Mom worried about her son's hearing

MandyMarie said:
My daughter's newborn screening was inconclusive, so we had her fully tested, and we were told that her hearing was fine. Over the years, she had many different tests, and they all gave different results. We began to doubt the accuracy of the latest tests when we noticed little signs that she wasn't hearing as well as she should (I have a mod-profound hearing loss, so I was already familiar with the signs), and we shared our concerns with my audiologist. It turned out that my daughter has a moderate hearing loss, and she was fitted with hearing aids at the age of six. Your intuition is probably right; seek out an audiologist who will work with you diligently to find out what your son needs!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the story. We are going to take him back to the ENT.
 
GrendelQ said:
Looks like she never got the ABR results.
Click to expand...

Well you are both sort of right. The ABR technician told us she was pretty sure the baby was fine and that, if he had any hearing loss it was mild and only in one ear. She said she'd review the results more carefully and send them to our pediatrician.

I never did follow up with the pediatrician until yesterday. Yesterday I called and they said the ABR test was perfectly normal.

But I still have doubts about his hearing!
 
I'm sorry to hear about your situation. As you decide what to do, you could consider renting or buying dvds that are geared towards children to teach them sign language. There seems to be various studies that suggest sign language can be a valuable asset in language development, even if a child doesn't have any issues with their hearing, so in my mind it sure can't hurt to learn it! I can imagine it takes a lot time with all the tests and doctors and specialists, making you feel like you are loosing precious time for your kid to learn language. DVDs may be a great solution for the time being. There are plenty for adults as well if you prefer to use them for yourself. As you learn you can start using signs with your baby in addition. I'm not sure if anyone knows of specific dvds that are highly recommended for children, but I'm sure you can find ratings online somewhere. I've used Sign Language Made Easy. I'll warn you that the video is clearly done in probably the late 70s/early 80s, but now that I'm taking a class I'm finding that not too many of the signs have changed. They are done well so that I have been able to pick up on it pretty quickly. Good luck!!!
 
maurabwade said:
Well you are both sort of right. The ABR technician told us she was pretty sure the baby was fine and that, if he had any hearing loss it was mild and only in one ear. She said she'd review the results more carefully and send them to our pediatrician.

I never did follow up with the pediatrician until yesterday. Yesterday I called and they said the ABR test was perfectly normal.

But I still have doubts about his hearing!
Click to expand...

Have you made an appointment for your child to see an audiologist, and figure out what degree (if any) of hearing loss he has so he can get fitted with hearing aids?
 
CSign said:
Have you made an appointment for your child to see an audiologist, and figure out what degree (if any) of hearing loss he has so he can get fitted with hearing aids?
Click to expand...

yeah good call CSign, I saw one and they noticed that I had a mild/moderate loss and finally wore hearing aids at 6 months old.
but now, I'm seriously moderately/severe slopin to severe.
 
I do have to say that I do understand parental grieving when their kid is born with mental disabilty or severe autism.....but a sensory disabilty or an orthapedic disabilty or other things like that can be adapted to and lived with!
 
CSign said:
If kids are getting identified late these days it's usually because either they had a progressive hearing loss that wasn't present at birth, or guardians aren't following through on appointments. Generally speaking, audiologists (especially pediatric audiologists) are well informed about the need for children to receive early intervention ASAP. The first five years are critical- especially the first and second year.
Click to expand...

I also disagree. My daughter was late identified (15 months). She has moderate-severe high frequency loss and passed the newborn hearing screening after 3 attempts. We were told that she had fluid in her ears from birth and if that fluid had cleared and she passed there was no issue. Fluid cleared and she passed so we thought there was no issue.

When in reality the tones presented in a newborn screening are random ones. There are no set number of high vs. low frequency tones. Her audiologist assumes that she was able to pass the test because the last test, where she passed, had more low frequency tones than high ones. You don't receive any information about Hz and dB after a newborn screening, just a simple pass or fail. It's very easy for children who have even severe hearing loss in one frequency to slip through the cracks of the newborn hearing screening.

Sorry for the rant but that was mildly offensive and a completely naive statement.
 
Back
Top