There is a poem/essay named "Welcome to Holland" that I recommend you read--I am sure you can google it--have tissue ready!! I am also a hearing mother of a deaf child--been there, done that. I SOOO know what you are going through! My daughter was diagnosed with a moderate to severe hearing loss a few months after her first birthday--now, she will be 15 in September and will begin high school in the fall. Those early days are full of a lot of confusion--I remember it well! For those of us who have had no contact with deafness until our child is diagnosed--well, it IS like entering a whole new world that we never even thought about visiting. There will be a lot of "professionals" giving you advice on what is the "right" thing to do--take it all in with "a grain of salt"--weigh it all, see how it applies to YOUR child, weigh it again and again, prepare to adjust and change your feelings and approaches as your child grows, and just follow your child's lead once they begin communicating and exploring the world of language(s). A lot of people who "recommend" certain things may not really know YOUR child--but YOU do! The absolute truth is: NO ONE KNOWS YOUR CHILD AS WELL AS YOU DO, AND NO ONE CAN MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION ABOUT HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILD MORE THAN YOU CAN! But don't let that scare you and intimidate you--it is like everything else in parenting: people agree and people disagree about HOW to raise children--YOU have to "go with your gut" and "follow your child's lead"--YOU will make the RIGHT decisions for YOUR child based on HOW it works for you and your child--NOT based on "theories" or "beliefs" of others. In easier terms: Relax, and go with the flow!
I can tell you how things went with MY daughter--they MAY or MAY NOT go in a similar fashion with your son--as long as you give him your ALL and you do everything you can to build good communication with him, everything will be fine. Some people will say: just talk, talk, talk with him--if he has good hearing with hearing aids, he may pick up on oral language just fine(my daughter did, but SHE has really good hearing with digital hearing aids--not everyone does). Some people will say: sign, sign, sign to build a good language/communication base(my daughter learned some signs at first, but she VOLUNTARILY began dropping them in favor of speech as her spoken vocabulary grew--once she began talking and communicating through speech, she didn't feel that she needed to sign(lived in hearing/speaking environment where no one else knew much sign either)--but NOW, she wants to learn sign because she wants to go to high school with other deaf teenagers(some sign, some don't) and she is beginning to build a pretty good language base through sign(though her first language will always be spoken English and ASL(or signed English?) will be a second language). It worked for HER--she HEARS well with digital hearing aids--she learned to HEAR and SPEAK because she has ACCESS to spoken language--but this is not the case for everyone. Some people have a more profound hearing loss--hearing aids may not allow them to hear speech well enough--some DO learn by lipreading, but it is MUCH harder if you cannot HEAR(access through hearing aids REALLY makes a HUGE difference)--and, then there are cochlear implants that CAN allow SOME people with profound deafness to HEAR speech well enough(but not ALL!). The key to many things here is this: SOME but NOT ALL--every single child is very unique and they have individual needs that have to be met--there is NOT one answer that applies to ALL deaf children because there is such a HUGE range of differences between them.
Since you are brand new to "Holland," I want to welcome you and let you know that it will be a WONDERFUL journey--not an easy one, but a VERY special and blessed one!
As you enter this new world with your child, it would be GREAT to expose him to as much language as possible--both spoken AND sign--yes, language immersion is a GREAT idea! Babies/toddlers are like little sponges--they will take it all in!
If your son is hearing well with hearing aids, he may be getting a lot of great exposure to spoken language--like all kids, they listen a long time, and suddenly they begin imitating what they hear. You will learn more about WHAT he is hearing with his hearing aids through various audiological testing--at some point, they may tell you that he is hearing "within the speech banana" with them, or they may say that he is NOT hearing much speech with them--if they are helping him to hear, things will probably progress well with his speech development. If hearing aids aren't really helping him, then they will probably present you with decisions such as: cochlear implants and therapy to help him hear with CIs--OR they may present you with the option to focus more on developing sign language with him if he isn't hearing well enough to develop spoken language. Basically, begin able to HEAR is really a key factor in learning SPOKEN language--if he can HEAR WELL with hearing aids or with cochlear implants, then his spoken language MIGHT CAN develop well(my daughter did GREAT with digital hearing aids--some kids do GREAT with cochlear implants). As to whether or not to develop sign language as a primary language--that is also dependent upon your son's individual needs--it certainly would be a good thing to begin building a sign language base--if he continues to develop ASL, then that is a good thing--if he begins building a good spoken language base and prefers to talk more than sign, it's HIS choice(and he may decide to continue signing even if he DOES speak well)--or he may do as my daughter did(some sign, then spoken language, then sign later in life). Yes, the idea of having BOTH languages is a good thing--being able to "fit in" in BOTH the hearing world and deaf world is certainly an advantage--more people to know and love!
Just give him lots of love and attention--keep immersing him in LOTS of language(both spoken and sign)--and most of all, HAVE FUN!
Toddlers are full of energy--I LOVE to watch them discover the world around them!
From one mother who has been there to another who is just entering the front gates:WELCOME!
but I now feel like it's doable!!!
Except-- 'get me!' I'll just say I cried when I figured out he was mimicking me! it was the sweet way he rubbed my arm that I knew what he meant!
