14 month old baby is getting a hearing aid next week..

[Tomtommom]

My son got recently diagnosed with sensorineural bilateral hearing loss.

Around 8-9 months he started to talk some. He said by-by dah-ee (byebye daddy) a couple of times and we think he said 'kih-ee' (kitty).. He did that for a week or so, then stopped. He babbles and babbles and babbles, but it frankly sounds like he speaks some middle eastern language *laugh* It's really cute, but he worries me. He's 14 months now.. and seems to make no effort to really talk. I -think- he has the capability, but he seems uninterested. When I sing, he dances, so I know he can hear me! But if you call his name, he doesn't respond.

He had an ear infection in November, which cleared up after some antibiotics. Then it started to act up a little again. We were sent to the ENT, who found fluid behind his ears. The audiologist found his hearing to be lacking. They scheduled him for tubes and a neuro hearing test. The test confirmed his hearind is "off". Basically, he can hear low frequences just fine, but as they near talking levels, he has mild hearing loss. Since he's so young, it's kind of hard to properly test him, but the mild/moderate hearing loss is sure.

So now we're in and out the hospital, which is an adventure on it's own. We live a good hour away from the hospital and he gets car sick everytime we have to drive there, because of the awful roads around Birmingham.

We've been to the audiologist, the ENT, genetic research (since my brother has hearing loss).. Next week he's scheduled for another hearing test and fitting of his hearing aids.

I'm worried

He just seems to be getting further and further behind. I think he's just incredibly stubborn and independant, but even I start to doubt those feelings sometimes. He's a happy little man, but he just kind of does his own thing. He will stand when he feels like it, not when you want him to. He will walk while holding his play yard, but makes no effort to do so without. He doesn't try to talk, just babbles his own little language and he's perfectly content with it. Everyone positively adores his beaming smile (he is ALWAYS happy) and his single dimple. He loves flirting with women...

I just don't think that a hearing aid is going to make -that- a big difference. From the tests, there's a lot of sounds he CAN hear, and he doesn't use them...

Any other parents who have experience with this?

 

[bluesub]

It's great that the doctors are getting him a hearing aid now, while he is developing speech. Have you tried teaching him sign language? There are some baby sign books out there. My children's hearing is fine, but I have a sister-in-law who is deaf (a fever when she was about 18 months old). I taught my daughter sign language and she was signing by six months. She had recurrent ear infections from about 6 months on and I would take her to the doctor and tell them that she told me her ear was hurting. They looked at me like I was crazy, but I taught her the sign for "hurt" and she would use that sign when she had an ear infection. I would think he would get frustrated at trying to communicate with you.

What does the doctor say about his walking and standing? You will be chasing him soon enough...

How does he get your attention? Does he scream, tug at your leg? That's still communicating...

 

[EweSheep]

I have been born with nerve damage and my parents didn't know I had a hearing problem until I was four years old. Thanks for the U of I and March of Dimes being so supportive of us, I wouldn't be here without them, particuarly back in those days.

Once he get his hearing aid established, he will get frustrated at first because it will be new for him. Be patient and he will catch up quickly. Use the summer to "catch up" on his areas that he lacks or don't understand.

It isn't for all parents but please do your kid a favor, put him in mainstreamed schools rather than "all deaf" schools. I've known my friends graduating from "all deaf" school are somewhat lacking in proper social skills with the hearing world. You certain CAN tell the differences between the deaf students going to a mainstreamed school vs deaf school. Teach him and be patient with him. Most of all, do not talk so loud AND don't exaggerate your lips "wide mouth frog" kind of talk....just be normal if your son picks up on lip reading. Be sure to get his attention first before speaking. If he can not hear you when you are shouting time for dinner, a soft rubber ball works wonders. I remember my parents were tired of running up behind me, tapping me on the shoulder so I can look at them to see what they want from me. So a sock ball or foam balls worked well. Just don't bob them on the head, there is nothing so infurating to get bob from the head, just aim for the lower part of the body. If it is a hard ball, like a baseball, be sure to aim past them so they can see the ball whizzing past them, getting their attention from where the ball is tossed.

I assure you, fear not, your son will be just fine!

 

[Tomtommom]

He has always been so easy going, a bit too much so. If he has his thumb, he's happy.

If he wants something, he'll do this eardrum shattering screech. He used to make grabby hands if he wanted to be picked up, but he's stopped doing that too, I think he found that the screech is more effective.

He basically wants very little. It takes FOREVER for him to tell you he's hungry. When he was 8 months he was sleeping 12 hours straight, would wake up and just play in his bed or suck on his thumb and wait for you to come get him. If he was hungry, he'd suck his thumb... I know most babies will cry if they're hungry.. he doesn't unless he's getting MAD.

I know he knows how to communicate, but he simply doesn't seem to feel the need to do so. He's just happy as a clam, all by himself.

Our doctor doesn't seem too concerned, but it has been two months since his last checkup. He's got an appointment in April. 14 months seems to be a bit too long.. but then again, it took him a good while to roll over and start crawling, and now he's a pro.. Maybe he's just slow.. or he doesn't want to do it until he knows he can do it right.

I know he's very smart, maybe a bit too much so.. he's got his momma baffled

 

[Tomtommom]

Thank you, Ewe. From what I understand it's minor hearing loss on one side, moderate on the other. He can hear, but he cannot hear certain sounds like 'sh, ch, k, t, p', he SHOULD be able to hear 'daddy' and such, as long as it's spoken in a lowish voice. Should. But it's hard to test little guys like him.

He's little and will adapt, I'm just worried there's more to it. With such minor hearing loss, I can't comprehend how this would completely delay speech to this degree. And the fact that he used words in the past, but just stops doing it. We always cheered him on every time he had a word. But he keeps them 1-2 days and then he stops. Maybe he gets bored with his 'new' word? *shrug* I am clueless.

We've gotten bye bye, daddy, kitty and duck (or well... duh) out of him, at some point of time. But again, I am doubting myself, because sometimes I really think we just hear what we want to hear and we just pick out sounds that we think sound like a word.

 

[bluesub]

We've gotten bye bye, daddy, kitty and duck (or well... duh) out of him, at some point of time. But again, I am doubting myself, because sometimes I really think we just hear what we want to hear and we just pick out sounds that we think sound like a word.

All parents do that... As for the screeching to get attention - try to encourage him (reward) him for finding another way to get your attention... Use the sign language in conjunction with spoken language. Maybe try to teach him the signs for animals? That way he could connect the signs you are making more easily to an object. Learning to sign will not delay learning to speak, it actually helps.

 

[Carols Clucks]

My youngest has a hearing loss, in part caused by a small birth defect in the way one side of his head formed. He is 20 now and because he is a silly kid, he does not use his hearing aid as often as he should (aka almost never)

As a toddler we had a hard time getting our doctor to even test his hearing, so much has changed and your having an attentive doctor is wonderful. It is hard to see so your child need extra medical attention no matter the cause. BUT early in a babies life the lack of good hearing can set them back. Check with your local school as well, ours had a program where a speech therapist would come and work with my son. He had many words and sounds he did not make and playing games with the therapist really helped. (before my son would often pretend he was a cat or dog and meow or bark rather than try to talk with people) A big problem he had was that many words have similar patterns of sound, so he would guess what we were saying and usually guess wrong. As he aged, friends would laugh at his random replies. It caused a lot of frustration for him.

He had, on his own learned to read lips some, the audiologist had to watch to cover his mouth when testing to get accurate test results cause he would watch his mouth and often get the word.

One of the things we had to do was slow down our own speech, he had started stuttering from the over load of listening and trying to reply.

 

[EweSheep]

LOLOL I "cheat" on those hearing tests! I could read their lips and repeat exactly what they said LOLOLOL! It didn't take long for the audiologist to pick up on that! Then she would cover her mouth......darn it!

I still can hear music or sounds somewhat but unable to hear high pitches but hear low frequences very well. The silent "ch", "sh" "t" throws me off and hubby and daughter would kid me when I say "shair" when I meant "chair" LOL! And I have a bit of an accent that when people pick up on that, not knowing I am deaf, they would ask me if I was from a foreign country. LOL! Many people didn't know I was deaf or hard of hearing until they asked me about the accent or noticed my hearing aid. For me I can hear the TV sounds but when the CC is off and can't read the lips, then it is like listening to a foreign language news.....remember those interviews with the Arabs protesting? Can you understand their language? If not but you could hear their voices but don't make out anything. That is exactly how I hear. I love opera, once I have the reading format in front of me at the first time, I can almost understand the Italian languages or understood the topic of the story. Body language is important for me to read and I can pick up "vibes" from people, ranging from happy to very very angry or something just not right.


Many of my relatives would love to talk to me but they would gently lay a hand on me or wait for me to look up at them, that is their cue to start talking.

Be forewarned with a bunch of "huh?" LOL Drove my mother crazy! Now my dad is hard of hearing and he could relate now how I felt back then, the frustrations, etc.

 

[Tomtommom]

My hearing isn't the best. I did the 'huh?' thing a lot, still do. When I was a child, I was always tested with the little beeps. As our audiologist puts it, you can pass those tests, but still have hearing loss. I believe that may very well be the case for myself, it's sad it has taken 30 years and my son to have hearing issues before I figured that out

If I had insurance, I'd get it checked out.. makes me wonder how much I've been missing. Told my ex-husband about my son's hearing issues and he said 'You always were deaf as *explitives*' LOL

I actually looked into sign language for babies long before I even knew he had hearing loss. I liked the idea of babies being able to communicate. My son never did catch on.. but I wasn't using any 'fun' words, I tried to teach him 'more' and 'food' and 'milk' and since he doesn't ask for those things anyway, it might be why he never did catch on to those

Guess I should teach him 'TV' or 'Winnie the Pooh' LOL

I am Dutch, so I do mispronounce things every once in a while, especially the 'th' kills me. I have a mild accent. It's funny and it's not. I could totally see why folks would ask you that.

Thank you to everyone for talking some faith back into me haha. I'm usually super positive!

 

[KBlue]

{big ol' internet hug}

Hearing loss is one of the many battles we are fighting with with our youngest. She is 19 months old, but is developmentally about 10 months old. She has Treacher Collins Syndrome and a part of that is dealing with conductive hearing loss. She has right ear canal atresia (the canal is fully blocked) and left ear canal stenosis (the canal is narrower than it should be). This gives her severe hearing loos on the right and moderate hearing loss on the left. She has a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) softband which will be implanted when she is 5 or 6 years old. She makes 'aaaahhhh' sounds and literally just started doing a 'yaahh yaaahhh yaaahhh' quasi-babble a week or so ago. She CAN hear without her hearing aid and knows her name and understands simple phrases, but she is basically non-verbal at this point. She gets speech therapy and we are teaching her some signs, but as we've learned since she was born, she is on her own schedule and will do things when she is ready.

She hasn't had a comprehensive hearing test since she was 6 months old and is very overdue for one. We're finally getting all her specialists re-activated after a 1200-mile interstate move. It'll be interesting to see how she fares when they do re-test her.

She doesn't crawl, per se, but does do a butt-scooting thing. She can't walk without assistance. Only about 6 weeks ago did she figure out how to move from laying down to sitting up. She has some other medical issues that contribute to her delays but she is happy, healthy, and doing what she needs to do. She gets better every week, and I have no doubt that she'll live a normal life once we overcome these difficult few years - which she likely won't even remember anyway.

The best advice I can give is to not over think everything. Your son is happy and content, and there really isn't anything more you can ask for beyond that. He'll reach all the milestones when he is ready for them, just love him and encourage him each day. He'll get there.