Nothing annoys me more than wrong information getting out to the public about Cochlear Implants. It's usually from people who are against implants in the first place. They don't take the time to find out the truth. They just repeat what they "heard" without verifying the truth in their statements. This leads to more people getting more bad information.

Look, I get it. Implants can be controversial. Not everyone thinks children should be implanted. You are entitled to your opinion. You are allowed to make that decision for YOUR family. Just like I am allowed to make the decision to implant my child for MY family. While I think children should be implanted I never BASH other people because they choose to not get implants. So, why do those who DONT have them feel the need to say things about those parents who do? Why do the continue to perpetuate untruths? Why can they not just say "it's not what I want for my child BUT it's the parents choice?" If I waited for Cormac to tell me he wanted implants, well, I would have missed the boat for language aquisition. He CANNOT get that back. If he decides when he is older he suddenly doesn't want implants he can take them off his head. He is STILL DEAF. I never deny he his deaf. I think I gave him access to both worlds. In a million years I cannot see him deciding he doesn't want to hear. Do parents who put glasses on their children expect when their children are older they will throw their glasses away and walk around not seeing?

This issue gets me fired up. I never thought anything was "wrong" with Cormac. I still don't. He's not broke and I didn't try to "fix" him. As his parent I chose to give him access to something that was not available to generations before him. I gave him access to a world of sound. I gave him access to hearing my voice and his brothers voices. My job as a parent is to give my son all the opportunities the world has to offer. Well, our world is a hearing world. And when I say world I mean my family. If you saw how much Cormac missed in his first year of life as compared to after he was implanted you would see the benefit. He was like a spectator in his own house. He was on the sidelines alot because he just didn't know what was happening around him. This broke my heart. He is now the leader of the pack! He knows if his brothers left the room. He hears them yell "Cormac, come play with me downstairs" when he is upstairs.

Cormac also can sign. He doesn't use it any longer but he can do it. All the boys and I know a lot of sign from his first year of life. That is how we communicated wtih him before his implants. So, it wasn't like we didn't try. This boy LOVES to hear. He LOVES to sing. He LOVES to talk. He LOVES life.

He lives his life like a typical 3 year old. He does gymnastics, plays soccer, goes to music class, art class, plays on playgrounds. You name it and he does it. And he does it all incredibly well. He excels at school. He can go to Las Vegas.(see link below) He can go through a metal detector. He can't have an MRI but he can have a CAT scan.

He understands and speaks at a level well above his actual age let ALONE his hearing age. He loves to hear stories read to him. He loves to dance to music. Lots of these things would not be possible without his implants.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to make decisions about their family. But please base it on truths and not lies. Do your research for yourself. Actually TALK to person with an implant or a parent of a child before you write things that are not correct.

If you are wondering what prompted me to write this post. Click here.

While the writer of the above post didn't really bash us it's just the wrong info that gets to me. AND I get google alerts about implants and this was one of them.

Ok. I feel better!