Is it possible to have 'good enough' hearing but still not be able to listen?

[amistillsexy]

Hi all. I posted this in Children's Health but Pag suggested I posted here instead. i'll just cut and paste the original...

My 5YO DS has complained for years that his ears don't work very well. He says he can hear that someone is talking but not what they say.

His language skills are great and he could speak very well in full sentences very early (people used to remark on it!). he also picks up on accents very well, and can mimic them, so he doesn't seem to have hearing problems in the traditional sense.

He is currently having a lot of problems at school because his teacher says he isn't listening to her. He says he is trying to listen, but his ears don't work, and he can't hear her properly. The teacher is getting annoyed with him and telling me he's being naughty and not doing as he's told. I know from his reactions that this isn't the case. He's not even aware that he's being told to do anything!

At home, we regularly have to get down on his level and get eye contact before he 'hears' and responds to us. He is 'dreamy' and daydreams alot. He gets very upset if he feels badly done to or left out by his brothers and is very sensitive.

He failed his school hearing test, but the nurse thinks he had heard the sounds, just not rfesponded to them. he had a follow up test at hospital audiology dept (soundproof room, headphones on, clap when you hear a noise test). This test was again hard to administer as he was very distracted and he ended up scoring just within the accepted levels, which the nurse said was fine.

I'm not convinced his hearing is fine at all.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience of this type of problem? Any advice at all?

amistillsexy Hi. I'm on the W/N Yorks border. My dd2 (6) has mild-moderate hearing loss. Her teacher of the deaf suspects possible APD too.

Dd2, when entering Yr1 was a great reader at home but could not reproduce it at school. She is now Yr2 and teacher is pleased at her "sudden progress". When anxious, stressed, tired, when with someone she doesn't see everyday, when it's noisy, when there's any sort of background noise etc she has trouble hearing, concentrating and talking. She's coping better as she gets older so can now read out aloud in the classroom. She gets better comprehension from what she's read that what she hears but can't show this in school yet as she can't express herself in words in that environment (for all of the reasons mentioned). She is believed to have a additional language disorder. She may well have, but maybe it's a processing difficulty that is a 2-way problem. It's complicated.

There are some people that dd2 just can't hear, especially people with loud voices and those who talk fast. She is always complaining that everything is too noisy - and that's also when NOT wearing hearing aids. Doesn't make sense does it? (until you read dolfrog).

It's very interesting reading about the link with developmental dyslexia. I myself underwent a test a long while back re difficulties with maths and was pre-assessed as being dyslexic. I appeared to fit the assessors dyslexic profile, so much so the lady was convinced I was a dyslexic who had developed great coping strategies. I disagreed. I have no problem with words and was tested as Not Dyslexic in that sense. Evidently I have visual-spatial difficulties (perhaps that explains why I am quite faceblind). That lady still believes I'm a closet dyslexic. It's dyslexia Jim, but not as we know it.

kissingfrogs I hope you didn't think I was being dismissive about being a 'back water', it's just that we don't have any of the innovative research centres or even any universities that do studies where we are.

It's interesting about how your DD seems worse at school. At home, DS is so good at reading and writing. Tonight he was reading jokes out to us from a joke book he's just got fom the library, and laughing his head off, so obviously understanding the word play, etc. At school he's still on really simple story books ( the stickers on them are blue, but I don't think the school uses book bands).The teacher doesn't seem to see the wonderful stories he writes at home, and he used to draw all the time, but rarely does now at home or school.

I'm very worried about him. He seems depressed alot of the time.

Back water I know what you mean!

I told dd2s teacher what level she was reading at home and so she read a book at that level with dd2 only to find that dd2 couldn't read a word of it. How to feel like a delusional mother part 1. I can only guess that it's shyness, a confidence issue (dd2 not me!). I did at one point suspect that dd2 was conforming to what was expected of her at school as it was quite baffling seeing as she appears to be a confident child.

Dd2 was kept on low level reading books for a long time as her teacher believed she was not comprehending what she was reading. She was right to a certain extent, but part of assessing dd2s comprehension involved asking questions. You have to be able to correctly hear the question to give the correct answer.

I don't want to give you even more to worry about but when I read your first post it did cross my mind that maybe, only maybe, your ds is having absences? My dd1 has had absence epilepsy (it's gone now). She used to miss instructions without realising, or would say she hadn't heard, because of having brief absences - absences so brief that no-one realised she was having them for a long time. She was also the dreamy child who daydreamed a lot - again, absences. Sorry, don't want to alarm you, but it may be a possible explanation.