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Question about Going Aural (Hard of Hearing)
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I have a question about "Going Aural". If your child is more dependant on hearing aids such as moderate loss how will you manage emergencies when the aids are not at hand? Or what happens when the aids need repair or one get's lost? I am just curious on how this is managed without ASL for children who cannot read or write or those who may end up Spoken English delayed....
WAY 2 Cool 4 School 
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Re: Question about Going Aural (Hard of Hearing)
Well, with our moderate to severe sloping loss she can still hear. So her name is Elizabeth and without aids she has tested numerous times that she would hear "Eli a be". So she still hears her name just not completely. But the awesome fact is that the aids are training her brain to build those listening pathways and not just let her rely on building visual pathways. So she is building both. Even without aids she can still make out words or the sounds she hears because her brain has been trained to do so.
We are by no means experts but have been taught a lot by our local school and from the AG Bell newsletters and website in the past year. There actually is a conference I am going to in the Fall to get more information.
Also, we are incredibly blessed to be so close to a private school that has a free program from 0-3 with the hearing aid loaner program and so if one breaks, we go the next day and trade it for one that works, then they get it fixed and give it back to us. Even when we buy her, her own, they still do this. They are adamant (rightfully so) that the child be aided at every waking moment. If you lose one, the same thing, except you have to pay their insurance deductable of $500. I don't see any emergency situation that couldn't be fixed with a trip to the school. Even in the summer there is always an audiologist there in case you have a hearing aid problem or you think there is a problem with her hearing. I also have her Parent Infant Teachers home number and we text often. They are truly dedicated. Several families that I have met have moved to our city just to attend this school.
Since our daughter is progressing on target for everything, including language, we haven't even thought about ASL. But should that ever change we will certainly give her every chance available. It just so happens that in her case, hearing is the only thing that sets her apart from a typical child.
Here is a link to our school:
https://www.sunshinecottage.org/EducationalPrograms/ParentInfantProgram/AuditoryVerbal.aspx
We are incredibly blessed to be in the same city as this school.
I hope I helped. Sorry I went on, I am just very passionate about my daughter and her hearing loss!
Ooops! Perhaps I did not make my question clear enough. Let me start by saying my son has mild/moderate hearing loss and has been aided since 3 months old. I am passionate about his hearing loss too. (He lives in a sign supported aural environment.)
My question is for people not using ASL and going "totally aural". When your child is not aided, such as in the bathtub, at the beach, at the pool, during an emergency where you have to leave the house without the aids,,, how would you communicate effectively with your child if you are not using ASL? I get that they could probably piece together what you are trying to say, but in an emergency or if you have to try and direct your child how will this work? If you are at the beach for 2 weeks with no audiologist around and lose your aids, does your child then miss out until you can get home?
I am just curious as to how circumstances like this would be dealt with....
This is one of the reasons I want Owen to know ASL, regardless of how well he hears w/his aids. The other, no less important, is I want him to be able to fit into the Deaf community, and appreicate there is nothing wrong with him just because he is deaf.
Also, I have learned through talking to many deaf/hard of hearing adults, even those with w/cochlear implants, that each eventually learned ASL even if s/he was raised oral, and even if s/he is successful at oral language.
I am with you and Owen on this, but I did not really want to start a debate about ASL vs Aural.
I am just genuinely curious about how un-aided situations like this would work.
DS can hear without his aids, its just not perfect. Without his aids he can follow some simple commands if you are close enough and without yelling. At this age where he constantly need to be supervised I do not forsee any emergency that can happen that would be too detrimental. Just like any other child who easily learn things I anticipate him eventually learning to sign or read lips by then he will have his base then he will be well rounded. I am trying to not have him dependent on ASL or lip reading etc to start out with, I want him aural to start and if he so decide when he is older then we can do all the others that is if like I mentioned before he doesnt learn it on his own.
ummm okay. It's not like I have a kid with scoliosis and am asking about this. My kid is Deaf too.
I was wondering how I would deal with this issue if ASL is not the best mode of communication/learning for my son and we have to go aural in the future. I think it is a legit question.
This is a legit question. Thinking of emergency situations for children with hearing loss regardless of communication method is critical. Ie. The fact that Gallaudet had a shooting a few weeks ago, but people didn't realize it even though they were in the same room. This is a major safety issue. These types of things will happen regardless of which language method you choose. A sign-only person might end up at a hospital with a critical emergency, but no one who can understand his signs. Or how does that person who is sign only call 9-1-1 to communicate that somebody's just had a heart attack? I love that some areas have started addressing these issues, but the reality is, most haven't. The fact will remain that there's a deficit so something will be missing at one point or another regardless of anything you can try to do to control it. The goal is just to minimize what is "missed". Perhaps, since you're in an area where signing is prominent this won't be as much of a full time issue for you guys. But there's still the vacation to think of, etc. Its a HUGE thought.
Talking about language choices for children who are Deaf or deaf is such an incredibly personal thing. Its no wonder it sparks such debate. We use sim-comm (heavier on the spoken english because its our own primary language). I believe whole-heartedly in the parents' right to choose which path is right for children who are Deaf/deaf-- for all children for that matter.
With DDs limited vision and our family's limited exposure to sign, oral language is our goal and we are using sign language as a bridge for that since that was her first "language" (all 13 words/signs of it!!!), but there are plenty of kids with hearing loss who's families are capable and excited to embark on the culture of sign and that will be the child's primary language or plenty of people who realize that their child will never be able to acclimate fully into THEIR family situation with an alternate language who choose the oral/aural route.
My approach is focus on what works for DD in the day to day and plan for the more realistic issues that will come up in her life. Ie. There are systems for people without aids to see the lights on fire alarms but no systems for people who are deaf and blind. But I know that DD won't be left alone in a room and need to escape on her own in the even of a fire, so this isn't my biggest concern right now. Right now, I'm focusing on the more age appropriate safety issues.
One of the things that Auditory Verbal Therapists teach children is that they can rely on the cadence of language to create understanding. I've heard several cases of people with severe or profound losses gaining really good language before getting their CIs based on this principle. The philosophy is that most kids who are profound have some residual hearing and that when you're taught how, you can use it more effectively. So one person's loss would mean something different on someone who's had the therapy. That's the thought process anyways. DD had no residual hearing and I wasn't gung-ho enough to spend money on AVT before she got her implant so pre-implant we focused on whatever sign that we could.
To give you an example, one of the big things we're working on in therapy right now is creating two phrases for each of several situations. One phrase which uses quick repetitive language and another with longer, more drawn out phonetics. So for the bath we say, "Wash, wash, wash" or "Dryyyyy offffff". Of course, we use other phrases as well, but those are the key ones we make a big point of and reinforce with tactile cues and various listening/AVT strategies. Even without perfect hearing, a typical person would associate relatively quickly that the quick one means one thing and the long one means another. Slowly you build in more variability. And eventually, you get to the point where your child can understand a good amount of phrases based on the cadence alone. But if they are aided or have a CI, at the same time their learning to understand the cadence, they should be learning the actual language to generalize to other conversation or sound as well.
A lot of kids with CIs get to the point where even without their CI on, they are able to say good morning to their parents, or carry on somewhat of a conversation. Because they've learned how oral conversation works and they have enough oral repertoire and experience to do so even when they can't hear themselves speaking. Also, kids with CIs can wear them in the bath, you just don't dunk them with water. Actually a lot of people have found ways to go swimming with their CIs as well. There's even a new one coming out that's apparently going to officially be labeled as "water proof". Its a big deal as far as technology is concerned.
But to answer your question more directly: There's the obvious sign to have. Some people label sign as their "back up". Other people use it as simultaneous communication. And of course, some people don't use it at all. Most children who have decent fluidity in spoken OR signed language should understand the principles of object communication, gestures, or picture symbols with relatively little assistance. Some people catch on to lip reading, but from everything I've read, this is extremely hard. Much harder than its portrayed on TV. Its nice to remember object/augmentative forms of communication when thinking about the young man in the emergency room who has no one to understand his signs. This makes me wonder what kind of emergency curriculums are being taught in our deaf/Deaf schools--both oral and signing. Most people who do not have a cognitive delay will be able to find SOME way to communicate should the event arise. But I wonder what a little specific planning in this area could do to alleviate dangerous situations by planning ahead for everybody.
Like I said before, I know of several children who can communicate fluidly without their CIs. (Kids with profound loss who have no hearing without the CI). But the situations where those would be warranted are really so minimal, because of how great technology has advanced. Its certainly understandable that there are people who don't second guess that the technology will not fail them, because there's so much support for it. Ie. The CI companies offer support, the audiologists, the teacher of the Deaf, etc.
Wow. That's long. Maybe it somewhat answered your question?
Thanks! Learning speech cadence sounds really interesting. It sounds like a great way to help bridge the communication gap.
I also wonder about what they teach at school for emergencies. Perhaps I should bring it up as a Parent Group topic.....!
That's exactly what I was trying to say here I just didn't use the phrase speech cadence:
Even without aids she can still make out words or the sounds she hears because her brain has been trained to do so.