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Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
Ben Casalegno reads a barnyard animal book with his mother Jen Casalegno in theri Dallas home.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an update to a two-part series published in January following then 1-year-old Ben Casalegno, who was born almost deaf and went through surgery to install an implant allowing him to hear.
The first two stories detailed the surgery and activation of his Cochlear Nucleus 5 implant. They were published in the Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 issues of the Itemizer-Observer and are available in the I-O's online story archive at www.polkio.com.
DALLAS -- Ben Casalegno sat with his mom, Jen Casalegno, at home on a summer afternoon last week turning the pages of a book about farm animals.
The 19-month-old toddler pointed to a horse on the page and softly said "nay." Ben turned his bright blue eyes to his mom.
"Nay," Casalegno said. "Is that what a horse says?" she asked her son.
Ben gestures to other animals, identifying them by the noises they make: a sheep is "bah;" a cat, "meow."
There is nothing usual about a child learning to recognize animals he will likely see every day of his childhood living on a farm just outside Dallas.
The extraordinary aspect of this mother-son exchange was that little Ben is now hearing his mom's voice -- and the rest of the world -- with both his ears.
Last January, Ben started his journey to experience sound with a surgical procedure to implant a device in his profoundly deaf left ear to allow him to hear on that side. A cochlear implant's internal (receiver and electrode array) and external processor work together allowing the user to detect sound. An external processor picks up and analyzes sound and converts it to a digital code. The internal receiver transmits the code to the array inside the cochlea. Electrical pulses stimulate the auditory nerve directly, which the brain interprets as sound.
Nineteen-month-old Ben Casalegno has discovered a love for music and dancing -- things he previously missed out on.
Before activation, Ben's only form of communication was sign language.
Two weeks after the first implant was activated, Ben said his first word, "dadda," followed soon by "meow" and "momma."
Then, exactly six months after his first surgery, Ben had a second cochlear implant surgery on his right ear.
Ben had worn a hearing aid on his right ear since he was nine weeks old. However, the cause of Ben's hearing loss -- enlarged vestibular aqueducts, a malformation allowing too much liquid in the cochlea, damaging the tiny nerves that detect sound -- is progressive. While his family was considering a second surgery, his hearing in that ear had deteriorated to the point of profound deafness.
Thus, much like after his first implant activation, his right auditory nerve had to adapt to receiving sound.
That adjustment can be difficult because while the nerve is adapting, hearing on that side is underdeveloped and therefore more bothersome than useful at first, said Dr. Don Plapinger, the director of the Cochlear Implant Program at Oregon Health & Science University.
Nicknamed "Dr. Don" by Ben, Plapinger has been seeing Ben since before his first surgery.
To help the process along, Jen and Ben's father, Adam Casalegno, spent time training their son's right side, having him wear only that processor for a portion of the day. That made Ben depend on it for sound and soon the two ears found balance. Instead of rejecting the right side processor, Ben has begun asking for both in the mornings.
"Now when I put on his ears, he says `One more,'" Jen Casalegno said.
She said since his second surgery he can hear softer sounds than before and finds Ben mimicking noises he hears. He has wasted no time exercising the option to talk.
"He's amazed us," Plapinger said. "He is already putting two words together and you can understand them."
Ben now talks to or about whatever he sees and often narrates what he is doing. Casalegno said Ben has plenty to say to checkers in the grocery store -- or anybody else he encounters.
Plapinger said most children who have implants catch up with hearing children in their age groups. At the moment, Ben is doing that faster than expected.
"He has really taken off," Plapinger said. "For six months post-implant, he is doing amazingly well."
Ben also can supplement his spoken language with sign, which he continues to learn.
As his speech development continues, with assistance from an early intervention specialist, those working with Ben will find out where he might need assistance in the future, Casalegno noted.
For now, however, Ben's ability to communicate will continue to grow.
In an especially poignant realization, Ben's family has discovered he loves music and has shown an early affinity for dancing.
"It's amazing to think that those are things he would be missing out on -- and he enjoys them so much," Casalegno said.
