Chance starts school

Chance's teacher asked if I would come and tell the class a little about cochlear implants the first week of school.

So I found myself seated in front of two classes of first graders telling them about cochlear implants. Some of these kids were in Chance's class last year so they already knew Chance.

I decided to tell the kids about what a cochlear implant is and show them pictures of Chance's surgery, his face when he first heard sound through the implant and then tell them how the implant works.

The pictures were a big hit. The kids oohed and ahhed as we talked about the journey of getting an implant and why kids get them. Chance stood proudly at my side and helped to hand the pictures around.

One cute little girl sitting right up front, was really enthralled and had lots of questions and comments.
"Kids with those are deaf so you use talk using sign language with them." She stated proudly.
"Actually, the kids with implants at your school talk and can hear." I said.

I told the kids that even though not everyone's implants looked exactly the same, they all helped the kids to hear. The kids wearing implants in the room proudly showed off their implants.

"I learned to sign from a video so I can help the kids with implants if they can't hear." The little girl in the front volunteered.

I told her that that was very nice of her to want to help, and that it was cool that she had learned some sign language. I then told her that kids with implants could hear, so she could talk to them just like she talks to other kids in the class.

I showed the kids how the implant was attached to Chance's head by a magnet. They thought that was awesome. Then I asked the kids what they thought they should do if the implant ever fell off at recess.

"Don't step on it!" One little boy blurted out. Smart kid.
"Give it back to Chance." The little girl in the front said very seriously. "And if Chance can not hear without his implant on, I can talk to him with sign language." She added.

We talked about how without the implants, the deaf kids could not hear, and just like you don't take someone's glasses off, you should never take someone's implant off.

Then one of the kids asked if you slept with implants on. I told him that you usually take them off at night.
I told them that implants can't get wet either. Chance's implants actually can take some water, but some of the kids at school have implants that can not. I did not want to confuse the matter, so I figured to be safe, I should just say that implants are not supposed to get wet.

"What happens if Chance is under the big mushroom when you swim?" One little boy asked earnestly.

The big mushroom? Then I remembered that several of the local swimming pools have a big mushroom shaped waterfall in the kiddie section that rains water down as kids dodge in and out of the water.

"Then you would have to go over and tap Chance because he would not hear you talking." I answered.
"Wow." The little boy mumbled.

"Then I could talk sing language to him." The little girl up front beamed.

"And then, we use sign language with Chance." I responded.

All in all, I think it went well. The kids seemed to be enthralled and the teachers both said that they learned a lot about implants that they didn't know.