Special Needs
Florr18
member
my son failed the hearing test - repost from 0-3 months board
Florr18
member
We are so sad...My baby failed the hearing test in the nursery ...just for the right ear( the left ear passed). We went for a follow up appointment yesterday and the right ear failed again ( they said there's no fluid in the ear either)...I am so upset...Now they referred us for a diagnostic testing...Anybody had this issue and turned out ok?
Please pray for us!
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Re: my son failed the hearing test - repost from 0-3 months board
I assume that since this is a repost, that you are not expecting anyone on this board as having this "issue and turned out ok.". I suppose it is possible though.....
Anywho, I am here to offer hugs and the understanding about how difficult it can be to learn your child may have a different growing up experience than what you planned. It's o.k to cry about it because it does suck.
Our son also failed his newborn hearing screen and follow-up testing confirmed that he has mild-moderate hearing loss. He has worn hearing aids since he was 3 months old. To us, the hearing aids are kinda like glasses, but a whole lot more expensive. He has to wear them to get a complete understanding of what sounds are around him and what information those sounds can provide. Not only talking, but thunder, rain drops & birds chirping. Without his hearing aids, he would not hear the last two. That has always made me feel a bit sad knowing that, but I also know that his hearing aids can bring his hearing level up to "typical" and I am greatful for the technology.
Feel free to post any questions you may have, There are about 4-5 hearing aid and/or cochlear implant mommies here who will be happy to help you out. Good Luck on your journey!
I'm sorry to hear this. I don't have a DC with hearing loss, but DH has little functional hearing in one ear (congenital hearing loss) but normal hearing in the other.
It has minimal effect on his daily life. He needs people to speak clearly and loudly if they are on his "bad side" and his overall hearing is going downhill a little as he approaches 40. It's harder for him to make out what people are speaking in noisy places such as restaurants and malls, and over sounds like a tap running. He's not good at telling which direction a sound is coming from, like a dripping tap for example. Apart from the above, DH does just fine - loves music, was in choir and band, valedictorian in HS, went to college, etc etc
Hopefully the diagnostic test will give you a clearer picture.
Ds failed the hearing test the first three times in both ears, though I do think he had fluid in there even though that was never confirmed. He only passed when they did the next level up test where they attached electrodes to his head to see how his brain processed sound. He was about 3.5 months old when he passed that.
My DD failed newborn infant screening & several follow up tests before she was diagnosed with mild/moderate hearing loss. She got her hearing aids at 3 months old & will be turing 3 in May.
She is a happy & very talkative toddler. You would never know she has hearing loss if you didn't know. So yes, we did have an issue but everything turned out ok. I know what you are going through. It's very scary when things are unknown. Hugs!
If you have any questions send me a pm.
Our DD was born hearing but lost 100% of her hearing in both ears to meningitis just before she turned two. She got cochlear implants very soon after her loss, and now hears better than I do. It was sad at first, to think that her normal would not be the same as what I had dreamed when we were expecting her, and watching her grow that first year, but you know what? She is awesome! She has accomplished more in her 4 years than most get to tackle in their whole childhoods and she is stronger, more resilient and more focused on her world because of the work it has taken to get her to where she is now. She just tested "normal" in her expressive and receptive language test at speech therapy last week.
We will all tell you that the initial shock of the change to the dream is normal. I will tell you it is what you do from here that determines your baby's success with language, etc. What I learned was you have to be your baby's best advocate. If you don't get the service you need, find it somewhere else. Our first THREE audiologist appts were wastes of time before we transferred to a wonderful pediatric office where they truly cared and knew how to work with babies. The right fit for us was not the office in our town, but 3 hrs drive away...but they are like family now!
Only your family will know what is best for you...what technology to use or not, etc. We use ASL at home when C doesn't have her "ears" on, and she is a super amazing lip reader even at her young age. We are thrilled we chose cochlear implants for C, but know that is sometimes not the fit for every person.
Hugs as you navigate this new experience. Remember, this is just one small test...love that baby as if there were nothing to fear, and the rest will come together with some dedication, research and trust.
Layla failed numerous newborn hearing screenings, and was scheduled for an ABR. They did one last OAE before doing the ABR, and she passed, so we didn't have to do the ABR.
Fast forward 3 years...
She was significantly behind her peers in pretty much every aspect of development, especially speech. She had lots of fluid in her ears, so they put in ear tubes. That helped the fluid, but not her hearing. After performing an ABR, they told me that she was just fine. We enrolled her into a special education preschool to help her speech and learning in general. They, along with my husband and I, thought that there was something "not right" about Layla. We had a second opinion done, rather a different audiologist read her ABR results. The new audiologist found that she has moderately severe hearing loss in both ears. They believe the hearing loss was a result of many untreated ear infections. She was fit with hearing aides in both ears, and is doing very well. Layla went for 3 years without hearing any sound quieter than a car horn, lawn mower, or maybe a little quieter than that. I felt like the worst parent on earth for not persuing this issue more when she was younger. Now, a year after getting hearing aides, she has really taken off. She's still developmentally behind her peers, but it catching up fast.
I know this is a hard diagnosis to swallow. The thought of cochlear implants is scary (I think so anyways) and we all want "perfect" kids. But our kids are perfect. Your LO is at such a young age, that this will be just a little hiccup in the whole aspect of growing up. You'll get a DX, you'll be able to get help with hearing when they're young! That's great! With all of the medical advances, there will probably no difference between a hearing impaired child and a hearing child by the time they get to kindergarden. Good luck!
DS failed his hearing screen in the NICU in both ears. We did the ABR and OAE tests after he was discharged and he failed those also. He was diagnosed with moderate to severe hearing loss. Between me being in denial and waiting for a second opinion as well as waiting for insurance to approve his hearing aids, he did not get fitted until 2 wks after his first birthday. He turns 2 in May and has caught up with his typical hearing peers both in receptive and expressive speech.
It is okay for you to grieve because that is one of the stages we all go through, but please do not get stuck in that stage because you will have to be his biggest advocate until he can do it for himself. After a while you may sometimes not even remember that he has hearing loss because you are able to see past that and see that he is not much different from typical hearing kids. And like pp said think of the hearing aids like glasses--one helps you to see better one helps to hear better.
I do not know what state you are in, for me, the state (FL) kept calling for updates until I got the final diagnosis. As soon as I got the final diagnosis Early Steps contacted me, I met with them and right away I was set up with speech therapy (which we could not have started at the time because he did not have his hearing aids yet). All in all I got a lot of help from various agencies because looking back now I would not have known where to begin and what to do. My pediatrician's office was a great help also, what they did not know of they pointed me in the right direction where could get answers. if you have questions feel free to email me angieg303@gmail.com.
DD#2 failed her newborn screen twice at the hospital. When shew was 13 days old, we had our first ABR and we were told that she had mild-moderate loss on the left side only (mild at lower pitches, moderate at higher pitches). We had a repeat test done at 2 months old and were told that she had improved and had moderate loss at high pitches only.
We were referred to the hearing clinic at our local children's hospital and the otolaryngologist that we saw said he didn't want to intervene until after a repeat test done at 6 months because of the big difference in the 2 tests. In the report that he sent to our pedi, it said that he believed that by 6 months she would have normal hearing.
At 6 months, she had another ABR (she also had surgery during this time also), which the resuts were more consistent with the first test she had at 13 days old. We got ear molds for her hearing aid done and we get her hearing aid in 2 weeks.
I know it all seems like so much right now. To be told that your child has a condition that is going to have an effect on them for the rest of their lives is devastating. Add in the leftover hormones after just having a baby, and its even worse. Things will get better with time.
For us, we have decided that we are going to approach this in a positive manner. Like PP had mentioned, we are going to treat this hearing aid as others would if their baby needed glasses. Its an 'accessory'. We are getting a loaner hearing aid while our insurance company gets everything approved, but once we do get our own, we are probably going to get a pink or purple colored one. The ear mold that we got with her first one is pink and purple glitter. She will wear her hearing aid all the time until she is old enough to tell me and prove to me that she can do ok without it (i.e. grades not dropping in school), since she does have normal hearing in her other ear.
BTW, she is 7.5 months old and on track developmentally. She babbles, says 'baba and dada, is almost crawling. We did have a minor setback because she was diagnosed with torticollis and we do go to PT for that, but that was totally unrelated to her hearing loss!
If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me for a link to my blog. I have a pretty detailed story for everything and its pretty reassuring. One of my brother's friends just had a baby who was diagnosed with hearing loss and also kidney problems (which they may test your LO for kidney problems if there is a definitive diagnosis of hearing loss because both the ears and kidneys form at the same time in the womb). His SO thanked me for the blog because it answered alot of the questions she had before their LO was formally diagnosed.
My LO is also linked with our local EI services and Infant Hearing Program. We get an assessment of speech and communication done monthly and then an overall development screening every 3 months. Everyone has been so helpful and we are happy with their services because we would be so lost without them.
Good luck with everything.