Read the full transcript here

Today on the All About Audiology Podcast, Dr. Saperstein spoke with Michelle Wagner, author of Mickey on the Move, the true story of a day in the life of Michelle’s son, Mickey. Mickey was born deaf and at the age of three, he was given an opportunity to get bilateral cochlear implants. Now, he is 13 and he is thriving! Michelle’s goal was just to make a simple children’s book and have pictures in it so it’s easy for anyone, including adults, to understand exactly what cochlear implant devices are. Michelle has already received four awards for the book.

5:25 – Michelle connected with a hospital that had a great audiology department with the hope of giving Mickey every opportunity possible for him to use language and communicate verbally.

8:45 – When COVID hit, Michelle was working from home and decided to write a book so that Mickey can use such literature to explain about his cochlear implants to others and also to bring a general awareness of cochlear implants to the public.

13:00 – Mickey, Michelle, and Michelle’s mother spent a month at the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles. While there, Michelle and her mother learned how to support Mickey to the best possible extent.

14:30 – She is also thankful for all the people that were able to talk to her about their own experiences using implants so that she could better understand the process.

To support the All About Audiology podcast, visit our Patreon website here: https://www.patreon.com/allaboutaudiology

And the Prodana pay-it-forward platform here: https://prodana.org/practioner/lilach-saperstein/audiology-counseling–dr–lilach-saperstein

For more resources and research visit:

All About Audiology Website 

All About Audiology Facebook group  

All About Audiology Instagram

Connect with Michelle on  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Find her book, Mickey on the Move, on Amazon. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Dr. Lindsay Cockburn from @listenwithlindsey who has an incredible, comprehensive list of books on hearing loss that keeps on getting updated 

Related Episodes: 

Children’s Books, Literature and Representation – Episode 69 with Katie Petruzziello