Should I Give My Deaf Child A Cochlear Implants

One of the hottest debates between Deaf and Hearing culture lies in the question, “Should I give my deaf child a cochlear implant?” People of the Deaf culture often fear that use of cochlear implants will eliminate their culture. Yet, a hearing person may believe it will allow their child to participate in mainstream schooling and activities. Some hearing people may not want to learn sign language in order to communicate with their deaf child. As about 90% of hearing parents cannot effectively communicate with their deaf children (Holcomb, n.d., para. 2), the latter is evident. Placed in this situation, I would implant my infant child with a cochlear implant, and I would teach the child both spoken and sign language. By teaching my Deaf child …show more content…
A cochlear implant is made up of a microphone, a speech processor, a transmitter, receiver, and an electrode. Cochlear implants do not restore the natural hearing in the ear, but they bypass the damaged part of the ear. Instead of amplifying sound in an attempt to stimulate the auditory nerve like a hearing aid, cochlear implants stimulate the auditory nerve directly with electrical impulses. The electrical impulses are carried down the auditory nerve to the brain, which processes the electrical signals as sound. This technology has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for implantation in children as young as twelve months of age (Cochlear Implants, n.d., para. 4). In addition, young cochlear implant patients (implanted at age 2 or younger), with extensive hearing and speech training, are able to enter into conventional schooling by first grade (Beer, Castellanos, Colson, Henning, & Pisoni, 2014, para. 2). Since children make the most strides in development at a young age, early implantation of cochlear implants during the first years of life is optimal for their language and speech