Reflection # 9

A few weeks ago a 5th grader came to my Special Needs class who had had a cochlear implant. This is a device that is placed deep into the inner ear that stimulates auditory nerves in profoundly deaf people. It was so interesting to hear him and his parents talk about the effect that this new technology ha had on his life. He goes to a normal school and never learned sign language. The device is so small that the battery can be hidden behind his ear and is not very noticeable. The 5th grader only had the implant done on one of his ears because doctors wanted to save the other ear for when better technology came out. It was fun listening to the boy talk about what it was like being able to hear and I am so amazed at how helpful technology is not only in the classroom but also in the medical field.
His teacher also told us about other ways that technology gets used in his classroom such as a hands free microphone that the teacher can wear to save her voice or an extra head set for the student to wear to increase the volume.
However, technology is not always completely reliable. They boys dad told a story of a time that he forgot to recharge the battery when he took his son and a friend on a day trip and how they had to resort to writing notes.
I am very interested in how technology gets used in the medical field and look forward to seeing what advances in medical technology will bring.