August, 2005

When asked about "measurable outcomes for Emily, her mother didn’t have to think to long before she rattled off a string of positive outcomes for her daughter. " Let’s see, one year ago, Emily couldn’t walk or talk. Now she can walk, run utter sounds, knows 40 signs. She can hear me and understands me. "The blonde haired, blue-eyed 2-year-old played at her mother’s side, dressing her baby doll and signing help when she needed her mom’s assistance.

Cochlear implants bypass damaged hair cells and convert speech and environmental sounds into electrical signals and send these signals to the hearing nerve. The implant consists of a small electronic device, which is surgically implanted under the skin behind the ear and an external speech processor, which is usually worn on a belt or in a pocket. A microphone is also worn outside the body as a headpiece behind the ear to capture incoming sound. The speech processor translates the sound into distinctive electrical signals. These 'codes' travel up a thin cable to the headpiece and are transmitted across the skin via radio waves to the implanted electrodes in the cochlea. The electrodes’ signals stimulate the auditory nerve fibers to send information to the brain where it is interpreted as meaningful sound.

For this family, how it works is not what is important but that it works. As her mother, Laura told her story; Emily played with her dolls. She dressed them, fed them, put them in their baby bed, a familiar scene in homes across America. " Emily can run, jump and climb on her new play equipment." Laura motioned to the background. ‘We have to worry about the static cling on the implant though. The slide is awful. It messes with the implant."

The Adaptive Modification Grant purchased her hearing aids and ear molds. Family Directed Resources paid for educational resources for the family and learning equipment. The Therapy Training grant has paid for sign language classes for parents and grandparents. CoSi has been a wonderful learning place for the Martins. "An hour of speech therapy goes fast. This is like hours and hours of speech therapy." Delaware County helped the family gain passes because of this rationale.

Emily will be going to preschool this fall. She will attend the Ohio School for the Deaf for educational experiences. However, going to a preschool that is uses both sign and speech is the ultimate goal to help Emily develop speech to go with her new skill of signing. Emily has a Children’s Support Administrator and a home Early Intervention specialist comes to Emily’s house monthly to work with Emily and her family on her educational plan. She is involved in a speech specialty group for Language Enrichment, with other children of similar needs funded by Delaware County Board of Developmental Disabilities.