Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class. I don't understand why hearing aids would not help these children. You can take hearing aids any where, not the FM systems. Can anyone help me? (With my daughter, hearing aids were never a question, she absolutely needed them.) --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - how are you doing? Are you going to the e conference this week? I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class. I don't understand why hearing aids would not help these children. You can take hearing aids any where, not the FM systems. Can anyone help me? (With my daughter, hearing aids were never a question, she absolutely needed them.) --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - how are you doing? Are you going to the e conference this week? I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class. I don't understand why hearing aids would not help these children. You can take hearing aids any where, not the FM systems. Can anyone help me? (With my daughter, hearing aids were never a question, she absolutely needed them.) --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - how are you doing? Are you going to the e conference this week? I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. --- end of quote --- Hi Debbie - the thing that concerns me too about your friend's son is what he'll miss when he gets into older grades. As we're finding out, 6th grade is hard enough and if you're not properly aided and can't hear everything, it would be brutal! Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. --- end of quote --- Hi Debbie - the thing that concerns me too about your friend's son is what he'll miss when he gets into older grades. As we're finding out, 6th grade is hard enough and if you're not properly aided and can't hear everything, it would be brutal! Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. --- end of quote --- Hi Debbie - the thing that concerns me too about your friend's son is what he'll miss when he gets into older grades. As we're finding out, 6th grade is hard enough and if you're not properly aided and can't hear everything, it would be brutal! Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: That's where he's at, 6th grade. So far when they have 3 missing or incomplete assignments, they have to serve a detention (don't ask me, I think it's strange). He is on detention number 2 for this very reason. And I feel bad for him, he is such a wonderful, respectful, child. --- end of quote --- That's really, really sad if it's because of his hearing loss. 6th grade is hard enough without adding that to it... :-( Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: That's where he's at, 6th grade. So far when they have 3 missing or incomplete assignments, they have to serve a detention (don't ask me, I think it's strange). He is on detention number 2 for this very reason. And I feel bad for him, he is such a wonderful, respectful, child. --- end of quote --- That's really, really sad if it's because of his hearing loss. 6th grade is hard enough without adding that to it... :-( Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: That's where he's at, 6th grade. So far when they have 3 missing or incomplete assignments, they have to serve a detention (don't ask me, I think it's strange). He is on detention number 2 for this very reason. And I feel bad for him, he is such a wonderful, respectful, child. --- end of quote --- That's really, really sad if it's because of his hearing loss. 6th grade is hard enough without adding that to it... :-( Barbara ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? -----end of message----- Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. Debbie " I'm through accepting limits, Cuz someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, But till I try I'll never know " Defying Gravity from " Wicked: The Musical " __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? -----end of message----- Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. Debbie " I'm through accepting limits, Cuz someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, But till I try I'll never know " Defying Gravity from " Wicked: The Musical " __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them into normal range, why wouldn't they? -----end of message----- Funny this should come up today. I have a friend whose son has a very mild loss, according to her. For the past few years he has had some troubles in school, very minor, but I've always felt that they were related to his slight hearing loss. Things like him getting the assignment wrong, or talking when he wasn't suppose to (which I think was him asking what to do). He has even asked his teachers what he was suppose to do and gets the lovely " weren't you listening...I just told you " . Anyways, I mentioned it again to my friend that maybe some of his difficulties are due to his loss. That when in a noisy environment even a slight loss can make it difficult to hear some things. She said she could see that, but when it comes to his hearing tests, he doesn't show that much of a loss, and the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. Honestly...makes me want to scream. I can't force her to do the things that I know he needs and that would make his life better. And as long as our schools don't see any loss above 30 dbs as significant, children will suffer. Why do I think that they only worry about school related things and not the outside world? I don't know. But I'd have to agree that is seems odd. I'm guessing that if insurance companies HAD to cover the costs of aids you would see more cases of mild hearing loss aided. Debbie " I'm through accepting limits, Cuz someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, But till I try I'll never know " Defying Gravity from " Wicked: The Musical " __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Interesting....my 7 year old daughter has mild hearing loss. She has early onset otosclerosis (we FINALLY have a diagnosis after a year!). She hears at about 25-30dB at high frequencies, sloping to 40-45dB at low frequencies in both ears. The ENT she sees initially said not do to ANYTHING, including FM. She has a new ENT who is a little reluctant but agrees that she needs some hearing help. Lyssa sees an audiologist through the clinic at my university. The audiologist has been strongly suggesting both the FM in school and hearing aids. Lyssa will get her first set of hearing aids on November 3rd, and she started using the FM unit in school just last month. The FM unit helps for the teacher's voice (they tried both headphones and the classroom unit), but isn't much help picking up general classroom discussions. Lyssa is an excellent lip reader, still even with just the FM unit she is picking up SO much more and seems much less tired at the end of the school day. We are hoping for even better results with the new aids. I am so fortunate to have excellent audiology consultation here at my university. Better yet, since I am an employee, all the audiological visits and classroom consultation are FREE! At 10/20/200412:32 PM, you wrote: >--- You wrote: >I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild >hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their >children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use >a soundfield system or toteable FM in class. > >I don't understand why hearing aids would not help these >children. You can take hearing aids any where, not the FM >systems. > >Can anyone help me? (With my daughter, hearing aids were >never a question, she absolutely needed them.) >--- end of quote --- > >Hi Terri - how are you doing? Are you going to the e conference this >week? > >I frankly don't understand the rationale behind this advice either. I've >always been told - by educational audiologists and by teachers of the deaf - >that while normal hearing is I think 0-20 db, kids should be on the higher end >of that scale (that is, their hearing should be in the 5-0 db range) because >they're learning language, etc. For a child labelled as mild, they're >obviously NOT in normal range so if they can wear hearing aids to move them >into normal range, why wouldn't they? > >Barbara > >******************************* > >Barbara Mellert >Manager, Social Science Computing > Kiewit Computing Services >Dartmouth College >13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 >Hanover NH 03755 >Telephone: 603/646-2877 >URL: <http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc>http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc > > >All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post >is the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to >copyright restrictions. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I am going! See you tomorrow if you are able to go too. --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - we're not this year. Day 1 wasn't really relevant for us. Day 2 was actually good but our boys are belt testing tomorrow night in Taekwondo (Tom's testing for red, which is the color next to black, Sam's testing for his red stripe). So I'm sad we won't be going as we always enjoy it - say " hey " to everyone for us! I'd like to go next year and take Tom - who will **gasp** be 13 and can do the kid track. Enjoy! Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I am going! See you tomorrow if you are able to go too. --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - we're not this year. Day 1 wasn't really relevant for us. Day 2 was actually good but our boys are belt testing tomorrow night in Taekwondo (Tom's testing for red, which is the color next to black, Sam's testing for his red stripe). So I'm sad we won't be going as we always enjoy it - say " hey " to everyone for us! I'd like to go next year and take Tom - who will **gasp** be 13 and can do the kid track. Enjoy! Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 --- You wrote: I am going! See you tomorrow if you are able to go too. --- end of quote --- Hi Terri - we're not this year. Day 1 wasn't really relevant for us. Day 2 was actually good but our boys are belt testing tomorrow night in Taekwondo (Tom's testing for red, which is the color next to black, Sam's testing for his red stripe). So I'm sad we won't be going as we always enjoy it - say " hey " to everyone for us! I'd like to go next year and take Tom - who will **gasp** be 13 and can do the kid track. Enjoy! Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Hi Barbara, I am going! See you tomorrow if you are able to go too. Terri >Hi Terri - how are you doing? Are you going to the e conference >this week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 <<I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class.>> <<...the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. >> Oy! This decribes our life in a nutshell. Our son's loss started as a mild one. Except Ian's loss was 35 db in his right and 10-15db in his left when all this began for us. The district refused to recognize the loss as being educationally significant on one hand " because he was doing so well. " And on the other hand, they wanted to talk about retaining him because he was not keeping up. We told them they couldn't have it both ways. Anyway, we eventually prevailed. And a soundfield system is NOT good for all kids with mild loss. We found it to be terrible. For Ian all it did was add to the ambient noise of the classroom. The teacher's voice was louder so the kids were more noisy. The paper shuffling, the chairs being pushed across the floor. They could (and did) easily whisper below the sound of the speakers, not interrupting the teacher but adding to the room noise. They could hear everything and did not think about the extra noise they were making. It made them feel freer to make more noise becuase the teacher's voice was so loud. It was a disaster for Ian. He did better without it, the room in general was quieter and he could focus on the teacher. At first we aided just the right ear. Ian didn't want aids -- he was about 8 at that point. once he had the first one, he loved it. He asked for the second one. Perhaps a 10 db loss is minor enough to not need an aide, but once Ian's ear hit the 15-20 db loss range, he needed that other aid and it was very helpful to him. -- Jill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 <<I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class.>> <<...the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. >> Oy! This decribes our life in a nutshell. Our son's loss started as a mild one. Except Ian's loss was 35 db in his right and 10-15db in his left when all this began for us. The district refused to recognize the loss as being educationally significant on one hand " because he was doing so well. " And on the other hand, they wanted to talk about retaining him because he was not keeping up. We told them they couldn't have it both ways. Anyway, we eventually prevailed. And a soundfield system is NOT good for all kids with mild loss. We found it to be terrible. For Ian all it did was add to the ambient noise of the classroom. The teacher's voice was louder so the kids were more noisy. The paper shuffling, the chairs being pushed across the floor. They could (and did) easily whisper below the sound of the speakers, not interrupting the teacher but adding to the room noise. They could hear everything and did not think about the extra noise they were making. It made them feel freer to make more noise becuase the teacher's voice was so loud. It was a disaster for Ian. He did better without it, the room in general was quieter and he could focus on the teacher. At first we aided just the right ear. Ian didn't want aids -- he was about 8 at that point. once he had the first one, he loved it. He asked for the second one. Perhaps a 10 db loss is minor enough to not need an aide, but once Ian's ear hit the 15-20 db loss range, he needed that other aid and it was very helpful to him. -- Jill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 <<I have been talking to people lately who have children with mild hearing losses. All of those people have been told that their children don't need hearing aids and that they should just use a soundfield system or toteable FM in class.>> <<...the school will not recognize that his loss is educationaly significant. >> Oy! This decribes our life in a nutshell. Our son's loss started as a mild one. Except Ian's loss was 35 db in his right and 10-15db in his left when all this began for us. The district refused to recognize the loss as being educationally significant on one hand " because he was doing so well. " And on the other hand, they wanted to talk about retaining him because he was not keeping up. We told them they couldn't have it both ways. Anyway, we eventually prevailed. And a soundfield system is NOT good for all kids with mild loss. We found it to be terrible. For Ian all it did was add to the ambient noise of the classroom. The teacher's voice was louder so the kids were more noisy. The paper shuffling, the chairs being pushed across the floor. They could (and did) easily whisper below the sound of the speakers, not interrupting the teacher but adding to the room noise. They could hear everything and did not think about the extra noise they were making. It made them feel freer to make more noise becuase the teacher's voice was so loud. It was a disaster for Ian. He did better without it, the room in general was quieter and he could focus on the teacher. At first we aided just the right ear. Ian didn't want aids -- he was about 8 at that point. once he had the first one, he loved it. He asked for the second one. Perhaps a 10 db loss is minor enough to not need an aide, but once Ian's ear hit the 15-20 db loss range, he needed that other aid and it was very helpful to him. -- Jill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 > > > > And a soundfield system is NOT good for all kids with mild loss. We > found it > to be terrible. For Ian all it did was add to the ambient noise of the > classroom. The teacher's voice was louder so the kids were more noisy. > The paper > shuffling, the chairs being pushed across the floor. > That's what I saw happening with my son. He would stand there with this dazed look on his face, and wouldn't respond to me talking right behind him directly into his hearing aid. The teacher's voice, loud and distorted combined with all the backround noise, overwelmed him - and she wasn't always talking to him anyway, which confused him even more. Did Ian end up with an FM system ever? Thanks for the info. Jill, as always. , 7, heraing Caleb, 5, bilateral, SNHL, aided Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 > > > > And a soundfield system is NOT good for all kids with mild loss. We > found it > to be terrible. For Ian all it did was add to the ambient noise of the > classroom. The teacher's voice was louder so the kids were more noisy. > The paper > shuffling, the chairs being pushed across the floor. > That's what I saw happening with my son. He would stand there with this dazed look on his face, and wouldn't respond to me talking right behind him directly into his hearing aid. The teacher's voice, loud and distorted combined with all the backround noise, overwelmed him - and she wasn't always talking to him anyway, which confused him even more. Did Ian end up with an FM system ever? Thanks for the info. Jill, as always. , 7, heraing Caleb, 5, bilateral, SNHL, aided Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 --- You wrote: OK so what you say is right but now how do we force their hand?how do we make them do what is needed and yes I want to scream quite often especially when she (audio 0 said well oh well! I just hung up on her and said I ll get yet another opinion! --- end of quote --- Hi - I'm so sorry you're having such a hard time. I would absolutely get another opinion - if possible from an educational audiologist. To me a 40-50 db loss is significant and will adversely affect a child's performance in school, socially, etc. Do you have educational advocates where you live? They can help you - both in educating you about your rights as a parent and how to get what you want from your school system. I'm glad you're here! Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 --- You wrote: OK so what you say is right but now how do we force their hand?how do we make them do what is needed and yes I want to scream quite often especially when she (audio 0 said well oh well! I just hung up on her and said I ll get yet another opinion! --- end of quote --- Hi - I'm so sorry you're having such a hard time. I would absolutely get another opinion - if possible from an educational audiologist. To me a 40-50 db loss is significant and will adversely affect a child's performance in school, socially, etc. Do you have educational advocates where you live? They can help you - both in educating you about your rights as a parent and how to get what you want from your school system. I'm glad you're here! Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 In a message dated 10/21/2004 3:35:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tanya@... writes: That's what I saw happening with my son. He would stand there with this dazed look on his face, and wouldn't respond to me talking right behind him directly into his hearing aid. The teacher's voice, loud and distorted combined with all the backround noise, overwelmed him - and she wasn't always talking to him anyway, which confused him even more. Did Ian end up with an FM system ever? , Yes, he did get the little boot style system. It was what our doctors had requested all along. The school put the words " FM system " into his IEP and when the time came for the system to be there in the fall of 5th grade, we found they had cobbled together this sound field system using parts from the AV department. The micorphone looked like something a 1980s game show host would hold, not something that clipped easily to a shirt. They'd created some kind of neck loop so the teacher could wear it. But it was shaped like a regular microphone, so kids would hold it and pass it around the room as they were reading. The speakers were mounted on the walls. One was right next to where Ian sat. It was terrible. The poor kid could not follow a thing. The one teacher kept forgetting he was wearing the microphone, so he'd go out in the hall and the entire class would hear everything. Sometimes it was conversations with other teachers on topics that were inappropriate for the kids to overhear. Once he took a kid out to reprimand him, and the whole room listened along. Once he wore it to the bathroom ... yuck!! Ian also got that deer-in-the-headlights look. The increase in overall sound was incredibly overwhelming. It was an inclusion room, so there was also a Spec Ed teacher. She was a screamer in a quiet room, so you can just imagine how her volume increased in that room ... she'd scream as though she was trying to be heard over her own magnified voice. It was simply terrible. We demanded that the stupid system be removed but they refused because if it came down they would not be in compliance with Ian's IEP. On several occassions I think Ian intentionally messed with the microphone or the wiring so they'd have to send it over to the AV dept to get it fixed. He'd come home and happily tell me that the FM system would be down for a week or two for fixing. He'd be thrilled. Thedistrict wouldn't listen to us about his actual needs, so I pulled in the big guns. Our professionals wrote letters. I contacted the State Ed Dept and faxed them descriptions of the way Ian's IEP was being creatively interpreted. The district fought us on whatever grounds they could invent. They delayed meetings because certain people could not make it, demanded new evaluations from their own experts to argue that ours were wrong --even after they'd agreed with ours. (We'd been to Columbia Prebysterian and Montefiore Hospitals -- who were they going to get to argue with them?!) They intentionally did things that would cause us to cancel or delay meetings (inviting extra people to the meetings without prior notice and then insisting that they were necessary, I'd refuse to continue the meeting and demand it be rescheduled). At some point the CSE chairman started skipping my meetings but showing up for the ones right before or after mine. (He really didn't like me after I offered to help him fill out the state requisition forms so he could get the district reimbursed for services. He had claimed to be having trouble with getting money for Ian's " expensive " services.) And finally, I called the lawyer to turn it all over to him to handle. By then it was mid-April. At about the same time as we were ready to sue the school, the CSE chairman (he was also an assistant superintendent) quietly disappeared and an interum chair was brought in. Long story made shorter, the new guy looked over Ian's file and said he could not understand why the district had been fighting us. He gave Ian everything he needed and adjusted the IEP in every detail we'd requested. He was also astounded at some of the papers the district had asked us to sign -- they were illegal. (I'd also sent copies of those papers to the State Ed Dept, not realizing they were illegal .... I was just looking for help and an explanation as to what they were. The State Ed Dept got just a touch angry over those. Oh well. -- grin!) When Ian started 6th grade, the FM system was waiting for him. The TOD had already trained his new classroom teachers at in-service sessions the week before school ... and all done without me nudging anyone. I definitely called to make sure things were happening, but when I'd call, I would find that things were already completed. I was stunned at how quickly and easily things could happen when the district wanted to cooperate. So, yes, he did get the FM system. He also got a wonderfully qualified TOD every day. And the school is still very intent on making sure Ian has what he needs. My reputation preceeds me, and the new, permanent, CSE chair told me at our first meeting that it was her intention to make sure his needs were met and that I would have no reason to contact the State again. Once he was transferred over to a 504 plan, she was very blunt about the havoc I could cause if I started with complaints to the Dept. of Labor (in NY they oversee the 504 enforcement). She was pushing for Ian to be moved to a 504 plan because that is where he belonged given his issues. She was right, but it took 3 private meetings for me to agree. I sat there and argued the law with her. We went over the difference between 504 and IDEA in annoying detail. I made her explain every detail of who was in charge of oversight of 504 and how complaints would be processed and resolved. Poor woman, I am sure she wanted to strangle me. (grin) But in past 3 years since then, I've never even had to threaten to complain to the State. Truthfully, since she has been in charge things have been very different in our district. All the kids are benefiting from the fact that she knows her stuff and is doing the right things for them. Does that mean that parents don't have to prove their children's needs are valid and fight for some services? No, but it is now much easier. Two summers ago she took a course about CART because there are a few kids coming up through the schools who may need it. (Ian is one.) Imagine that?! Actually being prepared and informed about new technology. Sorry to ramble on so long ... you asked me a simple question and I gave you a novel in response. (grin) Best -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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