The Cochlear Implant Controversy
Lena listening during a session of her cochlear implant therapy.
As if choosing to adopt a deaf child and then choosing to raise her using Cued Speech did not put us in a controversial category, our next choice involved permanently altering our child’s anatomy by having her undergo cochlear implant surgery. This was a decision that many people at one extreme considered barbaric, and on the other extreme considered a miracle that could turn a deaf child into a hearing one.
A cochlear implant is a prosthetic hearing device, the first sensory prosthetic in the history of science. An array of electrodes is implanted in the inner ear and wired to a computerized speech processor and a headpiece worn on the outside. The headpiece is held onto the head via a magnet implanted in the skull. Opponents of the device say it turns the unwitting child into a cyborg without his consent and removes him from secure membership in the Deaf community, but can never make him a hearing person. He therefore has no place to belong – he is not hearing; he is not Deaf. Proponents of the implant tell stories of profoundly deaf children, who otherwise could never have perceived speech, mainstreaming in regular school systems without any support but weekly speech therapy. I have personally met dozens of children, born profoundly deaf, whose speech with a cochlear implant is nearly the same as a hearing person’s.Lena's implant story is so far a great success, in large part due to our use of Cued Speech. Since she had a visual mode of English phonemes used in natural spoken language already, she came to associate it with the sounds fairly quickly. Her knowledge of grammar did not hamper her language-learning via the auditory mode, but rather is speeding it up. She can now understand, though audition alone, most common phrases we use with her daily, such as "Get your coat," or "What do you want for dinner?" And as an added bonus, she even loves music and birdsong, a pleasure that brings tears to my eyes to witness.
Lena's teachers have all been very supportive of the implant. Not only is Lena currently the only child using a Cued Speech transliterator in her classroom, she is also the only child with an implant. As a result, she went from being the deafest child in the room, physiologically speaking, to being the one with possibly the best audiogram. She literally can hear a whisper. Since she is in a traditional oral/aural program for mostly hard-of-hearing children, the listening and phonics techniques her teacher has found useful with other children are working now with Lena. Her speech teacher is, of course, delighted. The prospects of Lena ever developing intelligible speech without the implant would have been slim. In a way, when she wears it (which is all waking hours) the implant makes her something other than profoundly deaf. I like say she is "hearing impaired," because people then seem to make an effort to speak loudly and clearly to her while looking at her. When I have told people that Lena "is deaf," more often than not they would not even try to communicate with her, fearing they did not know how, isolating her even more.
And what does Lena think of her implant? Ten months post-hookup, she can't get enough of listening. Often when I try to cue to her before she has it on in the morning, she tells me "Wait," and points at her head. She wants to hear my speech with the cues. One day about six months after her surgery, she brought me her children's Bible and pointed out some of the healing stories in the New Testament. Then she cued, in her still-limited expressive English: "Lena sad. Lena hurt. Daddy help Lena. Lena happy!" The only time she takes it off, other than to sleep, is when her little sister decides to scream and chant into the microphone. Even then, sometimes she will just join in. I think all mothers wish they could so easily turn off the sound.
Listed on my Works Consulted page are several links to websites for companies who produce cochlear implants, and some educational information. In addition, there is a link to an excellent online debate about the device and its usefulness, which clearly illustrates the Deaf cultural approach to implants vs. the oral/aural approach. (As a Cued Speech mom, please keep in mind that I do not claim to endorse either view. I see the implant as another tool to facilitate learning and provide access to sound for Lena, as Cued Speech is a tool for providing access to spoken language.)
On to: Lena’s New Life