Great article in the most recent Parents magazine discussing kids and cochlear implants.
The author, Debbie Waldman, did a great job capturing a positive story about the very engaged Bennett family and their 4-year old daughter.
It is a real story about a little girl who receives Cochlear Implants and now talks like a champ in a mainstream environment. This story is sure to educate all families about hearing loss and give those families hope who find themselves on a hearing loss journey.
It also avoids the old tired story that is often covered in the media which says deaf people hate cochlear implants. While there certainly are haters, this attitude is rapidly changing.
Ironically, Lily was going to be the featured kid in this article.
We spoke with the author at length, multiple times, over two years ago. It seemed that because Lily was implanted at 10 months (before the 1 year FDA guideline), Parents Magazine editors were worried about running her story.
Alas...Cochlear Implant implantation before one year is fairly standard and the research continues to show that earlier is better. While we're disappointed Lily's story wasn't told, we are thrilled that this article ran. It's a story that should be told every year!!
Thanks Parents magazine for covering an important issue that impacts thousands of families everyday.
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