As the mother of two hearing impaired children, I cannot appropriately explain the feelings I have as I watch them grow from profoundly deaf to hearing. I am absolutely amazed at how many new words Jeslyn says each week. She has recently added "What's that", "all gone", "uh oh", and "so big". She also yells for her sister Karson, although she calls her Coco. She jabbers and it's as though she's really telling us something. She adds hand gestures and so many new sounds and it really is precious. Yes, I am a proud mom, but more importantly I know that ALL hearing impaired children who meet the qualifications for a cochlear implant have this potential.
I firmly believe that everyone has the right to decide what is best for their child, which is why I find it so difficult to understand that anyone would be upset with the decision we made to implant Peyton and Jeslyn. Is there anything WRONG with being deaf? Absolutely not. Is there anything wrong with giving a child the opportunity to hear? Absolutely not. So let's all just get along and realize that the decisions I make for my child may not be the same decisions you make for yours and I will never belittle you for that. However, you also need to realize that if you even begin to question me and the decisions I've made for my daughters I will make sure that you see exactly how successful and happy my children are. Peyton was implanted at 4 and 8 years old and was mainstreamed since pre-school. She has been a straight A student her entire life and she is now a 7th grader. Jeslyn went from being 99% non-communicative to saying more words than a 1 year old within 2 months of having her implant turned on.
I cannot wait to see what's in store for both of my girls. Yes, there will be challenges as they grow and when they are grown and go out on their own, but we will cross those bridges when we get there. For now, I will praise God for his goodness and the doctors, audiologists, and auditory verbal therapists that continue to perform miracles!
