February 11, 2024 âą 19 mins
Max & Ali has made eight-year-old Gracie Vandenbergâs dream come true as it was revealed this morning on âMax & Ali in the Morningâ that she would be attending the Taylor Swift concert live in Melbourne.
Gracie Vandenberg had a challenging first seven years of her life, unable to hear after she was a victim of the Women's and Children's Hospital cochlear implant debacle.
At birth, Gracie was diagnosed with mild hearing loss which quickly progressed into profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
After having no luck with hearing aids, the difficult decision was made for her to undergo cochlear implant surgery. Eight weeks later things werenât progressing as they should, and it quickly became a five-year uphill battle.
In April 2023, when Gracie was 7, a life-changing discovery was made that her cochlear devices had been programmed so she did not have the access to sound needed to learn to listen and speak.
After working with Little Allied Health and having significant programming adjustments to her cochlear devices, Gracie finally started to hear.
âThe first song she ever heard at seven years of age was Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do!, and Iâll never forget her dancing her little heart out with a grin from ear to ear,â said mum Jenni.
Max & Ali, were moved by Gracieâs story and soon made it their mission to get Gracie tickets to Taylor Swiftâs Australian âEras Tourâ, tickets which are near impossible to come by.
This morning, Max and Ali welcomed Gracie and Jenni on the show and revealed that the mother-daughter duo would be travelling to Melbourne to see Taylor Swift live at the end of the week.
Jenni was brought to tears as she reflected on how difficult this journey had been for her little girl, but how excited she knew Gracie would be.
Ali Clarke was also brought to tears, reflecting on her own experiences as a mother, and as a family member of someone with intellectual disabilities.
âIt was an absolute pleasure to help this little girlâs dream come true, and we wish her all the very best with her speech and listening progression,â said Ali.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Joining us now is mum Jenny and her little eight
year old Grazie who's with us, and Nicole, who's from
an organization called Little Allied Health. Now, Mum, you've got
your arms around beautiful Gracie and you're signing. And that's
because Grosie has some abilities in other areas, but she
can't hear very well. Now, Nicole, can you explain a
(00:21):
little bit about Grosie.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So, Gracie was born with a mild hearing loss and
that quickly progressed to a profound sensor in your hearing loss.
So hearing aids weren't able to give her the access
she needed to learn to listen and speak. So cochlear
implants were recommended, and around twenty months of age, Gracie
underwent surgery to get cochlear implants. In both years, Jenny
(00:44):
was saying, around this time, Gracie really struggled with sleep
in those things because she was very anxious she couldn't
hear anything around her anymore. And you know, we were
talking about some sleep difficulties that are still going on
for a little girl who's not sure about the world
around her.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Imagine that's got to be troubling, a stressful time.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, it was very stressful, exhausting, very exhausting.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I can't even imagine when you have a baby and
they don't sleep. There's so many things that you're trying
to work out.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
You question yourself. Am I doing something wrong? What's happening?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
She's looking up at you?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yes, I think she's lip reading.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, And that's the thing too that I've certainly noticed,
even just in the short time you've come in the studio,
her reliance on being able to see your full face Jenny.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, definitely. We have to remind ourselves a lot and
other people know masks when speaking to her. Oh yeah,
try to look her face on and use as much
sign that you can that you know.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
So, I imagine when you're in this situation, you want
to try everything you can to help out. What sort
of paths did you go down?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So we had speech therapy, We tried many different speech companies.
We eventually just sort of went, okay, we're just have
to learn sign language. So to get sign language lessons
in where we live in Victor Harbor is quite hard,
you know, there's no one there that does it. So
we just started to teach ourselves online. I mean I
(02:12):
learned some when I was at school myself, talking to
a lot of other parents, trying to seek how trying
to find out what was happening. Yeah, talking to a
pediatrician a lot, a lot, And.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Then I can see you've gone down at a cochlear
implant path. Where did that come about?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Upon her having more testing done with the audiology department
at Women's and Children's, it was found that she had
profound hearing loss. So our son had had cochlear implants
and h did great with them, became like an absolute
little chatterbox. So we thought, you know, we want to
let Gracie have the same chances. And yes, so talking
(02:47):
to the audiologists, we went home, discussed it between ourselves,
Gracey's dad and I, and we decided to go down
the cochlear path. Surgery went great, she did really well.
She was switched on about eight weeks later, and yeah,
we went from there. She just unfortunately didn't make the
progress that her brother was making. So that's when things
(03:08):
sort of what's happening And.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
We'll get to the reason for that in just a moment. Jenny,
when you and your husband are trying to work through
all of this, was there a sort of a grieving
part of you that you, as a parent goes through
and understands that she may not hear your voice.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
So I became very curious on how a cocklear influence sounded.
So I googled it a YouTube do and I listened,
and I have to be honest, it was scary to
me as a hearing person. It sounded quite robotic, and
I just cried, this just sounds so scary.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But in that then understanding that I guess your voice,
you know, her mum's voice to her might sound like
a robot. It does.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But at the same time, it meant that she was
going to be able to hear me say I love you.
I can sign that to her and I did every day,
but to actually say it and for her to hear
it and say it back.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Sorry, Yeah, that's all right, that's all right. Yeah, she
loves you, crazy, she loves I.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, it's not an easy decision to make. You think
when she's older, is she going to be unhappy about
the decision? But I mean, since she's been progressing, she's
clearly happy, which is just amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, Nicole, they're from Little Allied health. What did you
guys work out had happened?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
A number of children had gone through the hard decision
to proceed with a cochlear and plant, and parents had
chosen that because they wanted their children to learn to
listen and speak. So we would normally be expecting children
to have quite good access by about three months post
switch on or activation as we call it. Early in
twenty twenty two, we had a number of children come
(04:55):
to us where we found probably the level of my voice. Now,
that was when lots of these children could just detect
that a sound was there.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's not that they.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Weren't hearing anything at all, but they didn't have the
access they needed to be able to learn to listen
and speak.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So then what does that do to someone's development?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Well, it's heartbreaking for Gracie and Jenny and Tie her parents.
They went through all of this and made the decision
to get cocher implants, but didn't see that she had
the access after. So Gracie is very delayed with her
speech and language. When we first met Gracie, which would
have been last April, she had only really one word
(05:36):
and that was mum.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And we're not.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Sure whether that's because she could see visually Mum and
was copying that. She also had very little osland as well, because,
as Jenny said, in a regional areas, she was trying
to do the best she could but wasn't getting that
support as much as she needed. And Jenny and Tye
were questioning why is she not progressing the same as
(06:00):
her older brother Aaron, but kept being told that Gracie
could hear, so they were left with thinking, well, what
else is going on with our little girl? She wasn't
going to school because at school she couldn't hear the teachers,
she couldn't hear her support worker, and she couldn't make
friendships with all the children in the class, so she
would want to be at.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Home a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And you know, Jenny and I were talking about how
she's really and exactly like you said too, Alie, she's
relied so heavily on everything from Jenny and being with
Jenny all the time that now, since we've been able
to adjust her programs on the cochlear and plant and
she is hearing a lot lot more, all of that
is starting to progress now. But where you know, six
(06:39):
plus years behind where she should have been.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So she's had a cochlear implant put in but programmed
not quite correctly, and that's sort of what the main
roadblock's been. Yes, I mean that's going to be a
knife in the heart almost.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, it definitely was. I don't even have words for
how we felt. We were just so confused, what was
happening your weekend? Saying something's wrong, something's wrong. I felt
no one was listening. I felt like the blame was
put on us a lot. And I don't even have
words for it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Really, you must be so tired, exhausted. Yeah, you must
be so tired. Even just watching you. You know, you
are one hundred percent of communication and I'm sure your
husband Tie is as well. And yeah, brothers, this is
but even just watching her with you, that is one
hundred percent of the time for you, and you've not
been able to give her those answers through absolutely no
fault of your own, even though you didn't know it. Then,
(07:31):
it's really exhausted.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
It is hard. She has so many questions now as well,
and with having limited language skills, you know, and limited OSLON,
is very hard still to communicate with her. So every
day is still a struggle. Despite all of the amazing
progress she is making. It's still exhausting every day.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, what we might do now is if you guys
can stick around, because next I want to have a
chat to you about how one of the biggest pop
stars on Earth it was involved in one of the
most beautiful moments with your daughter. If that's okay for you,
Jenny and beautiful little Gracey and Nicole from Little Allied
health'd be great if you could stick around, Yes, of course,
all right, if you just joined us. We've got Jenny
(08:10):
in from Victor Harbor and with her as an eight
year old, Gracey and Nicole from Little Allied Health And
what we found out that little Gracie had hearing difficulties
profound deafness when she was born, and the decision was
made for her to have cochlear implants. Unfortunately, those particular
implants weren't programmed correctly, and it meant Gracie hasn't developed
(08:30):
and they didn't even know that she wasn't hearing all
the stuff that she should have been hearing to be
able to progress. So now Jenny, the changes are made.
What were some of the differences you saw in Gracy
once these implants were programmed the way they should have
been right from the start.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
At the moment we put them back on her head,
they connected. She just lit up, didn't she, Nicole. She
just had the biggest grin. We started making so much
noise in the room and she was like, wow, mom's
mouth makes noise kind of. She was just yeah, she
was just so happy. And from that moment on, she
(09:09):
just it seemed like her personality really came out of her.
I just burst into tears. I just felt like, finally,
you know, she's turned to a sound. Finally, you know.
When I made a sound and she looked at me,
I was just tears.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm crying now. Always I watched them, watch those videos.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
We used to watch them and dream of that happening.
We were like, that's you know, why hasn't that happened?
And then it happened and I was like, oh my god,
I get it. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But then she gets to hear music. Whose decision was
it to play her? Taylor Sweet?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That was mine? We love Taylor Swift in her house.
We you know, my older girls obviously, especially my sixteen
year old, jumped in the car started driving and I thought,
how's she going to react? To music. I put it
on and she was just laughing, and you know, it's
staying like signing, turner up, turn it up. And I
(10:10):
was like, wow, okay, you know, and the same song
all the way home from Adelaide to Victor, just repeat, rebeat.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
What was the song?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Taylor Swifts? Look what you made me do?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
This one?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yes? I mean, Jenny, it's bad, it's yes.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The good news is, though, I guess that she can
also hear you singing along, so I'm not sure if
that's a good thing or bad thing. I'll let you.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
He actually tells me to stop singing, so.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Then in that, I mean, that's obviously pretty powerful. So
what do you reckon? Taylor Swift is to her like
because you know everything about this, you know, having an
older sister, seeing all the coverage around, you cannot gape
anytime anything's turned on. Taala Swift just popping up somehow somewhere.
What was it like? Do you think? What is it
like for her now to be part of understanding just
(11:09):
who this incredible person is?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So Gracie, you know she most children as they're growing up,
they love nursery rhymes, the Wiggles. Gracie didn't have that
growing up. She doesn't know a nursery rhyme. Taylor became
like that for Gracie. Taylor's music is like the Wiggles
and things like that for her.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Wow, she is the sexiest wiggle.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I've seen Jeff rolling around. In the short Secret Taylor
Love It, we heard that Gracie sort of almost refers
to Taylor as like a friend.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yes, she whenever she pops up and wonder we're watching something,
and Taylor came up on the TV and grac said
that that's my friend, you know, signing my friend, my friend,
and I went, okay, yeah, she can be your friends.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Well I don't know how you're going with this, mom,
but you know the friends about to drop in. She's
coming to Australia, so all right, well you guys just
hang with us because we might just have some news
for you right after this. Okay, so don't go anywhere,
all right to joining us right now. We have mum
(12:18):
Jenny who's coming from Victor Harbor listening at home as
the entire family, no doubt, so a massive shout out
to all of them. She's got eight year old Gracie
in here and we've gotten a cold from Little Allied Health. Now,
Little Gracie couldn't hear, had profound hearing loss when she
was young. She had cochlear implants, but unfortunately, due to
a bungle, they weren't programmed correctly, and so all the
(12:39):
sounds that everybody thought she could hear, she wasn't hearing.
And so that's really changed the start of her life.
And the first song when it was finally programmed that
she got to hear was one Taylor Swift. Yeah, this
is the one, Jenny, was your mom was your husband
(13:00):
tied like more wanting her to listen to ac DC
or kiss.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
As much as he would love for that to happen,
and she does love that. He's more than happy for
her to listen to Taylor's added to his playlist.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, I think the big thing out of this, and
as you said just moments ago Jenny is that because
she didn't grow up with sound, just because she didn't
grow up and have that communication that most other kids
have the privilege of having, she didn't have the wiggles
in her life, she didn't have the kid groups. So
for her, Taylor Swift is her wiggle, her pop star
(13:35):
and She refers to her as her friend. Yes, have you.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Ever been to a concert before?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Gracie has not.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I have you know that her friends coming to Australia,
don't you? Yes? You know though, that Taylor Swift tickets
are absolutely impossible to get.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, I have tried.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
How often? How long have you tried? Wisconstant?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I keep looking on the marketplace.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Still searching. Yep, you're hoping stuff out there?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Are?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
It is? And we do know? And oh my god,
makes if you and I had a dollar for every
time we're hit up for Taylor tickets, we would be
loaded working?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Would we fifty plus dollars? At least dollars?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hey, Jenny, do you want to take your daughter go
and see Taylor Swift. We've got you some tickets. She's
just signing. It's Gracie.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I can't sign.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Is there a sign for Taylor Swift?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't know. I've just been doing a name mates.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
She's like, I think that's a celebration.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I'm yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
We've got two tickets for you to go to Melbourne
eighteenth of February. We'll get you over there, We'll put
you up somewhere that you can stay and you can
go and see Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's okay. Jenny is pointing at a picture of Taylor
Swift and yeah, you and me going to go see Taylor.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yeah, she's like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Money, Well it is. That was the universal sign for money,
because that's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
She said.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
She said, is it going to come here? It'll be
absolutely free, zero zero dollars. We will send you.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, she will look and have a million questions about oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Well, look, you know and we know, and we know
that you know, she's been through pretty trau traumatic growing up.
You know, this is really tricky. So if she doesn't
want to fly, we'll get you there another way. It
is going to be okay. We will find a way
for you to be as comfortable as you can to
be able to go over so you can have your
very first moment of wiggles. Taylor's all wrapped into one. Oh,
(16:01):
now that tears are starting, don't do this, Jenny. It's okay,
it's okay. What's the overwhelming emotion, Jenny? It has just
been hot.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, she's gonna love it, though she is.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You might too.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I'm gonna have a very very jealous sixteen.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I was about to say, look at the sixteen year old.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
She's great, she'll understand you guys are going to have
the best time.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
What a memory?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yes, yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So help you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
A little girl's dream come true and it's a positive
outlook that we're moving forward and we're doing everything we
can to support her. And this is something just for you, guys.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And Nicole and Jenny. I think that was it. As
soon as we heard your story and everything that you've
said that you know, the gross he hasn't had the
same memories, the same old opportunities, necessarily through absolutely no
fold of hers and through absolutely no fold of you,
you and your husbands, even though no doubt, as you've said,
you thought it was all something that you were doing.
So that's why we thought, well, you know what, other
(17:13):
kids have been able to go and see Wiggles and
their idols growing up. It's been pretty easy for them.
So this is going to be her Wiggles Taylor Swift
extravaganza all rolled into one. And yeah, we just hope
that you both have the most beautiful, beautiful time. Thank
you very much, absolute pleasure. Cal are you good, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm just when Jenny sent us that message to say
that Gracie had danced the whole way home to Taylor
or taite. I just came into the office and I said, look, team,
let's do it. Let's do the impossible. Let's try and
get her tickets to Taylor. So we've been focusing on
this is what we want to do. That's something positive
as a team as well. And we couldn't thank you
(17:55):
guys enough just to think of what the time that
you're going to have together over there daughter watching Taylor.
Not only am I jealous, but I'm also absolutely my
heart's bursting.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So thank you well on that, Nicole, for you and
me and everybody left behind. How about we all just
get in.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
A room and.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Turn mixed up loud and it sounds good.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I don't think I wear the hot pants, but otherwise I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There hot pants.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
We don't have hot pants for you, but I think
you've got a whole lot of Taylor Swift merch come
in your I mean I can see the stickers on
the coffee room. Fine at the moment, I reckon, we
get Upbrad.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So the cool thing about this is there's only one
thing you need to do. Can you please send us
a video of the two of you dancing around to
Taylor Swift seeing her live. Is that okay?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yes, definitely right, yes, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
You guys have the most beautiful trip home, Frank, Taylor
Swift up really really loud. In fact, we'll make sure
we get a Taylor Swift song on mixed so you
can keep it locked on us as well and start
answering all those questions. Your beautiful girls starting to sign
to you already.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Than much.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Oh, absolute pleasure. Thanks so much, Jenny, and thank you
to you, Nicole. He'll see you later, Grossie. Thank you.
Ye bye.
Well.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
Joining us now is mum Jenny and her little eight
year old Grazie who's with us, and Nicole, who's from
an organization called Little Allied Health. Now, Mum, you've got
your arms around beautiful Gracie and you're signing. And that's
because Grosie has some abilities in other areas, but she
can't hear very well. Now, Nicole, can you explain a
(00:21):
little bit about Grosie.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So, Gracie was born with a mild hearing loss and
that quickly progressed to a profound sensor in your hearing loss.
So hearing aids weren't able to give her the access
she needed to learn to listen and speak. So cochlear
implants were recommended, and around twenty months of age, Gracie
underwent surgery to get cochlear implants. In both years, Jenny
(00:44):
was saying, around this time, Gracie really struggled with sleep
in those things because she was very anxious she couldn't
hear anything around her anymore. And you know, we were
talking about some sleep difficulties that are still going on
for a little girl who's not sure about the world
around her.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Imagine that's got to be troubling, a stressful time.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, it was very stressful, exhausting, very exhausting.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I can't even imagine when you have a baby and
they don't sleep. There's so many things that you're trying
to work out.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
You question yourself. Am I doing something wrong? What's happening?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
She's looking up at you?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yes, I think she's lip reading.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, And that's the thing too that I've certainly noticed,
even just in the short time you've come in the studio,
her reliance on being able to see your full face Jenny.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yes, definitely. We have to remind ourselves a lot and
other people know masks when speaking to her. Oh yeah,
try to look her face on and use as much
sign that you can that you know.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
So, I imagine when you're in this situation, you want
to try everything you can to help out. What sort
of paths did you go down?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
So we had speech therapy, We tried many different speech companies.
We eventually just sort of went, okay, we're just have
to learn sign language. So to get sign language lessons
in where we live in Victor Harbor is quite hard,
you know, there's no one there that does it. So
we just started to teach ourselves online. I mean I
(02:12):
learned some when I was at school myself, talking to
a lot of other parents, trying to seek how trying
to find out what was happening. Yeah, talking to a
pediatrician a lot, a lot, And.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Then I can see you've gone down at a cochlear
implant path. Where did that come about?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Upon her having more testing done with the audiology department
at Women's and Children's, it was found that she had
profound hearing loss. So our son had had cochlear implants
and h did great with them, became like an absolute
little chatterbox. So we thought, you know, we want to
let Gracie have the same chances. And yes, so talking
(02:47):
to the audiologists, we went home, discussed it between ourselves,
Gracey's dad and I, and we decided to go down
the cochlear path. Surgery went great, she did really well.
She was switched on about eight weeks later, and yeah,
we went from there. She just unfortunately didn't make the
progress that her brother was making. So that's when things
(03:08):
sort of what's happening And.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
We'll get to the reason for that in just a moment. Jenny,
when you and your husband are trying to work through
all of this, was there a sort of a grieving
part of you that you, as a parent goes through
and understands that she may not hear your voice.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
So I became very curious on how a cocklear influence sounded.
So I googled it a YouTube do and I listened,
and I have to be honest, it was scary to
me as a hearing person. It sounded quite robotic, and
I just cried, this just sounds so scary.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But in that then understanding that I guess your voice,
you know, her mum's voice to her might sound like
a robot. It does.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
But at the same time, it meant that she was
going to be able to hear me say I love you.
I can sign that to her and I did every day,
but to actually say it and for her to hear
it and say it back.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Sorry, Yeah, that's all right, that's all right. Yeah, she
loves you, crazy, she loves I.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, it's not an easy decision to make. You think
when she's older, is she going to be unhappy about
the decision? But I mean, since she's been progressing, she's
clearly happy, which is just amazing.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, Nicole, they're from Little Allied health. What did you
guys work out had happened?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
A number of children had gone through the hard decision
to proceed with a cochlear and plant, and parents had
chosen that because they wanted their children to learn to
listen and speak. So we would normally be expecting children
to have quite good access by about three months post
switch on or activation as we call it. Early in
twenty twenty two, we had a number of children come
(04:55):
to us where we found probably the level of my voice. Now,
that was when lots of these children could just detect
that a sound was there.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It's not that they.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Weren't hearing anything at all, but they didn't have the
access they needed to be able to learn to listen
and speak.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So then what does that do to someone's development?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Well, it's heartbreaking for Gracie and Jenny and Tie her parents.
They went through all of this and made the decision
to get cocher implants, but didn't see that she had
the access after. So Gracie is very delayed with her
speech and language. When we first met Gracie, which would
have been last April, she had only really one word
(05:36):
and that was mum.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
And we're not.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Sure whether that's because she could see visually Mum and
was copying that. She also had very little osland as well, because,
as Jenny said, in a regional areas, she was trying
to do the best she could but wasn't getting that
support as much as she needed. And Jenny and Tye
were questioning why is she not progressing the same as
(06:00):
her older brother Aaron, but kept being told that Gracie
could hear, so they were left with thinking, well, what
else is going on with our little girl? She wasn't
going to school because at school she couldn't hear the teachers,
she couldn't hear her support worker, and she couldn't make
friendships with all the children in the class, so she
would want to be at.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Home a lot.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And you know, Jenny and I were talking about how
she's really and exactly like you said too, Alie, she's
relied so heavily on everything from Jenny and being with
Jenny all the time that now, since we've been able
to adjust her programs on the cochlear and plant and
she is hearing a lot lot more, all of that
is starting to progress now. But where you know, six
(06:39):
plus years behind where she should have been.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
So she's had a cochlear implant put in but programmed
not quite correctly, and that's sort of what the main
roadblock's been. Yes, I mean that's going to be a
knife in the heart almost.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, it definitely was. I don't even have words for
how we felt. We were just so confused, what was
happening your weekend? Saying something's wrong, something's wrong. I felt
no one was listening. I felt like the blame was
put on us a lot. And I don't even have
words for it.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Really, you must be so tired, exhausted. Yeah, you must
be so tired. Even just watching you. You know, you
are one hundred percent of communication and I'm sure your
husband Tie is as well. And yeah, brothers, this is
but even just watching her with you, that is one
hundred percent of the time for you, and you've not
been able to give her those answers through absolutely no
fault of your own, even though you didn't know it. Then,
(07:31):
it's really exhausted.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
It is hard. She has so many questions now as well,
and with having limited language skills, you know, and limited OSLON,
is very hard still to communicate with her. So every
day is still a struggle. Despite all of the amazing
progress she is making. It's still exhausting every day.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, what we might do now is if you guys
can stick around, because next I want to have a
chat to you about how one of the biggest pop
stars on Earth it was involved in one of the
most beautiful moments with your daughter. If that's okay for you,
Jenny and beautiful little Gracey and Nicole from Little Allied
health'd be great if you could stick around, Yes, of course,
all right, if you just joined us. We've got Jenny
(08:10):
in from Victor Harbor and with her as an eight
year old, Gracey and Nicole from Little Allied Health And
what we found out that little Gracie had hearing difficulties
profound deafness when she was born, and the decision was
made for her to have cochlear implants. Unfortunately, those particular
implants weren't programmed correctly, and it meant Gracie hasn't developed
(08:30):
and they didn't even know that she wasn't hearing all
the stuff that she should have been hearing to be
able to progress. So now Jenny, the changes are made.
What were some of the differences you saw in Gracy
once these implants were programmed the way they should have
been right from the start.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
At the moment we put them back on her head,
they connected. She just lit up, didn't she, Nicole. She
just had the biggest grin. We started making so much
noise in the room and she was like, wow, mom's
mouth makes noise kind of. She was just yeah, she
was just so happy. And from that moment on, she
(09:09):
just it seemed like her personality really came out of her.
I just burst into tears. I just felt like, finally,
you know, she's turned to a sound. Finally, you know.
When I made a sound and she looked at me,
I was just tears.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I'm crying now. Always I watched them, watch those videos.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
We used to watch them and dream of that happening.
We were like, that's you know, why hasn't that happened?
And then it happened and I was like, oh my god,
I get it. It was amazing.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But then she gets to hear music. Whose decision was
it to play her? Taylor Sweet?
Speaker 1 (09:50):
That was mine? We love Taylor Swift in her house.
We you know, my older girls obviously, especially my sixteen
year old, jumped in the car started driving and I thought,
how's she going to react? To music. I put it
on and she was just laughing, and you know, it's
staying like signing, turner up, turn it up. And I
(10:10):
was like, wow, okay, you know, and the same song
all the way home from Adelaide to Victor, just repeat, rebeat.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
What was the song?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Taylor Swifts? Look what you made me do?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
This one?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yes? I mean, Jenny, it's bad, it's yes.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The good news is, though, I guess that she can
also hear you singing along, so I'm not sure if
that's a good thing or bad thing. I'll let you.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
He actually tells me to stop singing, so.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Then in that, I mean, that's obviously pretty powerful. So
what do you reckon? Taylor Swift is to her like
because you know everything about this, you know, having an
older sister, seeing all the coverage around, you cannot gape
anytime anything's turned on. Taala Swift just popping up somehow somewhere.
What was it like? Do you think? What is it
like for her now to be part of understanding just
(11:09):
who this incredible person is?
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So Gracie, you know she most children as they're growing up,
they love nursery rhymes, the Wiggles. Gracie didn't have that
growing up. She doesn't know a nursery rhyme. Taylor became
like that for Gracie. Taylor's music is like the Wiggles
and things like that for her.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Wow, she is the sexiest wiggle.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
I've seen Jeff rolling around. In the short Secret Taylor
Love It, we heard that Gracie sort of almost refers
to Taylor as like a friend.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yes, she whenever she pops up and wonder we're watching something,
and Taylor came up on the TV and grac said
that that's my friend, you know, signing my friend, my friend,
and I went, okay, yeah, she can be your friends.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Well I don't know how you're going with this, mom,
but you know the friends about to drop in. She's
coming to Australia, so all right, well you guys just
hang with us because we might just have some news
for you right after this. Okay, so don't go anywhere,
all right to joining us right now. We have mum
(12:18):
Jenny who's coming from Victor Harbor listening at home as
the entire family, no doubt, so a massive shout out
to all of them. She's got eight year old Gracie
in here and we've gotten a cold from Little Allied Health. Now,
Little Gracie couldn't hear, had profound hearing loss when she
was young. She had cochlear implants, but unfortunately, due to
a bungle, they weren't programmed correctly, and so all the
(12:39):
sounds that everybody thought she could hear, she wasn't hearing.
And so that's really changed the start of her life.
And the first song when it was finally programmed that
she got to hear was one Taylor Swift. Yeah, this
is the one, Jenny, was your mom was your husband
(13:00):
tied like more wanting her to listen to ac DC
or kiss.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
As much as he would love for that to happen,
and she does love that. He's more than happy for
her to listen to Taylor's added to his playlist.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, I think the big thing out of this, and
as you said just moments ago Jenny is that because
she didn't grow up with sound, just because she didn't
grow up and have that communication that most other kids
have the privilege of having, she didn't have the wiggles
in her life, she didn't have the kid groups. So
for her, Taylor Swift is her wiggle, her pop star
(13:35):
and She refers to her as her friend. Yes, have you.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Ever been to a concert before?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Gracie has not.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I have you know that her friends coming to Australia,
don't you? Yes? You know though, that Taylor Swift tickets
are absolutely impossible to get.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, I have tried.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
How often? How long have you tried? Wisconstant?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I keep looking on the marketplace.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Still searching. Yep, you're hoping stuff out there?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Are?
Speaker 2 (14:02):
It is? And we do know? And oh my god,
makes if you and I had a dollar for every
time we're hit up for Taylor tickets, we would be
loaded working?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Would we fifty plus dollars? At least dollars?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hey, Jenny, do you want to take your daughter go
and see Taylor Swift. We've got you some tickets. She's
just signing. It's Gracie.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
I can't sign.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Is there a sign for Taylor Swift?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't know. I've just been doing a name mates.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
She's like, I think that's a celebration.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I'm yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
We've got two tickets for you to go to Melbourne
eighteenth of February. We'll get you over there, We'll put
you up somewhere that you can stay and you can
go and see Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
That's okay. Jenny is pointing at a picture of Taylor
Swift and yeah, you and me going to go see Taylor.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Yeah, she's like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Money, Well it is. That was the universal sign for money,
because that's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
She said.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
She said, is it going to come here? It'll be
absolutely free, zero zero dollars. We will send you.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yes, she will look and have a million questions about oh,
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Well, look, you know and we know, and we know
that you know, she's been through pretty trau traumatic growing up.
You know, this is really tricky. So if she doesn't
want to fly, we'll get you there another way. It
is going to be okay. We will find a way
for you to be as comfortable as you can to
be able to go over so you can have your
very first moment of wiggles. Taylor's all wrapped into one. Oh,
(16:01):
now that tears are starting, don't do this, Jenny. It's okay,
it's okay. What's the overwhelming emotion, Jenny? It has just
been hot.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, she's gonna love it, though she is.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You might too.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I'm gonna have a very very jealous sixteen.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I was about to say, look at the sixteen year old.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
She's great, she'll understand you guys are going to have
the best time.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
What a memory?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yes, yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So help you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
A little girl's dream come true and it's a positive
outlook that we're moving forward and we're doing everything we
can to support her. And this is something just for you, guys.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And Nicole and Jenny. I think that was it. As
soon as we heard your story and everything that you've
said that you know, the gross he hasn't had the
same memories, the same old opportunities, necessarily through absolutely no
fold of hers and through absolutely no fold of you,
you and your husbands, even though no doubt, as you've said,
you thought it was all something that you were doing.
So that's why we thought, well, you know what, other
(17:13):
kids have been able to go and see Wiggles and
their idols growing up. It's been pretty easy for them.
So this is going to be her Wiggles Taylor Swift
extravaganza all rolled into one. And yeah, we just hope
that you both have the most beautiful, beautiful time. Thank
you very much, absolute pleasure. Cal are you good, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm just when Jenny sent us that message to say
that Gracie had danced the whole way home to Taylor
or taite. I just came into the office and I said, look, team,
let's do it. Let's do the impossible. Let's try and
get her tickets to Taylor. So we've been focusing on
this is what we want to do. That's something positive
as a team as well. And we couldn't thank you
(17:55):
guys enough just to think of what the time that
you're going to have together over there daughter watching Taylor.
Not only am I jealous, but I'm also absolutely my
heart's bursting.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
So thank you well on that, Nicole, for you and
me and everybody left behind. How about we all just
get in.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
A room and.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Turn mixed up loud and it sounds good.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I don't think I wear the hot pants, but otherwise I'm.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
There hot pants.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
We don't have hot pants for you, but I think
you've got a whole lot of Taylor Swift merch come
in your I mean I can see the stickers on
the coffee room. Fine at the moment, I reckon, we
get Upbrad.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So the cool thing about this is there's only one
thing you need to do. Can you please send us
a video of the two of you dancing around to
Taylor Swift seeing her live. Is that okay?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yes, definitely right, yes, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
You guys have the most beautiful trip home, Frank, Taylor
Swift up really really loud. In fact, we'll make sure
we get a Taylor Swift song on mixed so you
can keep it locked on us as well and start
answering all those questions. Your beautiful girls starting to sign
to you already.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Than much.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Oh, absolute pleasure. Thanks so much, Jenny, and thank you
to you, Nicole. He'll see you later, Grossie. Thank you.
Ye bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
Itâs 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off Americaâs third largest cash heist. But itâs all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular âol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com