Can You Hear Me Now? How Did I Miss This?
I don’t talk about my son’s speech delay often (actually, I’m not sure that I ever have) but I recently took our three year old to our pediatrician who finally referred us to a hearing center and a speech therapist. The hearing tests ( I believe they did 3 different ones, one was just to check for fluid in his ears which came back perfect) were just something we had to do in order to proceed with speech therapy. I expected him to pass with flying colors so we could just move onto the next step being speech therapy but to my surprise he didn’t do so well. He’s showing signs of hearing loss in both ears, one ear being worse than the other and we’re now being referred to another hearing center a couple towns over for a different hearing test where he’ll need to be sedated and they’ll test brain waves. This isn’t entirely new to us; when he was a newborn he failed 2 hearing tests while we were in the hospital and we were sent over to another hearing center a couple weeks later where they tested his hearing with sounds and brain waves which he passed so I have assumed since that everything was fine. It just didn’t occur to me that hearing loss whether it be mild or moderate, was even something I needed to be concerned about. Looking back now I can see that quite a few of the signs have been there for awhile.
As a mom I feel so much guilt for not taking this more seriously sooner than I have. Everyone assumed that he was just a “late-talker” and that eventually he’d pick up the pace. Hearing that there’s a possibility of hearing loss in both of my son’s ears was like being kicked in the gut and that we were being sent to another specialist to see just how much hearing loss there is was unbelievable. I drove home crying and wondering how in the world I could miss something so.. BIG! Part of me is somewhat relieved to finally have some sort of answer to all of my questions but the other part of me is wondering how this is all going to affect my son and leaves me with even more questions than I had before. Will he miraculously pass this last test and all we’ll need to do is go on with the speech therapy? Are there hearing aids in his near future? Will he be able to catch up to his peers when it comes to his speech? How’s he going to do when it’s time to head to school; will he be ready? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions. I’m not sure what the future holds for my son but we’re all over this now and getting him whatever help he needs as quickly as we can and as fast as these doctors and specialists can go.
Mother to mother I want to tell you that if you ever have the slightest doubt that there might be something wrong with your child pay attention to that feeling and make sure that you voice your concerns to your child’s pediatrician. Follow your gut feelings WHEN you first get them and don’t try to convince yourself that everything is just fine. The worst that can happen is you’re right, the best that can happen is your child can get the help that they need as quickly as possible.
UPDATE: His sedated hearing test is scheduled for September 15th and has to be done in the PICU so they can monitor him. I’ve been told this test will take about 2 hours. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers please. I’m really nervous about this..both for the hearing issue and the sedation.
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Hi – Both of my young children have hearing loss. You did nothing wrong, initially told everything was fine. No matter what it WILL be fine. Just keep positive thoughts and work with your son daily.
Until you get all the testing done:
*try to cut out background noise while talking to him
*keep eye contact while talking
*try to speak as clearly as possible (not slower or louder, just clear)
Luckily you caught this now and not when he entered school. You are not alone…
Valerie
OMG – girl you are not alone. I wrote several posts on this because our son had a severe loss of hearing in both ears. He had ear tubes put in and had great results. They fell out and here we are 3 years later getting them in again.
My hubby and I felt HORRIBLE! Turn down the tv we would say, Can’t you hear me? I’m talking to you….
No – He couldn’t. I know how you feel about crying all the way home. I feel lucky now that he can hear and we know what to look for! Hang in there.
I can relate to you in a way. My middle child, AJ who is now 3. Was delayed in speech and we just assumed he was a late talker. My only daughter who is my oldest child has always been a social butterfly and we just assumed they were the opposite because they were boy/girl and he was second born so his big sis talks for him a lot. That ended up not being the case.
A little over a year ago we finally took him to an ENT after having ear infection, after ear infection. We had to seriously fight with our pediatrician to get to an ENT .. it was RIDICULOUS. Come to find out the ENT told us his left ear was so bad that the ear infection had turned to glue and he couldn’t hear out of that ear very well which would explain his delay in speech. He ended up getting tubes placed in his ears and it was an amazing difference!
He is not talking very well and just turned three on the 13th of this month. We can talk with him and everything! I had the same guilt because I should have known or thought of hearing loss .. I mean I am MOM right?! But how would I have known I trusted my pediatrician and thought he knew what he was doing and my poor boy had to suffer from hearing loss that luckily he was able to gain back.
I am with you Mama .. been there … not the “same” story but very similar outcome in that it delayed my sons speech due to hearing loss. If you need a friend I am here!!! I am positive now that this has been addressed your son will start talking with flying colors once you have gone thru the appts!!
Here’s the teacher training in me: he’ll be fine. He’s been exposed to language over and over and this development is still early, despite guilt. Consistent exposure will help him with his speech and it will only be better with a speech therapist (I don’t have any background there, but a friend of mine who is a speech therapist works with kids my daughter’s age and she says most always there’s success, and only has had additional delays with ESL kids)
The mom in me has this to offer: I remember when my daughter was born and she failed her hearing tests in the hospital and they kept us an extra day to monitor her, then sent us to a specialist for another test. I cried the whole time she was being tested and the nurse kept saying over and over that it happens all the time and most often it has to do with the baby in the birth canal too long. There’s no way you could have known from that. And your baby will be fine. He’s got you!
I have often wondered which would be harder to deal with, a physical disability or a mental one. Life sure doesn’t turn out like you thought it would, does it? Good luck to you in your journey.
You really are not alone. It’s great to have so many people around to support us mums. It truly does take a Village to raise a child. We have a speech delayed family
You are doing something about it now and that’s what matters! You couldn’t have known there was a problem before. I felt the same way when the results of a vision screening came back for our son when he was 4 years old. Turned out his vision is pretty bad! I felt awful that we didn’t have his vision checked sooner. But, really, how could I have known?? But, glasses have fixed the problem and everything is good.
My son also went through speech therapy. He spoke no words when we took him to his 2 year checkup. He could make sounds but couldn’t form words. His hearing was fine but he ended up in 1.5 years of speech therapy.
UPDATE: His sedated hearing test is scheduled for September 15th and has to be done in the PICU so they can monitor him. I’ve been told this test will take about 2 hours. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers please. I’m really nervous about this..both for the hearing issue and the sedation.
How did it go today???
Miranda – I am sorry I haven’t been on your blog in awhile…. I am so happy to read the updates. How hard this must be for everyone. Your family and your precious boy are in my prayers. I have a feeling he will triumph through this.