Hearing Aids

[TheNewStig]

This is my first time posting on SN so I hope this is the right place. Let me know if not. I realise it's not specifically a SN question but a guessing more of you on here may have experience of DC's with hearing aids than the general health topic.

Late last year DS, now 6, was dx with unilateral severe hearing loss, subsequently confirmed as sesori-neural so permanent, and double glue ear. Last month he was fitted with an aid on his deaf ear but is quite reluctant to wear it.

My question really is do any of you have any hints and tips on how I can help him want to wear it, if only just during school time?

Thanks :)

I would say that the best way to go is probably the bribery and corruption route He may well feel that he hears well enough without it, what does he say, how's his speech? It could be that he thinks it sounds funny as it's not exactly the same feedback as he'll have in his other ear and he may not be keen on it.

Certainly wearing the ha will enable him to locate sound much better, so if he's into football or other team game that may help. Does he have coloured aids and moulds? Are there any stickers he may want on it? Does it fall off his ear, is that an issue?

Thanks bigcar. I think you're right about him hearing "well enough" in his opinion, reckon he's known no different in recent years and I guess the "new" aided sounds are a big change to adapt to. The whole situation's probably not been helped by fact he had his first ever perforated eardrum (his "good" ear) a couple of weeks ago on the night of his 6th birthday :(

His speech is now fine, the irony is he was discharged by his SALT the week after he was dx'd with HI. We'll never know exact cause of his deafness (newborn OAE clear) but had Mumps following MMR at 13mth which I suspect is cause. He had significant speech issues @ 2 yo so I pushed for SALT which he got. His hearing was tested then too but as they only used VRA testing any problems were masked by his "good" ear as it's not a L/R specific test.

He didn't want a coloured mould but chose an England 3 Lions sticker for it. We weren't offered any colour choices for the aid itself. Due to total failure in communication by the hospital he never had a HCP explain to him what was going on and why and what to expect. That was all left up to me and I not sure I said the right things, as I'm not sure what they are.

Will continue with bribery and escalate to corruption in the not too distant future :o It doesn't help that one of his class teachers (job share) is v. onboard as is TA but the other teacher seems to have zero interest in supporting us.

oops ...... slightly longer post than I realised!

Does he get any support in school? Have you been allocated a teacher of the deaf? If you haven't, they are education based and can usually be found on your council site under sensory impairment sevice/team. They should be able to explain and answer all your questions and support him and staff in school, including deaf awareness. I can also highly recommend (if you haven't already found it!) the ndcs loads of parent friendly info and a discussion forum you might find useful.

not a nice birthday present that, hope he still managed to enjoy himself.

I agree with bigcar and the bribery and corruption route . Its going to sound so different for him and he's going to be hearing alot of sounds that he's not used to hearing. Its going to take him time to adjust. I would ask about getting a Teacher of the Deaf as well. They should be able to help him and school adjust to the hearing aid.

Thanks bigcar and newname.

He does have a ToD, she visited school once after initial dx before we know he was getting aided and said she'd be back in 12mths. Now he's aided she's meant to visit more often, I called her with some questions, like basic how to clean the aid etc as the audiology consultant, only dr we've ever seen, said to ask her about any day to day stuff. However, she's not been back to the school as she's not had the paperwork through yet from the hospital so officially doesn't know he's aided.

Persuaded him to wear it first thing at school today, knowing he'd a spelling test. He told me he got 100% and piped up, that it was because he could hear everything. The last couple of weeks when he's refused to wear it he'd not done so well. I guess that confirms that he does notice wearing it. I guess I just have to be patient but firm with him :)