Hard of Hearing

Talk to Denise S, she has been through the mill with her child's hearing and just had a pretty good miracle happen to her.

There are so many options now, from tiny hearing aids (some even have bluetooth lol) to implants. My husband's ear is no longer connected to the nerves so a cochlear implant would not work for him, so he got a bone anchored on that send the sound from his def side to his hearing side. Do not stress, just wait and talk to the ENT and know that this in no way will hold your child back from being all he can be!

best advice I can give you is don't panic. I know its hard not to. but I am going through the same thing with my son and there is hope so don't lose it. I have not had a hearing test done yet. but with tubes and alot of doctors appts.he may get part of it back. I will give you an example. MIne has tubes and still couldn't hear. We did a hearing evaluation to the best he would cooperate which wasn't much.They knew he could hear in one ear but couldn't tell me which one cause he wouldn't cooperate.we finally got rid of the infections after the tubes were put in after 3 rounds of antibiotics. He still couldn't hear well.

His ears were so swollen they couldn't find the tubes. Now they can see his right tube and not his left. It used to be they could see his left and not his right. We took him to the doc last Wednesday and she cleaned wax out of his ears. And now he can hear. We have an ent appt in May to see if there is hearing loss. And he is getting and allergy asthma test and possible tube replacement, adnoids and tonsils taken out. Your son has a great advantage in some respects he has hearing in one ear. NOw your options at this time are these. There are 3 types of hearing loss surgery will fix. He has the possiblility of an hearing aid or a cochlear implant. Don't panic yet till he talks to the ent and find out what your options are. I thought my sons hearing loss was hereditary since he has an aunt and cousin that are profoundly deaf. They both have hearing aids and can hear you unless you are behind them. It is too early to panic now. You need to know his db numbers. And get to the ent and the audioligist and take it one step at a time. That is all you can do for now. Hang in there and feel free to pm me with anything that is going on. I am still in the process so I don't know mine is still in the woods or out of the woods. So all you can do is deal with one crisis at a time and always remeber there are options of helping him hear.

Right now you are probably in shock. I was for about 2 weeks. You will have a pity party so to speak. And then you will focus on how to deal with it. Let the shock wear off and see what the ent has to say and the audiologist and see what your options are. Do not give up hope yet it is too early for that. and we live fairly close together so we can also compare doctor notes :) I am in katy.

The best thing to do at this point is get him enrolled with ECI, if you still can. That way, he can get special services once he is in school. Next is to have him scheduled with a speech therapist so his language skills will not be delayed. The meeting with the ENT should answer a lot of your question. Do not be afraid to go in there with a list of questions for him!
Good Luck!

My son is completely deaf in one ear. He's in Kindergarten this year and doing completely amazing! His teacher has him sit near her to be sure he can hear and so far his problem has not held him back one little bit in school. The other posters are right, there are amazing things you can do for him these days, so don't worry now. I work for an ENT and know first hand that hearing loss can be treated in amazing ways. You're lucky that he has any hearing left, that leaves you with more treatment options. Good luck to you and your son!!

I have a little nephew in another state who has auditory issues. I feel for you and know you want to do the best for your son. One small thought is that you are in a wonderful area for medical care and advice. My brother and sister-in-law take my nephew to a pediatric university hospital in a large town in Ohio where they live and they have been very pleased with the advice and care he has received.

My little nephew is doing great in his situation so there's plenty of hope and help out there!