Effects of Hearing Loss on Development

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I was browsing through and saw this:

These social problems appear to be more frequent in children with a mild or moderate hearing losses than in those with a severe to profound loss.
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LD OnLine :: Effects of Hearing Loss on Development

I didn't know HOH felt that way. I thought it was more common for severe to profound deaf
 
Nope. Hoh kids can and do face a lot of the same issues that deafer kids do.
It's simple. Most mainstream teachers (including special ed teachers) only get a very minimal amount of training on how to teach dhh (or any other "classic" disabilties)
There ARE some kids who really thrive with that. And it's good that we have that option. That way, some kids don't need to go off to deaf school to get their education (like the way in the old days, if you were postlingally dhh, the only option was usually deaf school)
But still, I do think that parents need to be VERY careful about assuming that mainstream school is always the best placement.
Also think about it this way. Unless a hoh kid is an aural learner or postlingally dhh, they are using their WEAKEST sense to learn. So it makes sense that they wouldn't exactly thrive under that way. It would be like a low vision kid being made to exclusively depend on their sight for everything, rather then using a combonation of residual vision, hearing and touch.
 
kinda make me worry for CI kids... in a way, they are like mild or moderate HOH with their CI
 
A said:
kinda make me worry for CI kids... in a way, they are like mild or moderate HOH with their CI
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Indeed, and unfortunately the misconception is that CI is a "cure" for deafness that turns deaf kids into hearing kids and so teachers treat them like a typical hearing student.
 
I'm mostly concern about how people have this idea that if they put CI on their children, they will be ok socially. But they really need to know that even mild hearing loss children suffer socially.
 
A said:
I'm mostly concern about how people have this idea that if they put CI on their children, they will be ok socially. But they really need to know that even mild hearing loss children suffer socially.
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I agree. In some ways, cochlear implants are a form of denial for parents who implant their children in order to "fix" them and make them "normal", and so they never really face the fact that their child is not typical and will face difficulties in life that a typical hearing child won't. Socially, implanted children seem to fall into a gray zone where they're not really hearing, but they're not really deaf either, and so don't ever feel completely comfortable in either setting. There are exceptions of course, but that has been my general impression based on things I've read and some personal observation.

I think better informed parents would go long ways towards dealing with whatever social stigma the child will face.
 
deafdyke said:
Nope. Hoh kids can and do face a lot of the same issues that deafer kids do.
It's simple. Most mainstream teachers (including special ed teachers) only get a very minimal amount of training on how to teach dhh (or any other "classic" disabilties)
There ARE some kids who really thrive with that. And it's good that we have that option. That way, some kids don't need to go off to deaf school to get their education (like the way in the old days, if you were postlingally dhh, the only option was usually deaf school)
But still, I do think that parents need to be VERY careful about assuming that mainstream school is always the best placement.
Also think about it this way. Unless a hoh kid is an aural learner or postlingally dhh, they are using their WEAKEST sense to learn. So it makes sense that they wouldn't exactly thrive under that way. It would be like a low vision kid being made to exclusively depend on their sight for everything, rather then using a combonation of residual vision, hearing and touch.
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I agree, it seems a no-brainer. It is amazing how many parents think that way, though.
 
Man - that article sounds so much like my life growing up and my daughter's as well. She's doing a little better, and her hearing loss has not progressed, since it's not really a loss, just "different".

I made friends after a lot of hard effort on my part and now I don't have any of them left.
 
This article just reaffirms some of the things I have said over and over. When a child is HOH, there is a tendency to treat them as "more hearing than deaf". Therefore, it is expected that they will act more like a hearing child. This places them in a very precarious position, where parents and educators continually force expectations on them that they cannot live up to because they are not hearing. It creates all sorts of social and psychological issues for these kids. That is exactly why I get so adamant when I see a parent say, "My kid is hearing with the CI. They need an oral environment." The damage that is done by that audist attitude to these kids is very, very disturbing to me.
 
Yea, it is such a shame because there is no need to make them suffer. :(
 
Right, shel. All in the name of making a deaf kid look and act like a hearing kid. And then, at the same time, they say, "I do accept my deaf child! How dare you say I don't." If they accept their deaf child, they meet that child on the child's turf. They don't try to make the kid tread their road.

And, the one's that really piss me off: when the kid gets older and starts to show signs of maladjustment and problems, they say, "Look what being deaf did to my kid! Deafness made them have all these psychological problems!"

Hell no, deafness is not responsible. The lack of acceptance of the child's deafness is what caused the problem. The kid is better off with the parent who does less, but does it from a deaf perspective than the parent who does more but does it from a hearing perspective.

Okay, off my soap box now!:giggle:
 
jillio said:
This article just reaffirms some of the things I have said over and over. When a child is HOH, there is a tendency to treat them as "more hearing than deaf". Therefore, it is expected that they will act more like a hearing child. This places them in a very precarious position, where parents and educators continually force expectations on them that they cannot live up to because they are not hearing. It creates all sorts of social and psychological issues for these kids. That is exactly why I get so adamant when I see a parent say, "My kid is hearing with the CI. They need an oral environment." The damage that is done by that audist attitude to these kids is very, very disturbing to me.
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Yeah , that is what happen to me when I got my HA when I was almost 8 years . I had stayed back in first grade and was not ready for second grade, people thought I was retarded until I was given a hearing test. I got my first
HA and was put in the second grade when I still had NOT pass first grade! I was expected to know what to do in second ! I was set up for failure and had to stay after to school to do math when I never learned it in the first place ! I failed fifth grade and was send to the reject class! Plus I was getting abused by a drunken dad everyday! ,People thought hey just stick a HA in her ear and that will fix everything! My education was like trying to build a house with no foundation , I was never allowed to made up the the school work I miss and was expected to harder school work!
I never thought of this until I read what you wrote jillio! Boy people miss the boat with a lot HOH kids in the 50's!
 
whatdidyousay! said:
Yeah , that is what happen to me when I got my HA when I was almost 8 years . I had stayed back in first grade and was not ready for second grade, people thought I was retarded until I was given a hearing test. I got my first
HA and was put in the second grade when I still had NOT pass first grade! I was expected to know what to do in second ! I was set up for failure and had to stay after to school to do math when I never learned it in the first place ! I failed fifth grade and was send to the reject class! Plus I was getting abused by a drunken dad everyday! ,People thought hey just stick a HA in her ear and that will fix everything! My education was like trying to build a house with no foundation , I was never allowed to made up the the school work I miss and was expected to harder school work!
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I'm sorry to say I have heard thousands of stories like yours. I am even sorrier to say that hearing parents and professionals don't seem to have learned anything from those stories. :pissed: They just keep saying, "But my child is different. My child has a CI, or a few years ago, my child has a digital aid." They just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, and it is the kids who suffer.
 
They just keep saying, "But my child is different. My child has a CI, or a few years ago, my child has a digital aid." They just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, and it is the kids who suffer.
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On the other hand, I do think many of the parents are simply parrotting what they're being told by audis and "experts" " Oh the technology's different so things are better now!" :roll:
Hoh kids have ALWAYS fallen through the cracks. On another messageboard, people were getting all excited about starting a HLAA-style group for their kids. While that might be cool for kids who are postlingal and unilateral loss, most kids who are hoh could also significently benifit from ASL and Deaf culture.
Hearing aids and CIs don't automaticly grant ALL the benifits of the hearing world to dhh kids. Kids do have some access to the hearing world yes......but heck even late deafened people say they don't always feel like they fit into the hearing world.
 
jillio said:
I'm sorry to say I have heard thousands of stories like yours. I am even sorrier to say that hearing parents and professionals don't seem to have learned anything from those stories. :pissed: They just keep saying, "But my child is different. My child has a CI, or a few years ago, my child has a digital aid." They just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, and it is the kids who suffer.
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You got that right , the kids do end up suffering a lot! Then the school and parents blame the kids! GRRR!
 
I at least had very supportive parents up to a point. I was never given the option to learn ASL, but they helped me as much as they could otherwise. Both my parents worked with me regarding my speech problems and my older brother helped me with school work I didn't understand. Also, most of my teachers were in our church, so I could get additional help that way and did. We would meet at the church one night a week and go over things I didn't understand in class. I guess it was a small town thing.
 
KristinaB said:
I at least had very supportive parents up to a point. I was never given the option to learn ASL, but they helped me as much as they could otherwise. Both my parents worked with me regarding my speech problems and my older brother helped me with school work I didn't understand. Also, most of my teachers were in our church, so I could get additional help that way and did. We would meet at the church one night a week and go over things I didn't understand in class. I guess it was a small town thing.
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I grew up in a small town too , but it did not help me!
 
This is an interesting thread. I am an adult who is becoming HOH-I have progressive hearing loss. It's only on one side and only moderate-yet, sometimes I struggle, in fact it was the struggling that got me to see an ENT in the first place (before I knew about it). So, I can only imagine how difficult it could be for a child, if it's difficult sometimes for me as an adult who had decades of normal hearing! It's got to be tough for them, especially for ones who have mild/moderate HOH. Then you're not quite deaf and not quite hearing.

Also, I can say for certain, hearing aids are NOT like natural hearing. I like mine, but it's defenitely different than natural hearing, so a child with hearing aids is not hearing things like the kids without. I would think that could affect school performance, if this is not accommodated. I can't speak to CI's because it doesn't apply to me.
 
When a child is HOH, there is a tendency to treat them as "more hearing than deaf".
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AMEN!!!!! Some hoh kids ARE "almost Hearing" (heck I don't think many just unilaterally hoh kids need ASL or deaf culture or a formal dhh educational program) but overall we just fall through the cracks SO much in the mainstream.
I am a bit encouraged thou. I know some parents of hoh kids who are sending them to Schools for the Deaf or formal dhh Signing programs! YEAH!!!!! One good thing about CIs is that it's made Deaf culture a lot more hoh friendly!
 
whatdidyousay! said:
Yeah , that is what happen to me when I got my HA when I was almost 8 years . I had stayed back in first grade and was not ready for second grade, people thought I was retarded until I was given a hearing test. I got my first
HA and was put in the second grade when I still had NOT pass first grade! I was expected to know what to do in second ! I was set up for failure and had to stay after to school to do math when I never learned it in the first place ! I failed fifth grade and was send to the reject class! Plus I was getting abused by a drunken dad everyday! ,People thought hey just stick a HA in her ear and that will fix everything! My education was like trying to build a house with no foundation , I was never allowed to made up the the school work I miss and was expected to harder school work!
I never thought of this until I read what you wrote jillio! Boy people miss the boat with a lot HOH kids in the 50's!
Click to expand...

You are not alone and there were many of us like that and that included deaf people back in the 1950 and 1960 that make us suffer so much when we don't have the needed accommodations. Most hearing mainstream schools and parents expected us to hear like the hearing, but hearing is totally different thing and so is CI. It is not the same at all. Can the hearing people and parents get it when we tried to tell them? Heck, no, they refuse to listen to us at all. Grr :mad:
 
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