Extensive Therapy after cochlear Implantation

After the cochlear implantation surgery, the infant or young child must acquire new hearing skills. Even if they heard in the past with the help of hearing aids, they have to learn to re-interpret the auditory input.

A very intensive rehabilitation program is required which includes:

–  Repeated hearing tests in the audiology lab

–  Extra weekly speech therapy sessions and post implantation   therapies designed to massively expose the infant to hearing

–  Purchasing of sophisticated media equipment for producing and editing good quality sounds

–  Guiding parents on how to play an active part in the rehabilitation of their child

The implementation of the program had been very successful. It is in its initial stages and obviously, every implanted child will need the same rehabilitation.

It is clear from the auditory testing, auditory teaching and language testing that the children have made a dramatic progress and that they achieved their goals both in hearing-communicating and in their language.

Funding Needs

1. Extra weekly speech therapy for each implanted child (2 weekly hours)

2. Guidance and support for parents by a multidisciplinary professional team on how to play an active role in the rehabilitation process of their child.(1 weekly hour by each staff member)

3. Purchasing of sophisticated media equipment