My 7 year old wore hearing aids to school last year for the first time. He has been in school since pre-school, in programs touted for their headstart and early screening. Finally I opted to dig around and find out through the internet aand another Mother said “Developmentally Delayed” is vague for a diagnosis, due to his slow speech development, no interest in cartoons ever (may sound trite, but he had been lip reading his first 6 years). He needs alot of one on one attention, hits sticks or pencils or rulers together for hours and talks about the day, or recites an “Entire show” (no exaggeration here). He has had his tonsils and adnoids out, and breathes so well all night now. I secretly wished it would somehow correct a hearing loss that is sensioneural (cannot be operated on or reversed). He is bright, athletic, charming, although his speech has increased and he can color in the lines, I DO NOT KNOW how to help him. Doctors send us to specialists, cat scan, blood tests, and one seems to really give a damn, you can feel it from a professional after awhile. How do I find out if my little boy is dyslexic, ADHD, ect.? He refuses any family member to read to him or to work with him, he is very cooperative in school. I need advice, I am a single mom, my 17 year old swears at me and my 7 year old has picked up on it, my 17 year old is an over-achiever, straight A, scholarships to many Universitys but seems to hate me, and his brother has him for a role model. This is bad. Thus far, ultimatums have been scoffed at and increase the verbal abuse. If you know of any GOOD support groups, therapists in the Washington state area I would appreciate it very much. I would love any feedback, and advice. Thankyou for reading and listening. [quote][list][/list][/quote][/b]
Re: 7 year old LD son refuses to wear hearing aids, will 4 s
Well I don’t know how much speech he has or how well he is really doing. A lot of oral only schools exaggerate the feeling that the kid is talking more than s/he really is. I don’t know what his hearing loss is either, but if he is more than hard of hearing, I personally would try to get him in a program that uses signs. Contrary to some popular opinion it will not ruin hs speech.
You might like the book “Deaf Like Me” by Tom Spaulding (I think).
It is also possible that his hearing aids do not help him as much as they have been touted to do. So he is not wanting to wear them as they seem useless to him. Most more severely hearing impaired kids do NOT like hearing aids. (Though since he is reciting whole shows doesn’t sound like a severe hearing loss, but there are some inconsistencies in the description here.)
However, if he is just hard of hearing, I would agree with a gradual approach and reward to get him to use his hearing aids, and also work on some specific behavior issues. A behaviorally oriented therapist would be helpful for this. You might also check out his hearing aids, it is possible he does not want to wear them for a reason.
If the kid has a hearing loss it is quite possible it is NOT treatable or curable, but he can still learn. The goal is not cure but helping him learn and live/adapt to how things are. This may be as hard for mom as the kid.
It would be better to learn how to accept him than continuing all the CAT scans etc. This could only add to the frustration.
If he is hearing impaired he will have more trouble learning to read, this isn’t dyslexia. I don’t know about the ADD but it may be he is frustrated by his difficulties as well. Perhaps an acceptance of his condition might be the first step to helping him.
The 17 year old sounds like a typical teenager, sorry to say.
—des
it takes awhile to get used to hearing aids..
My daughter used to throw hers in the trash can at school and we would have to hunt for them. When I got used to a new hearing aid it took me about a month for my brain to get used to what I was hearing and it was overwhelming.
You have to stick to your guns and be a parent. Don’t let your 17 year old get away with disrespect. I know it is hard, I have a 17 year old I want to silence at times. However, I know as an adult we have to be careful with what we say to our kids because they may get teh wrong impression and get overwhelmed thinking you want their sympathy or you want them to solve the proble instead of just needing to vent your frustrations.
What about getting your sons involved in church or scouts? Scouting was a great help for my boys. Something to think about!
Re: 7 year old LD son refuses to wear hearing aids, will 4 schoo
des,
I’d bet he’s not severely hearing impaired. They are almost always diagnosed early. It is the milder loss kids that get missed and identified late. But there still can be language and reading problems even with a mild to moderate loss.
Janis
Renita,
Does your little boy receive special education services at school? He certainly could have reading problems if he has a sensori-neural hearing loss. It is a shame that they did not identify it much earlier. The earlier kids get used to hearing aids, the better. Obviously I have not seen your child’s audiogram, but I would tell him that he must wear the hearing aids at school. Do they also use an FM system where the teacher wears a microphone and her voice goes directly to his hearing aids? He may need a reward system of some kind and you can talk to his IEP team about that. But a seven year old shouldn’t be able to control all the adults in his life. He can be expected to wear the hearing aids.
Basically, he would not be technically considered dyslexic because the definition of dyslexia excludes sensory impairement, usually. However, he may function as a dyslexic would if he has nto developed good phonemic awareness skills. Does a teacher of the hearing impaired work with him? If so, find out what she uses to teach reading. Many HI teachers use a sight word program which is very ineffective.
All I can tell you about your older child is to send him off to one of those universities which offered him the scholarships and try to regain control of your younger child. I hope you can find some help in your area.
Janis