Dallas Hearing Foundation/Hearing Loss In The News

Sounds of the Season was featured in the Dallas Morning News' Neighborsgo!

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The home of the Marshall Family is rebuilt on ABC's Extreme Home Makeover. The Marshall Family experienced first hand what it is like to lose one's hearing and then rediscover the gift of sound through cochlear implants.

Elijah Shaddox was featured in the Wylie News! Read on . . .

Cox third-grader given gift of sound
Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2009
news@wylienews.com

By Judy Truesdell
Staff Writer

When Wylie 9-year-old Elijah Shaddox was only 5 weeks old, his parents and doctors knew something wasn’t functioning as it should.

Born prematurely in April 2000, Elijah couldn’t hear. His condition, auditory neuropathy, is one that has only been diagnosed since the mid ’90s and can be tricky to spot since the cells inside the cochlea continue to function normally – but sound isn’t transmitted to the brain properly.

Coincidentally, Elijah’s mom, Mary Shaddox, had worked for nine years in the Greenville Regional Day School for the Deaf, a facility where she is now department head.

Elijah had his first surgery, a cochlear implant, at the age of 18 months, in September 2001. Mrs. Shaddox said she knows what the parents of her students are going through when they consider the same for their children.

“I tell parents that it’s a big decision,” she said. “There’s your child, who’s pretty little at 18 months, about to be cut open … they literally bevel out part of the skull. And some babies are having the surgery as early as 6 to 9 months.”

Mrs. Shaddox explained that a cochlear implant is a device that is inserted surgically into the cochlea, or snail-like inner ear, where it stimulates any functioning auditory nerves inside the cochlea with an electric field.

“It’s different than a hearing aid,” she explained.

The device doesn’t just amplify the sound; it actually changes the sound, bypassing the eardrum and sending the image directly to his brain. Elijah also wears a little broadcasting unit or processor that looks like a hearing aid.

“It’s pretty instantaneous,” she said. “There’s only about a .02-second lag time. It’s a little like an FM receiver.”

Prior to receiving the initial implant, Elijah had no oral language. When he was 4 years old, he received his second cochlear implant, this one partially funded by the Dallas Hearing Foundation, an organization that has assisted the Shaddox family with a variety of expenses over the years.
Mrs. Shaddox said it was a happy day when the second implant was “activated.”

“Elijah kept saying, ‘I hear it!’ ‘I hear it!’ ” she said.

He began school in Plano’s Regional Day School Program for the Deaf at the age of 3, and his mother said his language and vocabulary skills have progressed each year. He has, however, Tourette’s syndrome and some other challenges, so there have been some additional things to overcome. However, his hearing-assisting system, which he refers to as “his ears,” has presented his mother with an opportunity many would like.

“I can wear a special microphone,” she said, “that is patched directly into his system. He can hear me from about 50 feet inside and about 90 feet outside. He’ll be playing soccer, and other moms will say, ‘Tell Elijah to tell Andre to kick the ball!’ ”

She said the system is also useful when they’re, for instance, in Chuck E. Cheese. “I’ll say, ‘Elijah, where are you?’ and he’ll say, ‘Over here, Mom!’ and I’ll find him.”

His mom also said Elijah can attach his Gameboy and his iPod directly into his processor and “plug in.”

Elijah’s been at Cox Elementary in Wylie ISD since December 2008, and Mrs. Shaddox said she has been very happy with his experiences so far at Cox.
“[Cox teacher] Mary Simmons has been especially helpful and supportive,” she said.

In the fall, he’ll be in third grade, in a special classroom.

“He’ll always be ‘playing catch-up’ to some extent,” she said, “but he’s made great progress, using words like ‘continuous.’

“We were playing Farmland recently and discussing hay bales. So, when we were driving back from Rockwall and passed some hay bales, I said, ‘Look Elijah – hay bales. Those are hay bales.’ I bet I repeated it 10 times … but it used to take 40 to 50.”

She and Elijah are both proficient in sign language and sometimes need to use it; when Elijah goes swimming, for instance, he has to remove his hearing system to keep it from getting wet. Though it’s water resistant and can handle a sprinkler or rain, it can’t get in the pool with him.

“He likes ‘his ears,’ but he’ll sign, ‘Not yet! I want to keep swimming!’ ”

Mrs. Shaddox’s experiences with Elijah have given her a better perspective about her own students and their families.

“I counsel with the parents of my students [about these surgeries], and they know I’ve walked in their shoes. I tell them it’s a lot of fun, but it’s a baby step in a long journey that takes years.

“But it’s really exciting when it all starts to click.”

September Kick Off Party Pics Up!

Our September Kick Off Party was a huge success!

Thanks to Bravo Catering, C.E. Collins Design, Elegantly Chocolate, Groovy Sound Productions, The Lily Pad Flowers, Lumen Event Lighting, Marc Events, Pea Pod Productions, Shag Carpet, Silver Tray Staffing, Sweet Art Bakery, United Party Rental, VIM Studio Photography, and VIP Valet Services for helping to make this event a success!


Dr. Peters addressing the crowd.

Blaine Moore's testimonial with the crowd in the background.

DHF recipient Lauren Sutton and her family

DHF Fundraising Committee Member Carl Smith reviewing the Capen family testimonial.

Meredith Commender with Significant Events of Texas (event coordinator, Sounds of the Season), Sabino Soleto, the Cigar Roller, and Marla Watson-Werst, CSEP, PeaPod Productions (Sounds of the Season video production sponsor)

Marla Watson Werst, CSEP, PeaPod Productions,

and Sally Strong, Bravo Catering, Sounds of the Season September Kick Off Party Sponsor

View the rest of the pictures here