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My name is Julianne Schmelter, and my daughter, Jordan Schmelter, is three years old
She was born in 2007 and during her 2-day-old newborn hearing screening, we found out there was a problem with her hearing
We went through all the follow-up appointments, and after about two and a half months of follow-up appointments
We finally had an ABR done, and we learned that she had a severe-to-profound hearing loss
and it was devastating. I always tell people that I thought that she wasn't going to be able to sing
I wasn't going to be able to sing to her, to tell her a goodnight story, read her a book
We didn't really know too much about our options
At the time, I had heard of cochlear implants, but I didn't really know what they were, I didn't know what they could do for her
and of course I'd heard of hearing aids before
and right away I started to think how we all needed to take sign language classes
and learn ASL, and continued to do some research on the Internet
We were fortunate to be in a school district where the Supervisor of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program is Judy Horvath
who is a big, active member in AG Bell
and pretty much brought us to AG Bell in terms of knowing the kinds of things that were going to be available to our daughter
technology, and early intervention, and amplification
and that was sort of where it all began, after my conversation with her
We started with hearing aids at three months
and Auditory-Verbal Therapy at three months and one day
and just worked really hard with Jordan ever since
At fifteen months, she got her first cochlear implant
And then at two years, eight months, she got her second one
Until then, she was wearing one implant and one hearing aid
and she has just made wonderful strides, she a successful oral deaf child
She was actually dismissed from Auditory-Verbal Therapy when she was two years old
We have a wonderful Auditory-Verbal Therapist in the Tampa area, Marcus Rose, who worked very hard with her
and has brought her along to the exceptional point that she is today
In terms of the way we felt, going through this process,
you know, I think we went from being completely overwhelmed and depressed
to wondering when it was gonna get hard, and when we were gonna fail
because thinking, "There's no way that this could really make things work as well as people tell us it's gonna work"
and, um, boy, we're not depressed any more!
and we are doing our best, well, we're trying to begin to do our best
to help other people learn the possibilities for these kids
to help redefine for other people what your possibilities, what your potential is
when you are, when you have a diagnosis of severe-to-profound hearing loss
We had no idea the potential that Jordan would have
When you're in the supermarket and you're explaining to somebody, "My daughter is deaf, but she has this technology"
"And, with a lot of work and a lot of therapy, she's learned how to speak"
"...as well as her same-age peers," people don't get it
It's hard to really inform somebody in the vegetable aisle
And really, we've spent a lot of time over the past three years focusing inwardly
and taking care of us, and taking care of Jordan, and working on her and bringing her as far as she's come
I think now we're really ready to kind of embark on helping other people understand the possibilities
My husband is a member of the AG Bell Florida Chapter and that's one way that we're starting to get involved
We're really just enthusiastic now about moving forward and helping other people
And, in terms of our feelings now, it's kind of just kind of like excitement, and enthusiasm and wanting to
Really, we can't stop talking about it!
So, I always joke with people, "If you do catch me in the supermarket, you do want to know what that thing is on my child's head,"
"You better have at least five minutes, because I'm gonna keep talking and I'm not gonna stop"
"...until you kind of understand a little about cochlear implants"
So that's where we're at right now, and it's a complete 180 from where we were when she was born
and I hope that we can be parents that can give other parents and families hope for their children
when they kind of go through what we went through when our daughter was born EAB [off camera]: Awesome, that is great