Moog Center Visit #2

4:36 PM Unknown 0 Comments

The Moog Center is one of 3 schools for Deaf Education in St Louis. We were referred to them by our speech therapist here in Springfield. She has attended workshops there and also has another family who switched all of their daughter's care there. After one visit at Moog, they learned that she was not getting any help from the hearing aids and was indeed a candidate for bilateral (both ears) cochlear implants. She was implanted at 12 months, activated (when they turn the implant on after allowing the incisions to heal) at 13 months and had over 20 words by 17 months.

Since we had heard such great things and were so impressed by the school on our last visit, we decided to go again to help seal the deal for us. Knowing it will be a lot more work and time away from home for us is really the only downside. I called Monday and was able to get an appointment for Friday which ends up being a good day for me and my mom who keeps Charis for us. They are a provider for Missouri First Steps - a program funded by the Department of Education to assist and support families of children with developmental delays. They provide our speech therapy, special instruction (basically more speech therapy instructing the parent or primary caregiver). They all work together and communicate (something I'm learning is uncommon amongst our doctors in Springfield). And the best part is they all want what is best for Elsie.

During our visit yesterday, they put Elsie in the sound booth. She sat in a bumbo seat and watched as Ms. Ann entertained her. Dr. Valerie puts a series of tones in her ears to find out at what level she responds. They are able to get a better picture of her level of hearing loss with each visit to the booth as you can only get so much out of an infant. When Dr. Valerie switched to Elsie's left ear we quickly learned she was done. She would ball and shed huge tears every time the toy was taken away. It was hilariously pitiful.

Based on what she learned in the booth, Dr Valerie changed some of the settings on her hearing aids. She also took new molds of Elsie's ears since it has been 4 months since we had the current ones made! We talked through recommendations for implanting Elsie's right ear and agreed the left ear is not off the table, but for now to continue with the hearing aid and see how she does.

Thanks to my grandmother coming with me and helping with a very tired Elsie, I also got to spend some time with Ms Ann going over our new Book:



What a blessing! I am excited to read and learn. It is such a joy to be Elsie's mom and I am so thankful for all the resources we have available to us to help our little girl learn to listen and talk. It can be overwhelming at times but I am certain that the Lord of Peace grants me peace in all circumstances. 2 Thessalonians 3:16


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