Partial or complete hearing loss can severely impede a child's development unless it is diagnosed early. Deafness deprives the child of vital information about the outside world and limits the child's ability to communicate with others. It also disrupts the ability to produce and understand speech. Children with a hearing loss that persists until the age of five years are unlikely to learn to speak clearly.
Young children with hearing problems are often mistakenly considered to be retarded. However, if partial or complete hearing loss is detected early, it should not prevent the child from developing perfectly normal intellectual skills or from having a happy, rewarding life.
WHEN SHOULD I SUSPECT THAT MY CHILD IS PARTIALLY OR COMPLETELY DEAF?
Deafness often is overlooked for long periods of time, particularly in small babies. Deaf infants may have a normal cry at birth and start to babble at the same time as babies with intact hearing. However, while babbling normally increases with age and becomes more complex, in deaf babies it diminishes after approximately the seventh month. Hearing should certainly be tested in all children who fail to start talking by the age of 18 months.
Deaf toddlers may have frequent temper tantrums caused by frustration at not understanding others or not being understood.
WHAT CAUSES DEAFNESS?
A baby may be born deaf when there is a family history of deafness or when the mother had rubella or syphilis during pregnancy or took medications that lead to hearing-related birth defects (such as antimalaria drugs). Deafness may be part of syndrome or disorder present at birth, but sometimes it is the only abnormality and its cause is unknown. Premature infants have a higher risk of being deaf than infants born at full term. Another risk factor of deafness is brain trauma during delivery.
After birth, the most common cause of hearing loss is middle ear infection, particularly when it is chronic or recurrent. Other important causes of deafness are meningitis, measles and mumps.
IS MEDICAL ATTENTION NECESSARY?
Medical attention is a must because the doctor may be able to identify a reversible cause of deafness and prescribe treatment. It is also important to establish the kind of deafness that affects your child, which can only be done with special instruments.
HOW CAN THE PEDIATRICIAN TELL IF MY CHILD IS PARTIALLY OR COMPLETELY DEAF?
Severe hearing loss is readily apparent. A baby who cannot hear at all will not turn her head toward a sound, and a child who cannot hear will not speak properly or respond to speech. Milder degrees of hearing loss often are detected in screening programs conducted by school health personnel.
WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE?
If the cause of deafness cannot be eliminated and a hearing aid does not restore hearing to normal, the child will need special training in speaking, lip reading, and—if deafness is severe—sign language. If deafness is present from birth, treatment should begin before the age of six months. At the beginning, the training mainly takes place at home, but special schooling may be required later. It is also important that your child receive sufficient visual and other stimuli to compensate for her impairment.
CARING FOR A CHILD WITH HEARING LOSS
A child who is partially or completely deaf will require a great deal of attention on your part. Here are some of the things you can do to help your child develop normally:
• Encourage your child to use her voice and teach her that the voice is a means of communication.
• Use every alternative means of communication, such as pantomime and gesture.
• Learn sign language yourself so that you can communicate with your child.
• Have your child watch your lips as you talk, but do not exaggerate lip movements, because this only interferes with lip reading. Children may start to read lips when they are one year old.
• Encourage your child to read, and provide age-appropriate computer games if you have access to a computer.
• Avoid talking to your child with chewing gum or a pencil in your mouth, and do not place your hands before your face.
• Provide warmth, comfort and support as your child adjusts to living with a disability.
• Enroll your child in an early intervention project to ensure maximal learning opportunities.
GETTING HELP
Call your doctor if your child:
• Does not startle when hearing a loud noise, such as clapping hands or a squeaking toy, by the age of three months
• Does not turn her eyes toward a familiar sound by the age of five months
• Does not babble when talked to by the age of eight months
• Cannot quickly localize the source of sound by the age of nine months
• Does not recognize her name by the age of twelve months
• Cannot say two or more meaningful words by the age of fifteen months
