Visual Response Audiometry - 19 month old baby - not a good test?

[Wrecktal]

Anyone any experience of this? Seems to measure compliance rather than hearing?

Is this the hearing test they do when they play a sound in a dark cabinet? If yes ours was inconclusive because my 21m old just liked watching the woman in front of him play with little toys. He wasn't interested in the sounds.

@doadeer sounds like it! My DS was traumatised a few months ago by two ladies in PPE shaking toys at him! It was rearranged for today - and now Jan - but I know he won’t be having any of it!

It said the puppet is a ‘reward’ - but he hates unfamiliar toys/adults.

Oh that's a shame the ones who did ours were so lovely, my son just wasn't responsive but he has some ASD markers so it was expected.

Have you tried putting a song your child knows on your phone subtly and hiding it in the room to see if they find it? We use the lion king opening haha. Our testers also suggested making different frequency sounds behind child such a rustling paper etc

we had it when DD was 16 months old. There is no element of compliance. it is a normal response to turn into the direction of where the sound is coming from. nothing to do with compliance at all. I had it with DD when she was 16 months old and would not have understood instructions (which would have been essential to test compliance).

If you have another one is it worth asking if the reward can be something else?

Worked really well for ds1 at 8 months

If you have another one is it worth asking if the reward can be something else?

wanted to suggest the same thing after reading your follow up. The puppet is just a reward for turning around but you can basically reward any way. It needs to be rewarding and the puppet is not so go.with something he likes.

I was going to email to express my concerns - unless it is partly about compliance (he won’t comply). E.g - he doesn’t respond to his name, but if it’s his name followed by ‘num nums’ (food) - he’s like a rocket...

it is not about compliance!! compliance involves following instructions. this is a test use for kids who are so young/disabled that they cannot follow instructions.

Thank you all!! I’d say he does respond to sound if he wants to - he’s very, very good at not responding to things he has no interest in

E.g he loves going outside, and if I say ‘shoes’ he will search the house for them

But he had a complete meltdown when he saw the nurses in PPE - he’s usually v chilled out - but not with strangers

sounds like selective hearing. why do you have the hearing test?

I guess lack of words? Has glue ear been rules out? they stick something into the ear to measure how much the ear drum can move and if fluid is present in the middle ear. that's pure measurement and easily done.

@Wrecktal

It said the puppet is a ‘reward’ - but he hates unfamiliar toys/adults.

Why not take something along that you know he'll like?

@Sanchi - thank you! For delayed expressive speech. He’s 19 months - says daddy (no mummy yet), animal sounds, words like flower, ball, bear, wow - are there - and he can sing twinkle, twinkle but without recognisable words.

The thing is, just because he responds to you saying 'get your shoes' doesn't mean he doesn't have a hearing loss. You need these tests to show how many decibels he can hear at over a range of frequencies. They should have a screen or a light they can flash instead of the puppet. It can take a few minutes to train the child to look for the reward when they hear the sound but it is not a compliance test - that comes later.

If another attempt is unsuccessful you could ask for a sedated ABR test if he hasn't already had one. Why is a hearing loss suspected OP?

DS did it at around 18 months and it seemed to work really well. It’s definitely not about compliance - it really is just them responding to the sounds.

The people who did his were really very skilled and I found it fascinating. But obviously being in PPE could be a different story.

Sorry cross post - just saw he has a speech delay.

It’s almost like his intonation is there, but not clear words...

bit surprised they worry about lack of expressive speech at that age? are you in the UK? my experience is that noone bats an eyelid until much later. If his understand is fine and you don't have other concerns I would not worry.

[quote Wrecktal]@Sanchi - thank you! For delayed expressive speech. He’s 19 months - says daddy (no mummy yet), animal sounds, words like flower, ball, bear, wow - are there - and he can sing twinkle, twinkle but without recognisable words.[/quote]
DD had this. We had a couple of years of SALT and she's fine now.

I do think you are being very quick to rubbish the test They do know what they are doing, you know! Work with them, and it will be much more effective than constantly doubting them.

@Sanchi

bit surprised they worry about lack of expressive speech at that age? are you in the UK? my experience is that noone bats an eyelid until much later. If his understand is fine and you don't have other concerns I would not worry.

Then your experience is different from mine. I asked for a 2 year assessment, got one, and after various audiology tests Speech and Language Therapy began.

It was as a result of filling out questionnaires, with a clear lack of boxes ticked for expressive speech. I had a speech therapy zoom appt, and they said they would reassess at age 2 (they assessed minor delay). The hearing test was in a small room with two nurses is PPE - and he completely freaked out. I reported choking when swallowing liquids and he has a water thickener.