Information | Children and Families

Related Items: Hearing Aids, Faq's, Audiology, Education, Resources

Parents have many questions and must make difficult decisions when their children are diagnosed with hearing loss. Parents who are knowledgeable about hearing, hearing loss and related issues are usually better advocates for their children.

Early diagnosis is of paramount importance. The earlier the hearing loss is diagnosed and effectively managed, the better for the child and the family. Until the loss is diagnosed, children who have hearing loss do not have the input of speech and language. Whatever direction or mode of communication a family chooses for the child, the child needs language. Language, whether spoken or signed, enables the child to communicate with others, to express and understand needs, desires, feelings, and ideas. As of January 1, 2003 the “California Newborn Hearing Screening Program” went into effect. Hospitals in California will now be conducting mandatory screenings for ALL newborns.

A baby who does not pass the infant screening, or a child for whom there is special concern about hearing or speech development, should have a comprehensive audiological evaluation conducted by an audiologist, preferably one with expertise in pediatric testing. The hearing test results are charted on an audiogram, which documents two important types of information: frequency (the ability to hear a range of sounds from low pitch sounds like bass drums to high pitch sounds like whistles or birds) and decibels (the loudness or intensity of sounds which range from very soft (5dB) to very loud (110dB).

After an infant has been diagnosed with a hearing loss, parents and families are presented with a dizzying number of choices, issues and challenges. To help families through this critical juncture, the Hearing and speech Centers Partner’s in Communication Youth Program offers language/communication assessments. These assessments of language and communication abilities help families develop the strategies best suited to ensure their child’s full cognitive and social development. At these assessments, our trained staff will:

• Read audiograms.
• Observe the child’s behavior and communication.
• Watch patterns of family interaction.
• Assess patterns or changes in the child’s language emergence.
• Review the child’s medical history – the affects of surgeries, etc...

After the initial in-home observation and consultation, our staff will conduct follow up interviews with the key players involved in the child’s care. These followup meetings may be scheduled with any or all of the following: the child’s audiologist, speech therapist, pre-school teacher, pediatrician, etc. From observations of these meetings, our staff is able to put together a more complete picture of the child’s language/communication abilities and needs from which the family can begin to determine the best course of action. Parents have many options to choose from regarding their child's method (or mode) of communication. Some of the communication modes available to children and families are:

• Informal ‘home signs’ or ‘baby signs’
• Signed English
• American Sign Language
• Lip-reading or Speechreading - using visual clues to supplement auditory skills to understand oral languages
• Auditory/oral therapy-speech - language therapy and educational programming to develop maximum use of residual hearing, oral language, and intelligible speech