Opinion ID: 77196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: C.M.'s Disability

Text: 2 C.M. was born on November 24, 1998, with profound bilateral sensorial hearing loss. The diagnosing audiologist asked C.M.'s parents whether they wanted C.M. to learn to communicate orally (through spoken language) or manually (using sign language). C.M.'s parents indicated that they wanted C.M. to be an oral communicator. 3 The audiologist recommended that C.M. be fitted with hearing aids and begin auditory-verbal therapy (AVT). 1 After doing considerable research, C.M.'s parents determined that AVT was the best methodology for their child. 4 Accordingly, C.M.'s parents fitted C.M. with hearing aids and took her to see Kathy Bricker, an audiologist with the University of Miami Ear Institute, for an hour of AVT each week. C.M. was nine months old at the time. 5 After about six months, it was clear that C.M. was not getting enough sound from the hearing aids she was wearing, even though they were the most powerful on the market. After consulting with experts, C.M.'s parents decided that C.M. should receive a cochlear implant. 2 6 On April 4, 2000, Dr. Thomas Balkany, the head of the Health Services' Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Miami, successfully performed C.M.'s cochlear implant surgery. The device was activated three to four weeks after the surgery. The date of activation of a cochlear implant is considered day one of hearing for an implant recipient, who has to learn all the pragmatics of hearing, just like a newborn has to learn them. 7 Cochlear, which sells the devices, recommends that children who are implanted with a cochlear device receive an educational program that maximizes exposure to meaningful sounds . . . [particularly] exposure to spoken language every day. However, Cochlear does not recommend any particular program. 8 Although Cochlear does not recommend any particular program, Dr. Balkany does. According to Dr. Balkany, AVT is the best form of therapy for the implanted child. Consequently, C.M. continued to receive AVT for one hour each week. 9 In the summer of 2001, C.M.'s parents enrolled her in a half-day summer program at their local synagogue. C.M.'s parents then elected to enroll C.M. in the synagogue's year-round preschool program for children from six weeks to five years of age. Although the synagogue accepts disabled students like C.M., it does not provide them with special education classes, such as AVT. 10 Until C.M. turned three in November 2001, the AVT she received was paid for through the Miami-Dade County Early Intervention Program (Early Intervention Program). After age three, the Early Intervention Program no longer pays for AVT. In addition, until age of three, C.M. received oral motor therapy and other special education services under the authority of a public agency. 11