Created: Thursday, November 6, 2008 12:00 a.m. CDT FONT SIZE:   Sound blessings
By KATIE ROYAL BURLINGTON - Adoption has been a dream for Bill and Kathy Loos for as long as they can remember. About five years ago, that dream came true. Now they have two adopted children and two foster children in their care. “There are just so many children who need good, stable homes, and I wanted to be able to give them that,” Kathy said. But as she has found, a dream turned reality can have its flaws. When her second adopted child, Joy, was only about a year old, it was discovered she had profound hearing loss. Kathy noticed that Joy seemed unresponsive to many sounds, from a volume change on the television to Kathy simply calling her name or asking her questions. Her suspicion was confirmed after taking Joy in for hearing tests. In addition to her profound hearing loss, Joy was also suffering from perforated ear drums and severe ear infections. “I knew something was wrong because she kept pulling on her ears,” Kathy said. “Even though I kind of already knew, it was still a shock to find out she couldn’t hear anything.” Still, Kathy said she is the kind of person to take care of things rather than dwelling on them. “I’m the kind of person who likes to kick things into gear,” she said. “After the shock wore off, I immediately wanted to figure out therapy, sign language and communication with her.” Putting tubes in Joy’s ears helped to clear up the infections, which she had suffered from before, but never to such a severe degree. But tubes would not solve her hearing problems. For that, Kathy went to Dr. Nancy Young with Children’s Memorial Hospital. Young performed the surgery for Joy’s cochlear implants. The implants use electrical impulses and small computers in ear pieces that she wears to allow her to hear. Technically, Joy is still considered deaf, because without the equipment working she still cannot hear. However, with working equipment, she can generally hear just as well as anyone with normal hearing does. Once Joy was able to hear, Kathy’s concern was making sure her daughter would be able to speak properly and catch up on a lost year of language development. The entire family had been learning sign language, but it was Kathy’s goal to get Joy speaking as well. After doing some research, Kathy found out there are several resources for the hearing impaired right in this area, and around the suburbs of Chicago. Child’s Voice, the school Joy now attends where they focus purely on speaking and listening, is in Wood Dale. She is also able to receive at-home speech therapy once a week through Pam Miller of Sycamore, a developmental therapist for hearing. “Joy has caught up quickly after her implants,” said Miller, who has worked with Joy for over a year. “She had no expressive communication when I first met her. She could hear what I said, but it had no meaning for her because she hadn’t developed any language.” When Joy turns three in January, she will have the option of continuing education at Child’s Voice, or taking early preschool classes for hearing impaired children through Howard B. Thomas Elementary School in Burlington. “We’re very fortunate living in Burlington and having the resources we do so close to home,” Kathy said. No matter where Joy goes to school, Kathy intends for her daughter to have regular communication abilities, in addition to knowing sign language. “Our goal is total communication,” Kathy said, explaining that this involves not only speaking and listening, but also signing if necessary. Still, speaking is the top priority. Kathy’s hopes are that by having the cochlear implants done at a young age, and by intensively addressing Joy’s language development, Joy will be able to achieve a fairly normal childhood and adulthood. “My hopes are that she will be able to go mainstream at school and sit in a regular classroom and not have her hearing be an issue,” Kathy said. |
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