Hearing mom with deaf toddler, AB Canada

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Pitchbug

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Hi everyone! My name is Alyssa and I have a 2 year old who has (at least?) moderate hearing loss, currently unaided. His audiology tests have been very confusing (long story) so we're not sure exactly how severe the loss is but best guess is at least 50db across all frequencies. He cannot speak/understand spoken word so for the last 2.5 months I have been working with him in ASL. He now attends a sign/speech playgroup once a week but most of the teachers are hearing and don't sign a lot. My son responds well to the Deaf teacher there though!

Just looking for more community and support for ASL and bicultural/bilingual development as the playgroup here does focus a lot on spoken language (which he can't hear enough of to use)... It appears to me that the other kids are aided or CI and their hearing parents are more focused on oral language with using signs as support tools.

Any suggestions on how to incorporate more sign into play would be awesome. He's a VERY busy boy, smart, stubborn, loves vehicles, building things, cooking,water play, painting, Signing Time and playgrounds. Helping him watch me and make the connection between the sign and the concept is my biggest challenge right now, as well as trying to get him to use his signs consistently instead of just his garbly voice... he has about 20 signs he can use right now. He understands a lot of signs considering its only been a few months of teaching him, and my vocab is between 100-150 signs currently.

I live in Edmonton, AB Canada.
 
That is a loss that would benefit a lot from hearing aids.
Why is it that he is unaided?
 
Have you contacted the Alberta School for the Deaf or the Alberta (southside) or the Alberta &/or Edmonton Association for the Deaf (west end) regarding resources, help or guidance?
 
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The Early Intervention playgroup he is in takes place in a classroom at the AB School for the Deaf but is run by Connect Society. I was under the impression that AB School for the Deaf doesn't work with under 3 years of age. I could call and confirm, but Connect is what group I was referred to and they didn't suggest any further groups.

He is not unaided by choice. The audiologists keep telling me they want to do more tests before aiding? I am going back in in December with my son for more tests and will be pushing the issue again then.
 
I would switch audiologists if they refused to provide hearing aids for my child. I'd get maybe not aiding if it was a 20-30 dB loss but at 50 dB he could definitely benefit from hearing aids.
 
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Yes. I am taking him in for retest at a private clinic. I'm tired of the run around.
 
Ah ok, yes Connect is a good family-oriented resource. Good luck with the information highway you are beginning to navigate. Edmonton has a good Deaf/HoH community, rich with resources and wonderful people, I hope you meet many of them along the way :).
 
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Thanks, Journey. Connect has been very welcoming and helpful so far.
 
Maybe ask for a Deaf/hoh/CODA mentor to help teach your family ASL? Could you ask the Deaf teacher for more Sign intervention/tutoring?
Hopefully hearing aids will work, as it does seem like deaf ed is moving towards being HOH style, but with Sign as well......Psyched that you're open to ASL etc.......I think your son will do AWESOME!
 
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Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to talk to the Deaf teacher and ask her for suggestions on Wesnesday at group. I wanted my son to learn ASL even if he does go for the hoh/oral route later because we do have family friends in BC that are Deaf and he will probably meet other friends along the way that he may need ASL to communicate with anyway. Love the language and the culture.
 
The fact that he has a hearing loss and is without hearing aids only makes it more important that he be in a classroom placement that uses sign, and that the family is using it consistently as well.

The fact that he is 2 and still doesn't have hearing aids is concerning. I would definitely go see a pediatric audiologist ASAP and get him
Aided, as well as get him in a classroom placement that consistently uses a visual mode of communication.
 
Pitchbug said:
Wirelessly posted

Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to talk to the Deaf teacher and ask her for suggestions on Wesnesday at group. I wanted my son to learn ASL even if he does go for the hoh/oral route later because we do have family friends in BC that are Deaf and he will probably meet other friends along the way that he may need ASL to communicate with anyway. Love the language and the culture.
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I just want to say that children with some residual hearing do tend to pick up oral skills. However, their ability to speak (expressive language) is very different from receptive language.

In other words, just because he may end up using his voice majority of the time (or some of the time) does not diminish his need for a visual mode of communication.
 
My daughter has a moderate/severeprofound loss and greatly benefits from aids. Did he not pass new born screening at birth? Usually they give the test before they leave. That is how we found out our daughter had a hearing loss. You can call a pediatric audiologist and make an appt. for an ABR test. No run around just make the appt. for ABR that same day they will tell you the results make molds and get hearing aids ordered. he could be aided in just a few short weeks. my son who also has hearing loss was aided by 5-6 weeks of age. we did the ABR test,molds and order aids all in one day.


ASL is very important. good for you to start that my advice keep it going dont stop learning. its a wonderful language and they benefit so much even HOH kids. Also see if you have a "hands and voices" where you are. ask you deaf teacher about it. actually ask her/him if they know about the Deaf Mentor Program aswell. They come to your home teach your family ASL for free. here where we live they do if your child is under 6 years of age. they will come at any time. even in the evening time so both parents and siblings can learn. best of luck to you and keep signing!!!
 
welcome to AD, we have someone who lives up in Canda, check out AliciaM since she has a severe/profound loss now but she did end up with hearing loss as a teenager :)
 
I don't understand why you are all concern about having a child get hearing aids at a young age of 2 years old. Nothing wrong with not wearing hearing aids. I did not have hearing aids until I was 8 years old, almost nearly 9. Being deaf was a blissful and delightful. I was very happy being that way. No one should force on me if I don't hear it. The only bad thing is that I should have gone to the Deaf school with or without hearing aids instead of mainstream schools. Bleh. If the audiologist said to wait, then wait. **sigh**

P.S. Why of all people have to give tests to the newborn or baby to see if he/she had hearing or hearing loss? This is really ridiculous to me. I am very different from you, guys. Dang! :(
 
Bebonang said:
I don't understand why you are all concern about having a child get hearing aids at a young age of 2 years old. Nothing wrong with not wearing hearing aids. I did not have hearing aids until I was 8 years old, almost nearly 9. Being deaf was a blissful and delightful. I was very happy being that way. No one should force on me if I don't hear it. The only bad thing is that I should have gone to the Deaf school with or without hearing aids instead of mainstream schools. Bleh. If the audiologist said to wait, then wait. **sigh**

P.S. Why of all people have to give tests to the newborn or baby to see if he/she had hearing or hearing loss? This is really ridiculous to me. I am very different from you, guys. Dang! :(
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It is important because of language development. I support those tests because 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents and without those tests, the children go for years without access to language and that can affect their ability to develop the skills needed to become independent adults.
 
shel90 said:
It is important because of language development. I support those tests because 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents and without those tests, the children go for years without access to language and that can affect their ability to develop the skills needed to become independent adults.
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Argh, you too! Oh, good grief. :roll:
 
Unfortunately, my daughter wasn't tested at birth or any time before her 1st birthday, so she spent a year in an orphanage in which no one had a clue she was profoundly deaf, and so no one used any language accessible to her during such an important year. In an ideal situation, getting results from a hearing test would have meant immediate use of sign language around and with her.
 
Bebonang said:
I don't understand why you are all concern about having a child get hearing aids at a young age of 2 years old. Nothing wrong with not wearing hearing aids. I did not have hearing aids until I was 8 years old, almost nearly 9. Being deaf was a blissful and delightful. I was very happy being that way. No one should force on me if I don't hear it. The only bad thing is that I should have gone to the Deaf school with or without hearing aids instead of mainstream schools. Bleh. If the audiologist said to wait, then wait. **sigh**

P.S. Why of all people have to give tests to the newborn or baby to see if he/she had hearing or hearing loss? This is really ridiculous to me. I am very different from you, guys. Dang! :(
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When my son was young, his language development was quite far behind where it should have been for his age (2-3 yr old). He rarely spoke but did make a variety of sounds like grunts now and again. I was concerned it was a result of hearing loss. I took him for hearing tests to find out. Why? If it was just a case of choice - he was simply choosing not to talk - then we would continue to speak to him as a hearing child to encourage that method of communication ... if it was a case of hearing loss then we would pursue alternate methods of communication (ASL). Testing him gave us answers and set us on the right path to do what was best for him.
 
Bebonang said:
Argh, you too! Oh, good grief. :roll:
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Guess we will have to disagree. I still respect your views and hope you respect mine. It doesnt mean I am advocating for all babies to get implanted...it means I am advocating for the new parents to start learning ASL so their children can start their language development and not end up with delays.
 
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