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Ds has hearing loss - what should I be doing/saying to school?

30 replies

bluebear · 27/11/2005 23:30

Ds is 4 and started reception in September. He has had hearing problems since he was a baby. He had grommets put in almost 18 months ago, they are still in but his hearing is still poor - he lip-reads well but he has a lot of added problems with social skills and general behaviour (very bad violent tantrums and lashing out). He also has a small language delay - he takes words extremely literally (i.e. he burst into tears and was too scared to eat his lunch for days because a dinner lady said she was going to 'split the reception children in two').
We recently found out (after he had been getting increasing sad because he was getting told off all the time at school) that his teachers had not been told that he has hearing problems. They have asked if there is anything they can do - they have moved him to the front of the class and that has helped.
My questions are...are there any resources available for teachers in mainstream schools to give them guidance for this? I've been googling for some time and not found anything.
And..should I be doing anything else? Should I be trying to contact the SENCO?
I am quite concerned that my frustrated little 4 year old who is finding life so difficult to interpret is going to be labelled a violent and disruptive child
The school have lost even more of my confidence after sending me home a letter on friday saying that the school nurse had tested his hearing and had referred him to audiology - I rang her to tell her he has been seeing a specialist for 2 years and she had no idea.

OP posts:
Tortington · 30/11/2005 21:05

i wish i could tell you more geekgrrl, but i cant - i dont know what decibels and stuff it was - i just know that it was about certain pitches - so she woud hear a whisper in a quiet room yet when a person speaks they use many pitches and tones as a way of indicating sounds - she couldnt pick up on some of those.

Apteryx · 01/12/2005 10:06

I am deaf in one ear, so my daughter was given a precautionary test when she was 6 wks. To do this, they put earphones and monitors on her head when she was asleep and measured her brainwaves. If your son is not co-operating with the hearing test, maybe this is an alternative you can look into.

I can relate to the school issues on this thread - socialising and self-esteem are very linked to hearing... Well done for getting onto the teacher and working on some strategies for your son

geogteach · 01/12/2005 19:18

Geekgrrl I think that responding to whispers is as you say misleading. What DS responds to can be extremely variable depending on loads of things, whether he has got hearing aids, how far away he is, direction and background noise which is my experience has a huge impact. I find one of the most difficult situations to be when i'm driving and he is in the back, he can't see my face and there is loads of background noise, he drives me potty with his constant what, pardon, eh? But I know he just can't hear.
Don't know much about bone anchored aids are they used more with low frequency loss? In which case this is the opposite to DS, the NDCS should be able to advise you if you are not sure about going down that route.

bluebear · 01/12/2005 19:32

Mogwai - Thanks - A couple of earlier posters mentioned the NDCS site and I have printed off the 'Deaf friendly Schools' booklet and given it to the teacher (with the page about primary age teaching marked with a post-it to make less work for her).

Geogteach - Know exactly what you mean about the car journeys!

OP posts:
geekgrrl · 02/12/2005 16:03

geogteach, the low frequencies certainly seem to be causing the most problems for dd - her middle ears are just useless and her ear canals are like slits (that's why the BTE aids just don't help).
I'll ring the NDCS helpline for a chat I think. Ultimately I guess bone-anchored is the solution for her, it's just not a pleasant idea and I keep hoping for her middle ears to just magically sort themselves out overnight.
This is such a stressful issue to deal with as a parent.

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