding their mouths with coffee cup or hand. Trying to get him to recognize sounds he hears. Demonstrate him playing piano. He was always outgoing, but now according to parents he is calmer. Able to take care of buying his own things at cashier, etc. The Array pre-curled, hugs the inner wall of the Cochlea. Guides the ear into the cochlear. In optimum position of the hearing nerve. Less pressure. 22 Banded electrodes, stimulate 22 areas of the cochlear wall. Closer proximity to the inner wall, promoted better contact and signal. Smaller implant body most sought after for children. Titanium housing tough enough for kids. MRI compatible, removable magnet to allow for MRI scans. How does the culture of deaf people feel about implants? It seemed some are resentful that they are being “Taken away” from the non-hearing society, for the hearing society. Any long term consequences to having them implanted early on, versus later on when more developed physically? 1 FULL page double spaced, what we thought about this. W.A. Hawke Robinson 10-17-2006 ASL II – Professor Carr Opinion of Informational Commercial on Cochlear Implant Specifically The Nucleas 24 Contour Cochlear implant. I found the “info-mercial” interesting relative to the kind of media presentation style used, that being an “informational” commercial but very one-sided. It covered the technology fairly well from a positive perspective, but didn't really cover any of the possible risks or issues that might be of concern. Of course that's to be expected of such a presentation as opposed to an actual documentary. The testimonials of those who had the cochlear implants were useful in so far as they covered in fair detail their experiences both prior to, and after the surgery, but the video did not really cover the experience of the surgery itself, nor really mention and of the risks, other than to “not expect a miracle”. The video also did not provide any testimonials for those who were more part of the “deaf culture”, who might have had other concerns about getting such an implant. My rudimentary understanding so far is that there are many acculturated deaf people who consider having a cochlear implant as “taking away” a member of the society from the “deaf world” to the “hearing world”, some feel so very vehemently. The video did not show if anyone had learned any sign language to get by prior to their surgery. It did cover all the consequences of their hearing loss, the impact on family, friends, work, daily life, and the interaction with strangers who might not know they couldn't hear and would misinterpret the lack of response as rudeness, aloofness, etc. which was useful and enlightening information. I did enjoy the technical aspect that detailed how the implant worked, and of course in so doing had to mention why their implant was superior to everyone else's. It was nice to finally understand some of the technical details further in spite of the one sided aspect of the video.

Just a quick FYI that this Saturday's 4:00 pm Spokane American Sign Language Study Group session is cancelled since Sarah, Katy (and Hawke) aren't available for that session that day due to all 3 having schedule conflicts. The rest of the schedule remains, and regular schedule resumes next week.

There is a Deaf Night Out gathering August 5th, 8:00 pm, at downtown Spokane's Nudo restaurant on 818 West, Sprague.