FM System

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone...

I just got back from a revised IEP meeting and managed to get Max's

speech therapy increased to four days a week and three of them being

one on one. Hooray....for now. (His annual review isn't until April

so I didn't want to press any further until he had more recent

hearing tests.)

One of the ladies from the school district commented on how my son

is missing out at home. I asked her to clarify and she asked if I

had an FM system at home. (Now I know I have had this discussion on

here before somewhat) I replied I did not and said I would attempt

to get one through my insurance company. (it seems the chances would

be slim - they won't pay for aids but will for an FM system)

To get to the point I know some of you have said you can't imagine

not having an FM system at home. My question is:

1.Does everyone here (on list-serve)have one of these at home? I

realize it helps, but when my son do one on one activities every day

it is very quiet and we sit very closely.

2.Has anyone ever found a way to get someone else to pay for

it..ie;the school district, insurance, etc. We would find a way to

pay for it ourselves, it's just so much right now and financing only

costs more money.

Tell me what you think...good or bad. Am I screwing my child's

learning progress up by not having an FM system?

Regina

Mom to Max 4 Mod/Severe, Severe/Profound SNHL

Cecelia 16 mos hearing

[Guest guest]

Hi, Regina,

First of all, I echo many of the sentiments voiced by Jill and Barbara.

Please don't beat yourself up, you are doing the best you can as a parent of

a HOH kid, and you are certainly not harming him by not having the FM at

home.

I can only tell you my own experience: my son has an FM, provided by the

school, which he uses primarily in school. He has a severe/profound loss,

which was identified at birth, and is an oral kid. Outside of school, we use

the FM in the car, in the grocery store, in museums, basically anyplace that

could be noisy and difficult for him to hear, and where he primarily needs

to hear me. I think it a) gives him easier access to language and vocabulary

(he can better hear me describe/explain things), we take advantage of

learning opportunities (I can point out street signs as he learns to read,

or talk about grocery items), and c) I don't have to shout.

Now, I do agree with Barbara that the real world isn't amenable to passing

around a mic and making everyone he comes in contact with speak into it, so

I use it primarily in situations where he needs to hear ME and/or where

hearing me better would help him.

As for getting the school to pay, well it would appear your school has

already recommended he have one at home, and there's your argument right

there. I argued for two years for my school to allow me to take my son's FM

home; the clincher came when they told me he would need to increase his

vocabulary in order to be mainstreamed, and that direct input was the best

way for this to happen -- it was a pretty easy leap from there. I'm always

now on the alert for anything the school recommends -- if they recommend it,

they usually can provide it!

Good luck,

Stefanie

Mom to Ben, 6, severe to profound HOH, and Isabella, 9, mild loss

on 3/10/05 4:13 PM, Regina at rpeters7@... wrote:

>

>

> Hi everyone...

>

> I just got back from a revised IEP meeting and managed to get Max's

> speech therapy increased to four days a week and three of them being

> one on one. Hooray....for now. (His annual review isn't until April

> so I didn't want to press any further until he had more recent

> hearing tests.)

>

> One of the ladies from the school district commented on how my son

> is missing out at home. I asked her to clarify and she asked if I

> had an FM system at home. (Now I know I have had this discussion on

> here before somewhat) I replied I did not and said I would attempt

> to get one through my insurance company. (it seems the chances would

> be slim - they won't pay for aids but will for an FM system)

>

> To get to the point I know some of you have said you can't imagine

> not having an FM system at home. My question is:

>

> 1.Does everyone here (on list-serve)have one of these at home? I

> realize it helps, but when my son do one on one activities every day

> it is very quiet and we sit very closely.

>

> 2.Has anyone ever found a way to get someone else to pay for

> it..ie;the school district, insurance, etc. We would find a way to

> pay for it ourselves, it's just so much right now and financing only

> costs more money.

>

> Tell me what you think...good or bad. Am I screwing my child's

> learning progress up by not having an FM system?

>

> Regina

> Mom to Max 4 Mod/Severe, Severe/Profound SNHL

> Cecelia 16 mos hearing

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/11/2005 10:39:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

rpeters7@... writes:

Thank you everyone for your stories....they really do make me feel

better. I am just going through one of those low times - feeling

regret instead of looking forward to what I can change. I'll let you

all know how it goes...Max is scheduled for another meeting in

April. (This past meeting was just a revision of his goals and

services.)

Then you've got some time to collect paperwork supporting the home use of

the FM. I've found it's best to walk into these meeting prepared with supportive

paperwork, even if I never take it out of my folders. Makes me feel more

confident as well, knowing I have the paper support to back up what we're

requesting.

Good luck and ask more questions .. if we can help, we will.

Jill

[Guest guest]

Regina,

I have two daughter with profound hearing losses, one now in the 6th grade,

and the other in the 4th grade. Someone else on the list will be able to give

you more specifics I am sure...but there is something in the 504 that will help

you get the school to allow use of the FM at home. It states something like, if

the FM will allow a child to better participate in the home /community the

school must provide use of the FM outside of school. (not exact quote). I have

had an FM at home since the girls started school. It is provided by the school,

and I just sign a 12 month waiver so I have it all year, including the summer.

We have used it for softball, and cheerleading etc. Our school audiologist is

the one oh so many years ago, that told me of the law. Hope this helps a

little, good luck.

FM System

Hi everyone...

I just got back from a revised IEP meeting and managed to get Max's

speech therapy increased to four days a week and three of them being

one on one. Hooray....for now. (His annual review isn't until April

so I didn't want to press any further until he had more recent

hearing tests.)

One of the ladies from the school district commented on how my son

is missing out at home. I asked her to clarify and she asked if I

had an FM system at home. (Now I know I have had this discussion on

here before somewhat) I replied I did not and said I would attempt

to get one through my insurance company. (it seems the chances would

be slim - they won't pay for aids but will for an FM system)

To get to the point I know some of you have said you can't imagine

not having an FM system at home. My question is:

1.Does everyone here (on list-serve)have one of these at home? I

realize it helps, but when my son do one on one activities every day

it is very quiet and we sit very closely.

2.Has anyone ever found a way to get someone else to pay for

it..ie;the school district, insurance, etc. We would find a way to

pay for it ourselves, it's just so much right now and financing only

costs more money.

Tell me what you think...good or bad. Am I screwing my child's

learning progress up by not having an FM system?

Regina

Mom to Max 4 Mod/Severe, Severe/Profound SNHL

Cecelia 16 mos hearing

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.

[Guest guest]

<1.Does everyone here (on list-serve)have one of these at home?>

<2.Has anyone ever found a way to get someone else to pay for it.>

Regina,

Everyone has already given you great advice about this, so I'll only add

a couple of things that made a difference for me when we were having this

exact discussion about 6 months ago! I too wondered if everyone else

used one of these, and if I'd wasted 3 years of " window of opportunity "

time. So I did some research - asked questions here *of course!* and

finally decided we'd get one.

1. No one I've run into here in our community has an FM - except the

teachers at school.

2. We were able to get half of our FM paid for (I know!) through our

county support coordinator. I don't know how this works anywhere else,

but after we were out of 0-3 services, we became eligible for this

" Family Support " money. Just as a long-shot I called them to see if

they'd pay for a 1-time equipment purchase, and with a couple of support

letters from our audi, it was approved.

The other thing that convinced me to get the FM was something a wise

someone here on Listen-Up said: an FM can bridge the incidental learning

gap - to some degree. If I wear the mic all day, then Kate will hear my

half of all my conversations - which is just more opportunity for

language input. So I'm still tweaking our routine, and I do give her

some " breaks " - because frankly, who wants to listen to their mother's

voice ALL DAY LONG?! - but I do feel better that I'm doing a little more

for her than I was before. Time will tell if it's made a difference.

Good luck with your decision.

in CO, mom to:

(5.9) - hearing, typical

Kate (3.9) - mod/sev SN HAs/FM, microcephally, delayed

[Guest guest]

Regina,

I see you've gotten several responses already, but thought I'd

add one more. 's FM is provided by the school district and we

have home use - it travels back and forth to school with her. We

didn't have to fight for it - when she was evaluated last year , I

brought up the isssue of the FM and the evaluators put in the report

that home use would be beneficial. After fighting with our school

district over so many other things, they just simply agreed on this

point.

As others have mentioned, the FM is really really useful at the

park and museums where I may need to get 's attention for safety

issues, but distance and noise are an issue.

When we first got the FM, I used it all the time in the car.

had a significant language delay back then I felt this was the

way to pump as much language into her as possible. At home, she

didn't seem to need it to hear me so we limited our use to outtings.

Now that has made huge jumps in her speech and language, we are

focusing on developing her auditory skills more. I use the FM

significantly less in the car because can hear me and I think

this is a good way to sharpen her auditory skills. I still use it on

long trips because I know it can be tiring for her to try to listen in

a noisy environment for several hours. For us now, I balance the

benefits and ensuring that she doesn't become dependent on it.

I agree with the others (I think Jill and Barbara) that posted

that since your school district has recognized the need, you should

request another meeting to discuss the FM. From what I've seen it

seems to be district dependent whether they will allow home use (this

may not be legal, but that's just what I've seen).

One last thing, don't beat yourself up about the past. I could

write a 3 page list of all the mistakes we made with . I'm not

talking about little ones, big ones that affected her speech and

language development and how well she heard. After working it all

out, I can say that the best you can do is focus on the future and

ensuring you son gets everything he can now. No one prepared us for

having kids with hearing loss, and we're all learning as quick as we

can what's best.

Hope my little novel Helps!

Cheryl (mom to sarah - just turned 5, severe

SNHL and 2, hearing)

[Guest guest]

Hi Regina,

has a CI and we have never used an FM at home...never thought to to be

honest...he has all sorts of accessories for the CI we also do not use...

talks on phone, watches TV and listens to radio etc with no assistance and

rarely misses anything...there is never that much background noise that he needs

to hear through and we are courteous and face him when we speak and try to

remember not to yell for him from another floor although he can hear us and

answers with no difficulty...just our experience.

--

mom to age 8 N24 8/98

-------------- Original message from " Regina " :

--------------

Hi everyone...

I just got back from a revised IEP meeting and managed to get Max's

speech therapy increased to four days a week and three of them being

one on one. Hooray....for now. (His annual review isn't until April

so I didn't want to press any further until he had more recent

hearing tests.)

One of the ladies from the school district commented on how my son

is missing out at home. I asked her to clarify and she asked if I

had an FM system at home. (Now I know I have had this discussion on

here before somewhat) I replied I did not and said I would attempt

to get one through my insurance company. (it seems the chances would

be slim - they won't pay for aids but will for an FM system)

To get to the point I know some of you have said you can't imagine

not having an FM system at home. My question is:

1.Does everyone here (on list-serve)have one of these at home? I

realize it helps, but when my son do one on one activities every day

it is very quiet and we sit very closely.

2.Has anyone ever found a way to get someone else to pay for

it..ie;the school district, insurance, etc. We would find a way to

pay for it ourselves, it's just so much right now and financing only

costs more money.

Tell me what you think...good or bad. Am I screwing my child's

learning progress up by not having an FM system?

Regina

Mom to Max 4 Mod/Severe, Severe/Profound SNHL

Cecelia 16 mos hearing

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.

[Guest guest]

Thank you everyone for your stories....they really do make me feel

better. I am just going through one of those low times - feeling

regret instead of looking forward to what I can change. I'll let you

all know how it goes...Max is scheduled for another meeting in

April. (This past meeting was just a revision of his goals and

services.)

[Guest guest]

Hi there,

has am FM at school that she has had since she was 3 1/2. We do not

have a unit at home. Our insurance won't pay for it, and we cannot afford one

on our own. We have borrowed the school system for special events, but that's

only been a handful of times.

I have to say that is doing so well. She had a very large langauge delay

when first diagnosed, but it's just a mild delay now. We are very aware of our

surroundings while we are working at home of if we are out and about. We always

make sure to face her when we speak and in the car I have a little mirror that

we can see each other in.

I'm sure it couldn't hurt to have it, but we felt that going without it at home

allowed her to hear things like she would most of her life. Obviously she's not

going to be able to put a mic on everyone who would be talking to her.

Debbie, mom to , 5, mod/sev SNHL and , 2, hearing

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

This seems like something that could be worked around. Our son's aids are

insured through our insurance company (cars and home owners) and they will pay

for replacement aids if they are lost or irreparably damaged.

Our school has an FM for Ian and they carry some sort of insurance on it. I

know that since we don't own his FM, we can't insure it on our own, but why

not suggest adding home use to the school's insurance. I'd ask what the

increase in coverage would cost and offer to cover that additional charge.

The coverage for our son's aids is only about $90 a year and covers $3000

worth of aids. I can't imagine that the cost of adding home use for an FM system

would be any more.

So ask ... it can't hurt.

Best -- Jill

In a message dated 3/13/2005 10:58:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

babydewe2@... writes:

Although I know all of that and so does our district (I'm sure that's why

we've been able to borrow the system for special events) we are still

responsible for the system when it is in our possesion. Before we are allowed

to

borrow it, I must send in a note saying that we will be responsible for the

system and any repair/replacemnt costs that may occur. If were to loose

a

boot while at school or at a school function, the school would cover the

replacement cost. If were to loose a boot while it was in my possesion

then I would have to pay to replace the boot. And I can't afford to replace a

$1,000 dollar boot if it were to be lost. So we do the best we can with

what we have to work with.

I really wish that money was no object, but for us it is.

Debbie, mom to , 5, mod/sev SNHL and , 2, hearing