Posts in month: August, 2010

My mother-in-law has a hearing aid. I never thought much about them until I noticed how much trouble she has with it. So many times I will be talking to her and she’ll appear to be listening to every word. But when I am done it turns out that she hasn’t heard most of what I have said. She will nod as if she gets it but her responses don’t connect.

Is her hearing aid in? Yes, there it is. There are too many things to check: Is it on? Is the battery working? Is there too much background noise? And on it goes.

Recently I decided to research hearing aids to find the best one on the market and something that will suit my mother-in-law’s budget. I always thought that basically you just get one that your doctor prescribes for you. Maybe it fits; maybe it doesn’t, depending on the shape of your ears.

But I was wrong! There are so many different sizes and shapes. And forget about the prices! You can end up paying over $3,000.00 for one. What happens if it doesn’t work for you? My extensive research finally led me to the Acoustitone™ PRO Hearing Aid by MDHearingAid.

What to Look for When Buying a Hearing Aid

Reading the wealth of information available made me realize that there are important things to keep in mind when buying hearing aids. These are:

• Size and weight

• Sound Processing

• Power

• Testing

• Safety

If you are just looking at the price when you buy your hearing aid you will run in to trouble if you don’t keep each of these in mind. Let me explain how they affect you and how the Acoustitone™ PRO addresses them.

Size Matters!

A lot of people that buy hearing aids are concerned about the size of the device. They don’t want it to be obvious that they are wearing a hearing aid. They want something that is small enough to be hidden and yet work effectively.

The Acoustitone™ PRO fits discreetly behind the user’s right or left ear and it weighs only 4 ounces.

The Importance of Sound

Have you noticed sometimes when you are speaking to someone in a crowded room how there is so much noise in the background you have difficulty hearing what they are saying to you? It can be even more difficult for people that use hearing aids if the unwanted background noise is improperly filtered out. This makes it extremely difficult to hear important conversations.

The Acoustitone hearing aid contains an omnidirectional microphone that not only allows you to hear the noise around you but is the easiest way to get a realistic sound. It also has a 2-channel Tone control switch that reduces the background noise.

And What About Power?

Nowadays most hearing aids are powered by batteries. You have to be sure that the ones that you require are readily available because you don’t want to be looking for one when you really need it. So often my mother-in-law will not even realize her battery is dying and she will wonder why people are talking so softly to her. It always results in a scramble to find a new one.

The Acoustitone™ PRO uses size 13 batteries which can be found at most corner drug stores.

Know your test scores!

Okay, so you have found a hearing aid that sounds promising. Who designed it and what kind of quality testing has it gone through. I know, most products go through some testing before they go on the market but is it the right kind? It is not enough for hearing aids to appear to work properly they must be rigorously tested by the right kind of people.

The Acoustitone™ PRO was created by a board-certified Ear, Nose, & Throat physician in Chicago, Illinois. He knew that if left untreated hearing loss can cause depression, social isolation, anxiety, and symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s dementia. He searched for a good quality and reasonably priced hearing aid to help his patients but found nothing. As a result the Acoustitone™ PRO was born.

It has been rigorously tested by physicians and audiologists in the hearing loss field. They have unanimously agreed that the sound quality and output is surprisingly accurate. It has also been approved by the FDA.

How About Safety?

Be sure you know all the safety information for the hearing aid you wish to buy.

The Acoustitone™ PRO is designed for adults. It is not to be worn by individuals under the age of 18.

The Food and Drug Administration has determined that your best health interest would be served by a medical evaluation performed by a licensed physician (preferably a physician who specializes in diseases of the ear) before purchasing a hearing aid.

By making a purchase, you are agreeing to the following statement: “I have been advised by MDHearingAid that the Food and Drug Administration has determined that my best health interest would be served if I had a medical evaluation by a licensed physician (preferably a physician who specializes in diseases of the ear) before purchasing a hearing aid. I do not wish a medical evaluation before purchasing a hearing aid.”

How Much Should You Expect to Pay?

The Acoustitone™ PRO hearing aid was designed to be of the highest quality, comparable to $600 models. But it sells for less than $200 on Amazon.

What Others Are Saying

This hearing aid has received rave reviews from most consumers on the internet with an average of 5 from reviewers on Amazon and the MDHearingAid company website itself.

Here are some of the comments:

• “Gave me for the first time the clear sound experience that I have been denied for quite a long time already.”

• “The Acoustitone Pros surpassed their tone and clarity by 50% at one-third the price.”

• “The loudest volume and best sound of all the aids I have used.”

• “A wonderful product. I will continue to recommend it to people we know and anyone else that asks us about it.”

• “I returned my more expensive hearing aids because these are better.”

• “This Acoustitone Hearing Aid will be a blessing for those who have limited financial resources.”

• “The product is 5 Stars and MDHearingAids is 5 Star excellent. Great customer service, easy to talk with and very courteous.”

Any complaints?

I have found very few complaints for this hearing aid on consumer sites around the internet. One consumer expressed a concern about how the hearing aid filtered background noise. The 2-channel Tone control switch was designed to help reduce the noise. Interestingly enough however other consumers were delighted that they were now hearing these noises because they had been missing for years.

Where can you buy the Acoustitone™ PRO hearing aid?

You can buy the Acoustitone PRO from Amazon. At the moment they include not only free shipping but also the option to buy a second one at a reduced price. Amazon has a great deal especially with the free shipping.

Where Can You Read More Reviews for the Acoustitone™ PRO hearing aid

Check out all of the reviews from people who actually use this product at Amazon. Click here to read more.

Ever since he has been a baby Max has been afraid of dogs. Big dogs. It is because he used to spend a lot of time at his uncle’s and aunt’s house. They owned three large German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers.

Now, they were never very frightening dogs; they were just so happy to see us when we would visit. They would come galloping at us; tails and tongues wagging; looking for attention. You can just imagine what this would do to a baby who was just starting to crawl to see these giants coming to play.

My son is nine years old now but he hasn’t gotten over his fright. If we meet one out walking he will hide behind me until the threat is gone.

On the other hand he loves horses. He can’t get enough of them. If we are at a carnival and there are pony rides we can’t keep him off them.

This year we discovered a horse camp. When we asked him if he’d like to go for two weeks he was ecstatic! He understood though it would not be all fun and games. The program requires each child to get involved in brushing and cleaning the horses; mucking out the stalls; and taking care of the saddles and bridles.

He has always wanted to live with horses so for him this wasn’t a problem.

Imagine our surprise when he, and we, discovered he is afraid of them. No, he doesn’t have a problem climbing up on top of one and riding. This he loves. The problem comes in when he stands beside them. Even ponies are taller than he is. To get close to brush and wash them is very difficult.

At this camp volunteers are assigned to each child to teach them what to do but it is the kid’s responsibility to get the work done. On the second day of camp when we picked Max up we received a complaint from the program manager. He was not doing his job. He was only standing at the side watching his volunteer do all the work.

At the end of the day the kids get to actually ride “their” horses. The manager complained that Max still expected his turn even though he hadn’t earned it. On the way home we asked him what was going on. This is when we learned about his fears.

On Wednesday, the third day, on the way to camp we suggested that he just try to do a little bit. If he could do that each day it would help him get over his fears. He promised to try.

At the end of the day I picked him up. The manager cornered me to complain yet again that Max wasn’t doing his job. Not only that she informed me that if he wasn’t going to do it then she didn’t want us to bring him back the following week. The worst part of it was she said this in front of him.

I stopped her and informed her what we had planned with Max and I asked her:

“Did he do a little bit more today?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Well that is our plan. Since he is so afraid of the horses we are trying to get him through this by getting him to do a little bit more each day.”

She seemed to like this idea and agreed to keep him a little bit longer.

On the way home Max told me that he had cleaned the bridle. I then told him a story:

“I once knew a nine year old boy that grew up on a farm. Like you he was afraid of horses. One of his jobs was to go inside stalls and clean them out every day. He didn’t have a problem with this except when the horses were still in them. This always made him nervous.

One day he decided he didn’t want to be afraid so he pushed himself to do a little bit more than the day before. Then each day he did more and more until one day he discovered he wasn’t afraid of them anymore.

But this required that he decide that he didn’t want to be afraid.”

Max liked the story, “Who was the little boy?”

“It was me.”

His eyes got big and round, “Really?”

This was when he resolved that he could do it too.

My wife and I had great hopes when we dropped him off on Thursday but the fates weren’t going to be kind that day. We dropped him off and discussed the plan with the program manager. She claimed to understand his fears and told us that she would design Max’s training so that he would do ten percent of the work and his volunteer would do the rest.

When we picked him up we were informed that he had done absolutely nothing that day. As a result they didn’t allow him to ride the horses.

We asked Max what it was all about; especially since he had had big plans to start working and get over his fears. He gave us a list of complaints:

• His volunteer ignores him.

• She refuses to help him when he is confused on how to do something.

• On Wednesday she apparently tried to force him to ride standing up in the saddle with his arms outstretched. When he expressed his fear of doing that she tried to drag him to the horse.

• She informed him on Thursday that he would be required to clean the horse’s hooves. This entails standing beside and against the horse while facing its tail. You then bend over, pick up the hoof, and use a pick to dig out dirt and muck from around the shoes. When he told her he was afraid to do it because the horse might kick him, her answer was “too bad you are doing it”.

When we complained the head of the program told us, “Max is lazy and really doesn’t want to be here.”

“Um, not after the way he has been treated by your volunteer. Work has never bothered him. He loves horses and loves to ride them. It was his choice to come here. It was also his choice to keep coming back.”

Of course, the volunteer denied that any of his complaints were true. Because she was the “adult” the farm decided Max was lying. Funny thing is he hasn’t really learned how to lie yet. Any attempts he has made in the past never worked out for him so no matter what the situation he tells the truth.

Certainly he is a child and everyone’s actions may have seemed much worse to him than to the adults around him. So perhaps they were both right. But at the same time I got the strong feeling that both the volunteer and the program manager did not like him. They didn’t have any problems expressing their dislike either.

The results left him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. Nothing went right for him. And in the end, after the upset he refused to go back on Friday. We called the farm and told them Max had decided not to go back at all and they were welcome to find another child to fill his position.

Funny thing is the next Monday morning we received a call from them, “Where’s Max?”

“He’s not coming.”

“Is he going to be here the rest of the week?”

“This was discussed last Friday.”

“I know all about the discussion but if he is not coming back we have to fill his slot.”

“Hmm, since you know all about it then you already know he isn’t going to be there this week.”

I’m not really trying to point fingers. I just want to express some of the difficulties Max had last week. We will be looking for another horse farm that might be able to help him through his fears.

Catchy title huh? Why would anyone want to reinforce negative behaviors? Certainly not parents! We don’t want to raise our kids to be adults who have tantrums or scream or steal or any number of other bad things.

When I was writing my post on Modeling Behaviors I had been reading a lot of information on that topic. I came across something today about how parents knowingly or unknowingly reinforce behaviors in our kids that are inappropriate.

How do we do that?

You can probably guess one that a lot of people do. Their kid has been acting badly all day and they are exhausted. The kid now asks for something he really want and the parents refuse. But the child keeps asking. Constantly. Over and over again. Now he is having a tantrum.

To stop all of the noise the parents give in. The child has learned a huge lesson: to get what he wants he only needs to have a meltdown.

I don’t know how many times my wife and I used to see these actions as being part of his adhd or his bipolar disorder or his asperger’s syndrome and just let things go. We would end up giving him what he wanted. But this only made him happy for a few minutes before he would find something else he wanted and the cycle would start all over again.

And you know, I can’t say that he was even happy for that short amount of time. It always seems that he is not happy unless he is unhappy…however that works.

But there is more to it than just that. What happens when a child misbehaves? She gets her parents’ attention! Every time we lose our temper, yell, or lecture she has won!

Yes she has.

It happens so often in my family. Max will begin doing inappropriate things and will be oblivious to our reactions until we scream. Then it is “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” and he has the expectation that everything will be fine.

It doesn’t matter if the attention is good or bad it is now focused on him. He has learned how to “push his parents’ buttons”. What is going to happen when he grows up? He will probably continue to use these methods to either get his way or get the attention he craves.

We all, as parents, have to decide whether we want our children to learn good techniques to use when they grow up or continue to use inappropriate ways to interact with other people.

If we decide that we want these kids to be good and moral adults then we have to “practice what we preach”. That is, stop the swearing, the yelling, and the tantrums. Not only do our children see it is okay to do these things because their parents do it but they also get all the attention they want.

Oh, and about that attention. Why are we giving them all of this when they are doing bad things? They know what they are doing is wrong; we don’t need to spend 15 minutes or more explaining it. Tell them what you expect of them and then go away.

This serves a two-fold purpose:

• It lets the kids know that they must stop what they are doing.

• It doesn’t give them all of the attention they are looking for.

If they need attention give it to them for better reasons. Recognize them for a job well done.

“Great job taking out the trash.”

“I love how you straightened up your toy room. What do you say we play a game now?”

“Hey, you kids are playing really well together. Let’s go for an ice cream.”

There are a lot of ways we can give them good attention. You probably give them some already but do you find that they receive more bad attention then good? Turn it around.

And I’ll bet you that the more good attention they receive there will be less need for the bad. They will find that they are much happier without all of the yelling, swearing, and tantrums.

What do you think?

It is now the middle of the summer. What would it be for a nine year old boy if he didn’t have his first job? Max was approached by our next door neighbors to see if he would be willing to water their plants and vegetable garden while they were away.

His answer? “Well, duh!”

Not really, he said he was interested.

“How much would you like to be paid?”

“Ummm, $2.00″

“Okay, we were thinking of paying you $2.00 per day. That would be $20.00. Would that work?”

“Yes, Yes!” And the deal was set.

The job was not a surprise to me. They had come over originally and asked me if it would be okay to hire him. I thought it was a great plan. It is time that he started learning about working and paying jobs.

Just before they left they dropped off a map of their yard and a schedule. Hmm, more complicated than I thought. But really, the first part was simple: use the sprinkler on one section of their lawn every other day. That’s easy enough.

On the other days the vegetable garden gets soaked three times; each flower bed in the front, back, and side yards get watered twice and the 3 potted plants get simple sprays.

Max was excited; he was now going to be earning money for doing work in the neighborhood. He is already planning to open a landscaping company…when he is ten years old. The new company will water plants and trim lawn edges.

The first day was easy; all he had to do was set up the sprinkler on one section of lawn and let it run for twenty minutes. Instead of going off to play he stayed and danced through the water. You can bet Mom made a rule that from now on he had to wear a bathing suit when doing this job.

The next day was not very difficult but it was very boring to a nine year old boy. He had to soak seven separate gardens in the yard by hand. When completed he had to do it all over again a second time. The vegetable garden actually got three separate soakings. But he managed very well.

Day three was the sprinkler again so this went well. It was the following day when things really fell apart. This was soaking day again. He started out okay but it was late in the day and he was losing control.

It started with distraction. He became absorbed with changing the settings on the hose nozzle over and over again. He started with “mist” which was a very light spray and moved up through each until he got to “jet” which just pounded water out of the hose. This would have been okay if he hadn’t been pointing directly it at the vegetables at the time. Deep ruts started appearing in the ground and leaves were crushed.

I now had to guide him over to the plants but he couldn’t keep his mind on the job. He kept flipping the water over his head and at his mother. It all culminated in him dropping the hose and scrambling up the lone tree on the front lawn in the dark. While his Mom finished the watering I spent my time talking Max down and leading him around the yard in an attempt to settle him down.

Every once in awhile he would remember that he had a job to do. He would run over to Mom and wrest the hose from her hand and continue watering. But this wouldn’t last very long before he would be off in his head again.

On the plus side, by the time the day’s job was done he had calmed down and was ready to go on into bed.

These people have two driveways, one on the front of the house, and the other on the side. Two days later at Max’s watering time we discovered the front drive being paved. This meant that there would be no watering that day. And he had just done the back the night before so this was out.

The next night he was able to start over again but had to adjust the schedule to make sure the garden and plants got enough water. Then the side drive was completed and more planning had to be done. The paver knew that he was cutting into my son’s schedule and therefore was losing money. He hired Max to do a little paving with him. He paid him $2.00 per driveway covering any lost wages.

For the rest of the days Max watered everything and did his best to get on schedule. My neighbors arrived back last night so he hasn’t had time yet to settle up with them.

Except for the one day when his ADHD and Bipolar kicked in Max did an excellent job. But I think it also gave him a chance to start learning what it will be like in the real world when he gets older and needs to earn money.