Deaf Baby Hears His Mom For The First Time

Monday, December 22, 2014

Deaf Baby Hears His Mom For The First Time

VIDEO: Deaf toddler can’t stop giggling when he hears his mother's voice for the first time.



Toddler Ryan Aprea, two, was born at just 25 weeks and suffers from impaired sight and hearing. He had a cochlear implant fitted into his ear in November which is allowing him to hear sounds for the first time and the youngster couldn't stop laughing every time he heard his mother Jennifer speak.



As his mom Jennifer told Storyful, baby Ryan was born three months prematurely and spent his first seven months of life in hospital. Around the time he was due to come home, he was diagnosed as being profoundly Deaf. An ideal candidate for a cochlear implant, his parents didn’t delay in taking action to increase his chances of being able to communicate with them. His giggle upon hearing his mother’s voice for the first time.

The moment when a young boy with severe hearing difficulties heard his mother's voice for the very first time has been captured in a heartwarming video clip, which shows the youngster dissolving into a fit of giggles every time she speaks.



Entrepreneur Jennifer Colson Aprea, from Huntington Beach, California, posted the clip of her two-year-old son Ryan on her company's Facebook page on Monday, revealing that her son had successfully been fitted with a cochlear implant which is enabling him to hear sounds for the first time in his life.



'We're heading home and it's all good news after the mapping and activation,' the mother-of-two, who founded cloth diaper brand Spray Pal, wrote.



'His brain is definitely receiving sound. The audiologist programmed the device at three different levels and we will gradually increase them throughout the week ... Read more: HERE

Deaf Couple Had Their Baby Officially Registered With A Sign Name

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Deaf Couple Had Their Baby Officially Registered With A Sign Name

VIDEO [CC] - Deaf baby becomes first person in Britain to have her sign language name that means smiley face legally recorded on her birth certificate.

LONDON - A Deaf couple have become the first people in Britain to record their baby's name in sign language on her birth certificate.



Theatre director Paula Garfield, 47, and her partner Tomato Lichy, 39, from Wembley, north London, wanted to record Hazel's name in British Sign Language (BSL), but said they were initially told by their local Brent Register Office that it was impossible.



Now their personal name for four-year-old Hazel, a reference to her smiling face, has pride of place on her birth certificate - as UbOtDDstarL.



Hazel's sign name, like many others, is not simply the letters H-A-Z-E-L spelt out.



Instead it is a made-up combination of symbols which, when taken in context, describes her personality in a way only her parents and friends can fully understand.



Hazel's sign name is written as UbOtDDstarL, which represents a combination of hand movements.

WATCH VIDEO WITH CLOSED CAPTIONED - CLICK HERE

The U represents the chin, bO means a 'baby O' made with the thumb and forefinger, tD means 'hands facing the signer', Dstar means 'the handshape opens' and L shows the shape of the hand.



Put that together and it makes a small O shape held at the chin, which then opens into an L shape.



Ms Garfield told MailOnline she had a battle of up to nine months with the Register Office. The issue was finally sorted around four years ago, but the case has had little publicity.



'My daughter's sign name is what it is because her first expression was a smile,' she said. 'There's no way to translate it perfectly into English.



'But we went to the register office and they said it was "ridiculous, you can't register a sign name, don't be silly". So we got in touch with a solicitor, who said the law allows people to have their name on a birth certificate "in their own language".' ... Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2840423/Deaf-couple-s-daughter-Britain-sign-legally-recorded-birth-certificate.html