Does anyone have any experience of a toddler with hearing aids?

[mrspear]

Hi

Just need abit of reassurance. My lovely boy had another hearing test today. They have now decided that although he can hear; he needs clarity. They took the moulds while we were there and he will be fitted mid July. How the hell do i get a grip, stop crying and tell DH? I feel shall a bloody faliure. Why did my body let he down. He was born at 30 weeks.

I am rambling [sp] i will stop

Sorry made no sense. He will have hearing aids for both ears.

Hi, my dd has a hearing aid. she is 4 now and has had them for quite a while, but her hearing loss is due to down syndrome, so she has developmental delay too, which means her level of understanding is more like a toddler.

what bit of it are you worried about? please don't feel like a failure, it's really not as bad as you think!

I just worry that he is going to be held back in school / life everything. I know in the great scheme of things we have been bloody lucky to only have hearing loss but it is a shock. I really don't see that he has a problem.

The really lovely thing i have found since dd started preschool, is that other kids don't remotely care! they are a bit curious about it, but i don't think there's a stigma attached at that age. have you seen kids hearing aids? they are really tiny now, and you get them in loads of colours and things, my dd has glittery moulds! the other kids refer to it as her earring!

I used to babysit for a little girl who had hearing aids from around the age of 2. It hasn't held her back at all - she has been in mainstream schooling the whole way through, & is about to take her GCSEs, average good results expected. It's really good taht they've picked it up now with your son rather than waiting until he goes to school.

Thank you for being so kind. I think it is just shock. God knows how i am going to tell DH.

I was a toddler with hearing aids. Now I am an adult with hearing aids. I have an Oxbridge degree, am married with 2 children (another on the way) and have had 2 very different but successful careers. And a very good social life (until children arrived, now I have none, but not for hearing aid-related reasons!)

I know that hearing aids are regarded with a great deal of stigma (bizarrely unlike glasses) and that many people who need them don't wear them for that reason (but thereby cause themselves various social problems). However, the further I go on through life, the less I understand that viewpoint.

It takes a while for a toddler to adjust to wearing them (and not keep ripping them out!) But a child adapts very quickly, and will manage their hearing problem much better than someone who develops hearing problems in later life.

Your lovely boy isn't defective, and you and your DH just have a learning curve to understand his hearing problem. He is just as lovely as ever, and you don't need to worry. Try not to show him your negative feelings about hearing aids, as you will get over them. Good luck!

I am a teacher of the deaf so all my pupils have hearing aids or cochlear implants- most have been wearing them since they were tiny. Some have additional difficulties but most do very well. The ones with a mild/ moderate loss (and it sounds like that is the sort of hearing loss your son has) usually work very successfully in mainstream classes so long as a few extra things are put in place for them such as positioning in class and maybe soundfield or radio aid systems.

I can understand you being upset but you really mustn't blame yourself. I wonder if speaking to other parents with Hearing Impaired DCs might be helpful.

Contact the NDCS- they might be able to put you in touch with other parents of HI children and also answer any questions you might have.

You should also have a local Peripetetic Teacher of the Deaf who can visit you at home and help with any worries you may have for your child's education and maybe visit the school he goes to/ will go to and make sure the resources he needs are put in place.

Madamedeathstare the hearing aids you mentioned that stick magnetically to the head are cochlear implant processors which involves an operation; usually only given to children with profound hearing losses. My job as a ToD has changed dramatically over the last 10 years as nearly all profoundly deaf children have them.

Havn't had time to read all these comments, My daughter is 17, and has moderate hearing loss, which was discovered at about age'd 3/4. She wears hearing aids.

A few thing's i'll say, try not to worry, My DD is in a main stream school, and with support from a TA & TOD manages really well. The hearing aids can be made bright with pictures in the molds, you'll also get stickers for the aids which make them more attractive (ours are pink glitter with DR pictured molds & flowery stickers. Your DC will probably love their hearing aids, I know DD does. Just remember to introduce them gradually. I let DD take hers out for a break when she gets in from school before starting home woke, and then again after she has finished it.
I'd also recommend trying to get the softer molds, they are easier to put in, in small children

The Children s audiologist & hearing aid specialist, should refer you to a community pead who is usually fab at getting to the bottom of the cause of hearing loss.

I've found the TOD very useful, she has given us information about local support groups, county meets and fun days for deaf children.

The only thing i will say, is we really have to push to have DD's educational needs met, because she is only moderately deaf, She doesn't seem to get much time with the TOD, In fact i don't think DD has even met her. Although she phones me from time to time.

The NDCS are also fab. We're going on one of their group events in a few weeks.

Try not to fret over it all too much, i know it's such a shock when you're told your child needs hearing aids, all the thoughts you go over, but it's so not as hard as it seems. Please don't feel you've done anything wrong.

I can assure you DD leads a perfectly normal life, only needing minimal extra support, which is met in a main stream school using radio aids. She has loads of friends at school, and is learning reasonably well.

Sorry My daughter's 7* lol (going on 17 though)

Thank you for everyones kind comments. It is great to hear of children and adults doing so well. It seems my health authority are on the ball as i had phone call yesterday afternoon from the "sensory support team" and she made me feel allot better. She calmed my fears over education and that he would be supported and doesn't mean he will be in the local sink school. She said she can come over either before or after the hearing aids. To be honest i am a little confused over the level of deafness. He makes plenty of noise, responds to his name and tries to communicate and says half a dozen words; which for 20 month old prem in a bilingal house is not bad. The doctor said she thought he could hear but the aids will help with clarity. I am sure it will become clearer

BTW DH came home in a terrible mood so i am still trying to sit him down and talk

my Ds has them too. He is 9 and got them at 3. You may be surprised at his reaction, we were told to introduce them gradually but once he had them he wanted to wear them all the time. He couldn't put them in himself till he was about 5 but since then he has been completely in control and only takes them out as he goes to sleep. He is in mainstream school, normal speech and above average attainment. We are about to start cochlear implant assessment, he is a borderline case because he uses aids so well, we will consider it if it will add to his hearing (social situations where there is a lot of background noise are hard, he needs subtitles to watch tv and can't manage the phone) but he may choose to stick with aids if there will not be a noticeable improvement.

The NDCS welcome pack is very good for explaining the level of hearing loss, they give you a break down of a audiogram with bands of hearing loss.

I'm sure you DH will cope just fine when you tell him, and you can support each other whilst gathering up all the information you might find helpful. It's always good to have some one else on board.