Mary Beth

@DarlaHS When I travel I always bring back up processors so if something goes wrong with a processor, I can use my back up and deal with it when I return home.

Some Med-El CI processor names are Rondo 2 Sonnet Rondo OPUS 2 TEMPO

Since your son is responding to his name being called and doorbells/phones ringing, he has awareness of sound. That is step 1. So that is great! Now it is time to help him learn to listen to the differences in speech sounds. We focus on listening. And then give children the chance to copy what we say, which starts their speech journey. I will explain the next step we take in English and you can adjust it as needed. We would gather a few objects/toys and sit down with your son so that we are next to his implant side. At first we work with only 2 toys that differ in how many parts they have in their name. Ball (1 part) Choo-choo-train (3 parts). We introduce each toy by holding it up and saying it’s name. Your son can copy the names the best he can. The two toys are set down in front of the child. Then we say one of the names and the child indicates which one by picking up the toy, pointing to the toy, etc. When the child is successful with 2 toys which differ by how many parts are in their names, we increase it to 3 toys that differ by how many parts are in their names. Ball (1 part), airplane (2 parts), Choo-choo-train (3 parts). You can expand this to any topic you wish. At this level of listening it is important that the items differ in how many parts are in their names. You can use food, colors, family members names, animals.......just be sure that the set of items you are working with at the time are all different by the number of parts in their names. We want to keep things fun and successful. Repeated success is what trains our brains to listen with CIs. Short sessions. Many times a day. Also go on listening walks around your home and neighborhood if you can. Listen to sounds and point out what is making the sound. This is how you start teaching your son to listen with his CI.

@Hafiz I admire all the things you are doing to give your son the chance to hear. I am sorry it is so far away and expensive to get to the audiologist. I hope you can go soon because it is very important that the settings on your son’s CI are set correctly and in the early months this requires adjustments. Does your son have 1 CI? Which processor is he using? Does he hear anything at all in his other ear? Does that ear have a hearing aid?

@MED-EL Moderator Does Med-El have support teams in place that cover Afghanistan to help this family?

I will tag a few parents so they see your post too @Hafiz @Colleen Powell @Heather B @suzcohen

Hi @Hafiz I posted your message above. Congratulations on your son’s cochlear implant. It is much more difficult when you live in an area that does not have services for young children with CIs. But it is possible to do the necessary listening training at home. We will help you the best we can as we are all wishing the very best for your son. First though, since you had to go to Turkey for his implant is that where you must go for all of his MAPping appts? It is very, very important that his CI is programmed correctly and in the beginning months that requires several appointments. I met a child who had a CI for several years and was not making any listening progress. It turned out that the child was not consistently wearing the CI and had not been back to the audiologist for a MAPping adjustment in quite awhile. When the family returned to the audiologist for a MAPping, it was clear why the child was not developing listening and speaking skills. The child could not hear speech correctly with the settings on the CI. After that was adjusted, and listening training started things improved. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning this. It is important to make sure the CI settings are still correct for your son. If they are not, the listening training will not be successful. If your son is wearing his CI all waking hours and has had a recent MAPping appointment to ensure he has auditory access to all speech frequencies.....then you are all set to begin listening training at home.

I received this private mail message and am posting it as requested. @Hafiz Hi Dear Mary Beth, I wanted to post this message to the forum of parents of children with hearing loss but I could not fine the option how to post so I'm sending this message to you it would be great if you could kindly post this on the fourm. Hi to everyone, I’m glad to join this forum. My name is Hafiz, I’m form Afghanistan probably all of you might know about Afghanistan. I have a 4 years old son he had severe hearing loss; it has been 10 months that we have implanted a cochlear in his right Ear in Turkey. Now he can hear when we call his name and hear the sound of Door’s bell and phones but in- terms of learning words we do not see progress on him. As you might know the situation in Afghanistan, our country is in war, we do not have such kind of especial center or school for such kind of children; we just trying with him at home but he is not welling to say something. He is the only son which we have. we are very worry about him and his future. I just wanted to share this story with you people and seek your advice it would be great if you could kindly advise me what to do with him and how to proceed with him? Many many thanks and best regards Hafiz

@Lalith They are both great. It comes down to personal preference.

Congratulations on your new upcoming office @Mary Featherston @Hicksy, that is terrific! Yay! Yes the Artone neckloop works much better for phone calls than the Roger System and is so much smaller and easier to use. Going on T cuts out all environmental noise but may make your own voice sound muted. I am so happy that people are experimenting with their CIs on the phone. We know how many unpleasant phone experiences we have all had in the past. Keep sharing phone strategies.

@Jewel success brings confidence! I love it!

@MED-EL Moderator Is the OPUS2 being obsoleted in all countries? If not, which countries will still be able to have OPUS2 processors serviced in 2020 and beyond? The letter from Med-El USA states no service for OPUS2 after fall 2019, unless still under warranty.

Med-El asked me to review the Artone neckloop a couple of years ago. Here is the link to my review. I own several and have 2 charged up everyday. https://blog.medel.com/review-of-the-artone-3-max-bluetooth-neckloop/ @Vinod They can be purchased through Artone’s website or through Amazon.

@Joan Actually it was very interesting. I heard the wind clearly but whenever someone spoke to me, the automatic sound management of Rondo 1 focused in on their voices and I heard them perfectly.

And by the way.... it is amazing how great things sound in high wind with the Rondos in waterwear covers.