Help with an infant that keeps failing his hearing test

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maurabwade

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My baby failed his hearing test at the hospital. He failed the test again at 5 weeks and again at 7 weeks. The doctor has confirmed that there is no fluid in his ears.

We are sure that he is not completely deaf, because he startles when he hears a loud noise, but it is possible that he has some degree of hearing loss. There is NO congenital hearing loss in our family.

My husband's Cobra is about to run out, at which point we will be on Keystone Mercy, a Medicaid program. If our baby needs ear surgery or hearing aids, we are wondering if it would be beneficial to purchase insurance for him (so that he would have more than just medicaid.)

Does anyone have experience with this? What are the most common procedures that our baby might need?
 
Hi!!!!! That's awesome that he's responding to sound! That may mean he has quite a bit of residual hearing! What state are you in? I would contact your state's Deaf School for resources outreach etc. Many Deaf Schools do offer really good spoken language therapy for dhh kids.
I believe most medicaid covers CIs, and it varies tremendously by state from state for coverage of HAs. (unfortuantly) We are here to help you.
My best advice.......start out with a full toolbox approach, and see how he responds. Track down decent spoken language thearpy...but also offer ASL/sign and see if that might be helpful. Methodologies may change as he gets older. Like for example, he may start off as orally skilled, but as things get harder, he may add Sign...he may pick up both and be fluent in both ...it is very possible for kids to be fluent in both. Just remember.....that while spoken language rocks (and I think almost everyone here agrees that it's an AWESOME AWESOME abilty), the world is not a soundbooth. It's exactly like how just b/c you're a good driver in good conditions, it doesn't mean that you'll be an awesome driver in bad driving conditions. American Society for Deaf Children and Hands and Voices,Hands & Voices, as well as your state's Deaf School....Oh, and do not worry about not being fluent in ASL.....you'll learn along with your baby. You could also try to find an adult Deaf or CODA mentor to teach you and your family ASL.
There are a lot of great resources out there...and I think you'd be very impressed.
 
Some questions are, what kind of doctor did you see? Was it just your regular or family's doctor in the neighborhood or something? If that's the case then you'd be better off to take him to an hearing specialist or to a local speech & hearing center for a 2nd opinion.

Secondly, if he does have some hearing loss, you need to find out to what degree. Cause there are all different ranges. Is it mild? moderate? severe? profound?

Hope this helps.
 
Wirelessly posted

Have you tried ASL only by itself? It is a tried and true approach to communicate with all babies; deaf and hearing. It is my belief that we as parents have to accomodate our children rather than implanting them with HAs and/or CIs when ASL works best. We shouldnt be asking the babies to accomodate us, the parents.
 
To address your questions...You'll probably be sent for a battery of tests. Our girl received additional OAE tests, and ABRs. When we found out her loss was most likely severe enough to benefit from a cochlear implant, we started a year's worth of testing towards that potential outcome. Ultrasounds, MRIs, lab work, specialist visits, and additional ABRs.

At this point it sounds like your family is still gathering information so you can explore your options. I would say insurance would be a good financial decision given the potential for testing, office visits that can easily cause a strain on the budget.

I am a strong advocate of using sign with infants- even if there turns out to be no hearing loss. Our daughter was asking for milk before 6 months old, and requesting diaper changes before a year. Now that she is implanted and ~20 months, she uses both voice and sign at the same time. We weren't as concerned with choosing a communication method as much as we were interested in giving her access to all of them that we could.
 
Now that she is implanted and ~20 months, she uses both voice and sign at the same time. We weren't as concerned with choosing a communication method as much as we were interested in giving her access to all of them that we could
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Iowaboy that is AWESOME!!!!! Is she doing well with both?
 
iowaboy said:
I am a strong advocate of using sign with infants- even if there turns out to be no hearing loss. Our daughter was asking for milk before 6 months old, and requesting diaper changes before a year. Now that she is implanted and ~20 months, she uses both voice and sign at the same time. We weren't as concerned with choosing a communication method as much as we were interested in giving her access to all of them that we could.
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Such a great point, iowaboy!
 
my hearing loss was detected at 10 months old and I had to be fitted with hearing aids at 18 months of age :)
good luck getting this all sorted out.
 
I know I'm late getting in on this thread, but I just have to make sure this is here for INSURANCE INFORMATION PURPOSES.

Health America does NOT cover cochlear implants. They simply refuse. If you really fight with them, they may but don't count on it.
 
Here a advice, don't listen to Doctor if they tell you to get Cochlear implant. You wait and let your child grow then ask him.
 
Here a advice, don't listen to Doctor if they tell you to get Cochlear implant. You wait and let your child grow then ask him
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WHAT?!?!
Joey, what if the kid has deep profound loss or auditory nereopathy?
 
We weren't as concerned with choosing a communication method as much as we were interested in giving her access to all of them that we could.
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Grendel and iowaboy, that's pretty much what we believe here.
Dhh kids have the right to have access to ALL communication methods.
Meaning both speech AND Sign, AND cued speech. (to help with reading)
 
Have you gotten an official diagnosis of the type and degree of hearing loss yet?

Early intervention is VERY crucial for deaf babies...the sooner you can address communication and language development, the better.
 
posts from hell said:
so what? im glad my parents didnt implant me.

Best thing right now is to give the child a method of communication, ASL.
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I have to agree. Us with a profound or even severe loss who didn't get implanted as a child turned out just fine. I'm not sure I understand DD's push here.
 
AlleyCat said:
I have to agree. Us with a profound or even severe loss who didn't get implanted as a child turned out just fine. I'm not sure I understand DD's push here.
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AlleyCat, I'm talking about deep profound and auditory nereopathy. Those are conditions where even body worn aids do not help. I do agree with you.....I think we've forgotten that a lot of deaf kids can do well without implants...There has been this hyperfocus on implantation with profound kids.
I'm not saying that unimplanted/unaided kids cannot do well/turn out OK, as they can. Sometimes they can even develop pretty decent oral skills. I do think that encouraging implantation, isn't automaticly audist. I mean you do have to admit that it could help significently with receptive understanding of English....and I think that implantation can be done in a very Deaf friendly manner without being audist.
 
deafdyke said:
AlleyCat, I'm talking about deep profound and auditory nereopathy. Those are conditions where even body worn aids do not help. I do agree with you.....I think we've forgotten that a lot of deaf kids can do well without implants...There has been this hyperfocus on implantation with profound kids.
I'm not saying that unimplanted/unaided kids cannot do well/turn out OK, as they can. Sometimes they can even develop pretty decent oral skills. I do think that encouraging implantation, isn't automaticly audist. I mean you do have to admit that it could help significently with receptive understanding of English....and I think that implantation can be done in a very Deaf friendly manner without being audist.
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Just surprised that you are pushing for CIs.
 
shel90 said:
Just surprised that you are pushing for CIs.
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I'm not. I'm just saying that it should be a viable nondemonized option. There is nothing wrong with opting to implant a kid if they don't respond to aiding. Implantation doesn't mean that you don't want your kid to be a part of the Deaf community.
 
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