Today’s guest blog is by Michelle Friedman, Director of Marketing at Medical Scrubs Collection, freelance writer, and mom to a very special hearing-impaired little boy. She is passionate about spreading awareness and support for hearing impaired children as they work to communicate in a hearing world.
If raising children was always difficult, today’s climate of helicopter parenting, where every milestone is documented on social media, makes raising healthy, balanced children even more of a challenge. It’s tempting to use social media to monitor your child’s progress in comparison to his or her peers, but exposing them to such scrutiny can actually make it harder to determine when your child is behaving or developing appropriately for his or her age and when there may be an issue that warrants a closer look.
Language and communication are vital for all aspects of development, so it’s important to look for and catch issues with hearing impairment at a young age. As a parent, you are on the front lines, so it’s important to be able to identify hearing abnormalities in your child. The following are key milestones to look out for as your children grow and develop.
Beautiful Babble – Babies
When your baby is approximately 9 months of age, he or she should start babbling, and that is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, because it’s his or her first form of oral communication. A baby who is hearing impaired may not babble and may experiment with extremely loud and strange sounds as he or she exercises his or her vocal chords and tries to hear his or her own voice. As your baby’s babbling advances, he or she should be using a combination of vowels and consonants. Some other signs of hearing issues in babies include not startling at loud sounds, not calming at the sound of a familiar voice, and no turning of the head toward the source of a given sound.
Social Interaction – Toddlers
Children who are hearing impaired are essentially cut off from the world of communication and often seem to live in their own little bubble. It’s normal for toddlers and children aged 2 or 3 years to do parallel play, but they should be aware of the other child or adult even if they are playing on their own. By the age of 3, your child should be acknowledging the other player, even if they don’t yet share and take turns well.
Difficulty in social settings may be a sign of hearing loss, because an impaired child may have a hard time communicating with and accepting the presence of another child. My hearing impaired son exhibits this behavior very clearly. When he wears his hearing aids, he interacts well socially, and the first sign that something is not working is when he exhibits increased difficulty sharing. When he goes to bed at night and the hearing aids are removed, my son is in his own world, and even if I spoke to him loudly, he would not know that I had spoken because he is no longer concentrating on the “hearing world”.
Hearing Loss Varies
Hearing loss varies for each person and covers a broad spectrum of frequencies. Your child may hear differently from each ear at different frequencies and may hear better or worse depending on the environment and presence of ambient sound. He or she may hear low frequencies but not high or high but not low. He or she could hear mid-level frequencies well but struggle with low. Every hearing loss is unique and may affect anywhere from a small section of the frequency spectrum to all of it. Don’t assume that just because your child doesn’t hear you snap your fingers that he or she doesn’t hear at all, and vice versa, don’t assume that because your child does hear you snap your fingers that a hearing loss doesn’t exist.
For example, my son’s hearing drops off at higher frequencies, so when he is not wearing his hearing aids, he hears deep, male voices better than softer, female voices.
Keep in mind there are many signs of hearing loss, and some hearing-impaired children may not show obvious signs at all until much later in life. Always look at the big picture and trust your instincts if you think that something isn’t right. Speak to a pediatrician if you have concerns, because early detection is key. Then go home, play a game with your child and give him or her a hug, because love is a universal language that transcends any communication barriers.
Article: https://www.starkey.com/blog/2015/04/warning-signs-of-hearing-loss