Get loud for a good cause
Freddie Stickland can’t wait for Loud Shirt Day this week.
On Friday, Kiwis are encouraged to wear their brightest, most colourful shirts and raise vital funds to help children and adults with profound hearing loss who access sound through cochlear implants.
For Freddie, who will turn five next year, cochlear implants have enabled him to listen and communicate for most of his life.
It’s been life-changing according to his dad Mark Stickland.
‘‘We were referred to The Hearing House by an audiologist when Freddie was still very young’’, he says. ‘‘He was completely deaf, and going through the motions of being implanted and switched on at just six months old, it was an emotional experience.
‘‘But to see him all of a sudden have access to sound was astounding.’’
A cochlear implant is a small device that is placed under the skin behind the ear and restores hearing for those with profound hearing loss. After the implant is switched on, the process of learning to hear is not immediate and requires specialist listening and spoken language therapy.
Loud Shirt Day is the national fundraising campaign for The Hearing House and the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) – the only two charities in New Zealand dedicated to supporting children and adults with cochlear implants as they learn to listen and communicate.
Mark says that it’s thanks to regular checkups to The Hearing House that Freddie is ready to start school next year in Howick with his older siblings and friends from kindy.
‘‘Every two weeks Freddie goes to The Hearing House for what is essentially bespoke speech and language therapy for kids with cochlear implants.
‘‘It’s a big part of the service that they offer, and an ongoing part of his life. There are tune-ups to his cochlear, and his communication skills come through in the exercises they practice.’’
This means Freddie has had the opportunity to grow up speaking and hearing like his siblings. Without his cochlear implant he is completely deaf, so his implants allow him to focus on his abilities rather than disabilities.
‘‘Freddie is quite capable at sign language and very cheeky. He’s hilarious. If he’s scared, or doesn’t want to hear us or is being told off he switches his ears off, he cancels us out and lip-reads. It’s the small things like this that we may not have realised without his implants.’’ says Mark.
‘‘As far as organisations go, The Hearing House is hugely effective at what they do’’, Mark says. ‘‘It really is life-changing for a child or anyone who is hearing impaired, or has hearing loss or loss of sound, to have a cochlear implant. The way they deliver on what they do is really astounding.’’
Money raised through Loud Shirt Day will help The Hearing House and SCIP ensure every cochlear implant user in New Zealand has access to lifetime support.
Go to loudshirtday.org.nz/faq for further information and to find out how to make a donation.