Anyone here have a child with a hearing impairment?

I was thinking about this last night and you. Hope the new day has brought some light into your thoughts.

I know that you want Jett to be normal. Every Deaf and hearing impaired person I know is normal. One is an Olympian, a few are lawyers, two have received medals of the Order of Australia. My mum is national president of Deaf Australia, the peak advocacy organisation for people that use AUSLAN in Australia. Some are dead*****s who don't treat their partners properly and some have trouble keeping employment. Normal is whatever Jett decides.

Early intervention is critical but be wary of well meaning social workers and other professionals in this sector who try and band aid over Jett's hearing loss by telling you that he will be completely normal. All of these things will make it much easier for him when he grows up, but it doesn't take away from the fact that he can't hear everything so it's important that he have a range of tools at his disposal (including AUSLAN if you decide) as these will all help his choices in the future.

Hi BAL, good on you for asking about this. The more support you get, the easier it will be. I'm not sure what state you're in, but I'm a Teacher of the Deaf in WA with the WA Institute for Deaf Education, so if you have any queries about education I am very happy to help.

One
thing I can recommend though is early intervention. Whilst a moderate loss might not sound too bad, it can have some big impacts on learning. I'm not saying that's the norm, don't want to get you stressed or panicking or anything as most MHL children do quite well. Just want you to be aware that there are support services out there and they are amazingly helpful. If you PM me where you are I can find out the WAIDE equivalent in your state :)

Another thing I can say for now though is, although the HAs are a pain, they are incredibly important, particularly in these early years of language development. Full time use (obviously not when sleeping) is much better than part time use as the neurons are fired in the brain when sounds stimulate and neural pathways for hearing are formed. But they go away without the stimulation being constant, so consistent HA use is best. I hope I've been helpful and don't come across as bossy or anything! :) let me know if you'd like more info :)

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Normal is whatever Jett decides.

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Yes, very true, what I mean is I want other kids to treat him as 'normal'.. I am worried he will be 'different' so treated as such. I s'pose if he isn't the deaf kid, he'd be the fat kid, the short kid etc.. Kids always pick on something.

Phebee - I am definitely getting early intervention. No doubt about that. He is getting his hearing aids ASAP, and I am liasing with speechy's etc.. I have lots of info on websites and links etc.. I guess I don't know how much intervention I need for his level of loss. I mean I am willing to learn sign language etc, but I am just confused because my understanding is: He can hear but without aids he only hears about 50% of conversation and even less if there's background noise. If he doesn't have aids it will affect his speech and learning.

I am still blown away by this. He 'appears' to have no issue hearing! He ALWAYS responds to sound. Toys, my voice etc and is very reactive. To think he's missing about 50% seems so strange. It seems weird to think he would actually need to sign to communicate. Anyway.. Whatever it takes :D I am already signing for eat, drink, cat, milk, so that's a start :D

Another question...

I found a good site that shows Auslan signs, I learnt I love you, mummy, Jett, breastfeed :) but I just read on Deaf kids Australia that they run sign language classes. Is it worth it? It is $90 for the baby sign one.. Actually I couldn't do it anyway, classes are from 6 -8pm.. I couldn't have bub out in the cold and can't leave him with anyone.. I guess I'll just teach myself :)

If you have an iPad there's a cool app aimed at babies that uses proper AUSLAN. Otherwise there are heaps of good DVD and book resources available.


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AUSLAN have a great online dictionary for learning individual signs which I found great but I had decided to go to a class once he was older. I don't think there is any rush to go to classes until he is older and can he left with someone else.

If you see a speechie they might teach you some as well, I know there are plenty around that know it and can/do.

My daughter doesn't have hearing issues and hasn't learnt AUSLAN (yet, it might be something we need to look into soon) but she has a speech delay and impairment (12m+ behind), she uses makaton signs to supplement communication which we both learnt at speech (she has 2 sessions every week). Kids are the easy part - at a young age any difference is cool, neat and interesting - all the kids at the park want to learn DD1s signs and stuff. Adults can have their own perceptions, my DD1 being tiny and delayed often gets mistaken for much younger and treated as such which can be frustrating because her comprehension is well advanced and her physical ability is right where it should be which leads to unneccesary judgements say for letting her go off on equipment alone at the park or something and I've cracked it a couple of times "she's 3 and a half, she can understand everything you're saying, she can climb and slide and run and jump, she just has a different way of telling you about it".

:hug: it is really hard finding out your kid has something that could makes things more difficult for them, it is natural to feel concern for them and need to debrief about it. I still have days where my daughter's condition brings me to tears - good and bad. DD2 already makes proper 'sounds' and it has been so hard seeing what I've missed with DD1 but I try to remember all the things it has brought us - learning signs will be useful for DD2 before she can talk, speech sessions show me different ways to interact with my children so they can learn through play... and of course, it could be worse but yeah, doesn't mean it isn't hard or that it is easy to accept right away. You're allowed to feel what you feel, you'll both get through it :)

Hi BAL, just wanted to say good luck with it all :hug: another bump in the road along your journey together which will make you yet again even stronger ;) xxx

Hey lovely,

How are you going? Did the social worker come back with anything useful?

Fiona

Hi :) She just called me, i'm seeing her at 12 today..

Hi there,
How I wish this conversation was going on a few years ago but I have the most amazing success story to share now that I'm so far along this road with my profoundly deaf born daughter (for the uninitiated, profoundly deaf means completely, utterly deaf as a post).

if you want any specific details, feel free to ask me absolutely anything but I just want to tell you that once the initial shock wears off and whatever decisions you make that feel right for your family, it will all become second nature. If your child needs to wear hearing aids, there is very little stigma attached and on littlies they look cute. Jasmine was fully diagnosed and confirmed As profoundly deaf by three weeks, when she was fitted for her first hearing aids. She was born sooo little, so can you imagine the size of the aids. Basically most of her hearing aid history isn't going to fill you with confidence, as I started with a newborn and had absolutely no response or indication that she could hear, so basically for almost twelve months while we were jumping through hoops waiting for cochlear assessments etc, she had no access to sound.

Fast forward another sixteen months and my profoundly deaf child with cochlear implants, hears absolutely everything and her vocabulary increases daily. She now says at least three hundred words...the latest of which is the most amazingly, spectacular word in the world...Mumma:) whatever challenges you are faced with, you will overcome and you will become the expert and advocate in your child's life, just as you are already. If you receive attention over the hearing aids, hopefully you can use it as a chance to educate. People are usually just interested in the unusual. We chose not to hide jazzys cochlear implants and didnt get a colour to match her hair or skin. It's out and proud and of course we are constantly asked about them but we didn't want jazz to feel that we wanted them hidden. She can choose that when she is older if she decides but for now we choose to educate and share with anyone that asks and just last week, jazzy overheard a couple of old women talking about her and bless her little heart, she lifted her hair to show them.

Good luck and all the best.

Thanks Murph01.. DS got the hearing aids today, they look cute.. I am glad you have a success story. My decision now is choosing which early intervention route to go down.. I have an interview next week, i'll look at all my options and decide from there..