Any Mom's out there with a hearing impaired child?
LALASEPT05
member
Hello, I've posted only a few times here but we continue to push through doctors appointments and early intervention appointments as my DS does not speak and has no words and only 1 or 2 consonants. Last week we met with a developmental pediatrician after a 6 month wait. She was very concerned about his hearing as his hearing was never retested after getting tubes in May. She can't say if he's definitely on the spectrum or has hearing difficulties. We repeated the hearing test Monday with inconclusive results as she said he was inconsistent in responses to low tones. We see another ENT Monday
My questions are around diagnosis of hearing impairment. Who actually diagnosed it (what type of doctor) and how did they diagnose it? I am just confused about all of the inconclusive and inconsistent responses. I know it is very hard to figure out if a child 2 years and 4 months can hear appropriately so I don't know if maybe we just have to wait. I don't know what to think. Also if you don't mind sharing how did you address it if it was hearing related. Thanks for any tips.
Re: Any Mom's out there with a hearing impaired child?
I have a child who has mild-moderate hearing loss. Here is a link to this board's FAQ on hearing loss.
https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/67792841.aspx
Nate hearing loss was discovered when he didn't pass the newborn hearing screening. 3/1000 children are identified with hearing loss at birth. By school age that number moves up to 6/1000. So hearing loss can be missed by using the screening process or it can be aquired and picked up at a later time.
We followed up with an audiologist who then did an ABR (auditory brainstem repsonse) test while he was sleeping in his carseat at 6 weeks old. He now has hearing tests about every 4 months or so using a Visual Reinforcement Audiometry, which is probably the same test they used on your guy. Nate sees the audiologist who we ordered the hearing aids from, the audiologist at our ENT's office and his school audiologist.
If you cannot get consistant results with a VRA test (earplugs in the ears, they turn toward the sound, and get some sort of visual reinforcement like a bunny playing a drum or a video snippet) then you may need to do an ABR test. At this age your son would need to be sedated for one of those.
It is pretty typical that you will sometimes get inconsistant results. If the hearing test is a new experience for your child there is a bit of a learning curve while they figure out how the cause and effect works. If your child has other behavioral concerns such as ASD, they may be even more difficult to "train" into performing the test correctly.
I have to disagree about hearing loss being difficult to diagnose. It is basically an exercise in patience and finding the right test for your child. Eventually, you will get a fulll picture of what is going on. Nate is pretty dependable with hearing tests. He has had maybe 8-10 of them. We recently got a weird result we had to followup on. This morning we re-tested his left ear because the test we did a week ago showed a 15 decibel change (worse) in one of his ears.(!) His left ear tested much better today. We have to chalk up the wonky results to either him being too distracted during testing, the left side being the second side to be tested therfore making him less interested in what his ears were picking up, or maybe the audiologist was not as 'in tune' to him since that was only the second time she tested him. His school audiologist has tested him probably about 4 times now and also 'knows' him a bit better.
Do not wait to diagnose. You child will be missing out on important speech sounds. Another thing you need to keep in mind is that your child's hearing age may be different than his chronological one. You need to take the age your child was when you know he had complete access to sound and adjust your expectations. All of Nate's speech milestones I need to adjust by 3 months since I know that is when he had consistant access to all speech sounds.
Nate has worn hearing aids since he was about 3 months old. He also goes to our local school for the deaf which has a wonderful Birth to 5 program. For us, the hearing loss has been a blessing since Nate is also apraxic due to a brain abnormality that affects motor planning. He communicates with us mostly in sign language with a few spoken words here and there. I have every confidence that he will be a verbal kiddo once his brain figures out how to make his mouth talk. For now, sign language works and let's us know just how smart he is.
Feel free to ask any other questions and Good Luck on Monday!
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First, it should be a pediatric audiologist that diagnoses any hearing deficit. A true audiologist who is trained to work with children can and will successfully complete a hearing test for any age child. Ours did so with our daughter before she was 2. Just so you know, we first went to an audi locally who insisted that our daughter had to be asleep when she was tested. NOT TRUE! Three failed appts later we gave up on the local one (couldn't wait any longer since C lost her hearing to meningitis and you have to act fast if there is damage) got an appt with the audi we have been with ever since although she is 6 hrs rt drive away.
Our audi did a tympanography to test the middle ear and a hearing test using special ear plugs at our first appt. When we ended up prepping for cochlear implants, we got an ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) done under anesthesia just before surgery. This test is the most effective to be absolutely sure there is no hearing response before the implant wipes out natural hearing.
My thoughts: don't wait and don't settle. Our daughter is where she is today, speaking effectively and hearing with her implants better than I do with my natural hearing because of the early, determined response of her doctors and us. Time lost when kids are developing as they do as toddlers and preschoolers is more valuable than any other learning time you can name.
So, we responded to C's hearing loss with bilateral cochlear implants since she was a prime candidate. We also sign (ASL) with her, and she is a lip-reading pro, too. We got her the Signing Time videos as soon as we knew she had some loss, so she could have a visual way to develop vocabulary instead of waiting for her implant activation and using oral alone. You may hear others who insist on oral only after implants instead of both sign and oral, but we have never seen sign hurt C's developing listening skills. In fact, sign really helps cut down on her frustration. We use it to reinforce oral sentences where we may be using vocab that is complex or new, and when she is in bed or bath.
Hope this helps...ask more questions if they come up, too!
My DD was diagnosed as a newborn. She failed her newborn hearing screen while we were still in the hospital (Our state mandates it on all newborns). She had her first ABR at 13 days old where she was officially diagnosed with mild/moderate hearing loss, so hearing loss can be detected at a very young age! In fact, out audiologist's goal is to be aided by 3 months old.
We did everything through a pediatric audiologist. She had a repeat ABR at 2 months old and the results were inconsistent with the first, so they did another ABR at 6 months old when she was sedated for an unrelated surgery. She got her hearing aid shortly after that.
Since then, we have done the hearing test in a booth with headphones twice, but DD has been uncooperative each time. Last time our audiologist said they would retest every 3 months and if they don't get great results between now and 2, they will do another setated ABR, as ABR's are usually the gold standard.
I suggest trying to find a pediatric audiologist- ask your ENT or pedi for a referral. If your DS does indeed have hearing loss, it would be a good idea to get him linked with your local under 3 program before he turns 3. They usually can provide assistance with paying for your aid and accessories, classes, therapies, etc. and get him linked with a special needs preschool once they transition out at age 3.