Monday, November 14, 2011

I'm full of anxiety these days and at the top of my list is Christian's IEP in a few weeks with our public school that we plan on transitioning to next Fall for Kindergarten. On one hand we're completely at ease. We know we are making the right choice, that Christian will be great, and the teachers will amazing. We love our public school. It's around the corner from our house and has a fantastic community. On the other  hand, well, the other hand is shaking. I am absolutely freaking out and no amount of red wine, Lexapro, or yoga will calm me down.

The school system is recommending that we go the FM system route for Christian's Cochlear Implant. I've read the research, and know that it is a great option to help weed out all that extra noise in the classroom. I know that kids with CIs and FMs are super successful academically. I know it would really help him in the 26+kid classroom and all that background noise.  I know that want him to have every single tool that we can get our hands on to make things easier. I can't stop from worrying about relying on yet another piece of technology. Am I crazy to even wonder if he'll end up RELYING on the FM and his listening skills may actually decrease?

I'd love to hear from other families that have a kid with a CI using an FM in classroom! Until then, I'm going to continue to self medicate with mass quantities of Malbec and Us Weekly magazines.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

it easy for him to miss out classroom discussion (and other kids' conversation) , even if the setting is adjusted so he can hear other kids, it's main purpose will always be filtering. So he'll have no control what he want to listen closely and what he want to filter. it would be in teacher's control.

I wore bodyworn phonic ear FM system from preschool to 3rd grade.

Dorie said...

Our son uses an FM system with his CI at school, and it has really helped in the challenging listening environment of a noisy classroom. He mainstreamed in the 1st grade and is now in 7th, and he's making straight As, so it hasn't negatively affected his listening skills. He is fatigued after school, though, so be prepared for that. That was probably the change I least anticipated when he left the security of his oral school (small class size, acoustically sound environment) and went into the mainstream.

Terrie K said...

FM is the way to go! Naish has used his since he was 3 during preschool, and in public schools before he came to RS. I also use it all the time with Poppy. Hardest thing is getting the teachers to use it properly. I listen to the FM regularly to make sure everything sounds OK- at 6 1/2 Naish is just getting to the point where he can reliably report to me if there is a problem with the equipment. Just make sure you stay on top of it! :)

kate blue said...

My son (now 7 YO) has been implanted from age 3 and has been in a mainstream class that has a deaf/HOH program (with assistance/ FT interpreters) since age 4 and they do use the FM...but trust me, he in no way relies on it...he knows it's for the class and he knows to try to balance his focus when he's in noisy situations. It's a good thing, especially if the teacher has got a full noisy class and there's a lot going on. Our Board of Educ has a D/HOH team and so all teachers that have our CI kids are educated and trained on the use of it. After he gets situated, go visit and observe and I think your fears will be calm :):)

Christian and Lily's Mommy said...

Thank you Dorie, Katherine and Terrie for your words of encouragement and insight! I'm still nervous, but it's great to hear about so many kiddos who are doing well with it!

MB said...

Mari's been using an FM since she was 2. She had a HINT test without it, and got 98% and 100%. The 100% was the noise 5 db louder than the signal.