My Daughter is Gifted

Hi All,

I know you must be thinking sure her daughter is gifted, doesn't every Mother claim that? Please give me time to explain and I think you will agree.

The first thing you notice about my daughter, Maisie, is her smile. It's as bright as sunshine and full of mischief and fun. The next thing you'd notice is the little box that seems to float near her head just behind her right ear. That tiny little box is actually a BAHA, short for bone anchored hearing aid, and it usually makes people take a confused second look at her.

That tiny, expensive BAHA is what is giving Maisie a new lease on life.

Maisie is hearing impaired. She was born with a profound hearing loss in one ear. When learned of her hearing impairment when she was about a month old, and for that I am grateful. However, we had no idea how to deal with it. The rest of our family, and basically everyone we know have "normal" hearing, so how could we help our little infant? Should we shout at her when we sing and do nursery rhymes, would she even hear that? We had a lot to learn about hearing loss.

Maisie has compensated so well with her hearing loss that at times we almost forget that she has it. She had never worn any kind of hearing aid because of the type of hearing loss she has. Her cochlea is not properly formed and a regular hearing aid wouldn't benefit her at all. She is lost at times between the hearing and deaf world. She's not deaf, but she doesn't hear like others. She has had many ways that she deals with it, mostly by just repeating "WHAT?" For this response, she has received many sour looks and responses, to which we reply, "She's deaf in one ear." This is always a shock to those who don't know she's hearing impaired.



Maisie is truly a brave little girl. On November 28, 2007, she underwent life changing surgery. A titanium screw was implanted into her skull, which when healed, she would attach a BAHA which conducts sound through her head to her only working ear. As we waited in the pre operation area, her little legs were pumping up and down in her chair as she was met by every person of her operation team, anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses. Seeing her legs pumping enthusiastically, they asked if she was nervous or scared, to which she replied, "No, I'm just excited!"

The surgery itself took about 2 1/2 hours, and after she had a HUGE bandage on her head. She was taken back to her room and given painkillers, which she stopped taking completely in three short days.

The screw healed nicely into her skull, the stitches look like they were done by a plastic surgeon, and her hair is growing back. Some will never grow back around the screw, but that's because she had a skin graft around the screw so that hair won't grow around it, and that's ok.

March 10th was her big day. She was finally healed well enough to start wearing her BAHA. We'd basically waited for about 7 years by now for her to be able to hear better. I don't think I could've waited another day, I was so excited. My little girl was going to be able to hear so much better than she could on March 9th, or any other day of her whole life!

As we waited for the audiologist (we were an hour early!) we were so excited. He hooked on the BAHA, turned it on, plugged her good ear and began to test her hearing with only the BAHA. The results were conclusive that she could "hear" almost as well with her BAHA as she could in her good ear. When we left the hospital and got into the car, we were all talking about where we were going to go next, and Maisie said, "Why are you all yelling?" I told her we weren't yelling at all and she said, "But you're so LOUD!" I chuckled as I told her we've always been loud, she just hasn't heard us.



Maisie is now hearing sounds that she's never heard before, things she doesn't recognize. For example, we were at her brother’s basketball game and she was completely puzzled by a sound she could hear but didn't know what it was. After I strained to hear it, I discovered it was the sound of balls pinging off the rim when the boys missed a shot. She had never heard it before. She also now really hears the sound of birds in the yard, the wind, and she hears things that "hearing" people have learned to block out as background noise. Because she's not really heard well, these are all new sounds to her. It's wonderful to see the look on her face as she tries to figure out just what she's hearing.

Maisie not only functions, she thrives. When we were told of her hearing loss, the outlook given to us was very bleak. We were told that she most likely have speech problems (and she did have some), and also have troubles in school due to not hearing instructions and therefore not understanding them. I think the exact phrase given to us was she was "set up for failure".

Today she is one of the best readers in her class; she is caring, kind and generous even though she's sometimes struggled, as many people with disabilities do, she’s never thrown in the towel.

People who face challenges and adversities doing things that we all take for granted every day truly amaze me. Their strength, courage, and determination are inspiring.

Realizing the things Maisie can do with only one ear, the things she's accomplished are amazing. If you step back and appreciate what you have, your heart fills with love, pride, and joy

That's why I think.....my daughter is gifted.