My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and last year I took her to daycare twice a week for 2 hours each day. Her teacher had mentioned that sometimes she seemed like she was daydream mode or just out of it. I would notice it sometimes but I thought maybe she was just ignoring us, she would normally do it when she was watching tv and we would call her name and she didn't turn around until after a while. My mom cares for her now sometimes tells me the same thing. I really don't think that there is a problem with her but what can I do at home that will give me a sign that there is some sort of problem.
I agree with the previous posters about having her hearing tested. However, you should have her hearing tested by an audiologist who specializes in children.
When my son was young we had his hearing tested at Sertoma we had to go through the local school district as the hearing test there are very expensive the school district paid for it. Our insurance would not. I suggest calling the local school district where you are located and see what they say. She is a little young for school, but you never know. I would also talk to the doctor. Perhapes they have a good suggestion. As it turned out for my son he had a loss of hearing in his left ear and was able to catch it early enough. At 10 years old he still has a small % of loss but functions at his level, no problems. Good Luck to you
I'm not sure what county you are in but every county in Illinois has an Early Intervention program. They do screenings for children, but it does end at age 3 so I would call soon. The number for DuPage county is ###-###-####. If you call them they can give you the number for the closest office to you. The screenings are all free, if she would need therapy then there is an additional cost, but it's really reasonable and just to start out getting a free screening will point you in the right direction.
Call the child and family connections (early intervention) people in your area (if you live in dupage county call ###-###-#### and ask for a service coordinator). They will arrange for a hearing test for free from Easter seals. If your child was over 3 then you would do the same but go through the early childhood program (through your school district) and again it will probably be free.
Good luck.
Aarti.
PLEASE GO GET A SCREENING. Some doctors offices do them, but you could easily get a referral to an audiologist or an early development program that will do a screening or full audiological test likely at little or no cost to you. I am a speech pathologist and I can say that the earlier the better. If there is no problem, you know, and if there is, you can start getting her the help she needs and make both of your lives easier. Even a slight hearing loss at this age can greatly affect speech/language development. Feel free to message me separately if you have specific questions.
M. ,
I would take your litle one to a ENT and have her screened through thier audiologist or contact your local early childhood development program (ECD)they have a great program and as long as your child is under they age of 3 they will come to you and screen her. If they feel there is a concern then they would refer you to the Easter seal program (possible out of Dupage in Villa Park)great office. Early detection is the key to your little one happiness .
Hang in there reagrding the terrible 2's they do go away , just keep her busy . I have 2 toddler boys 2, 4 I know too well about the terrible 2and 3's
Good luck and if you should have any question I have a great ENt as well as info on the ecd program , feel free to send me a e-mail .
We had a similar situation with my daughter. But my daughter was slow to talk and when she did start, it was VERY hard for anyone other than me to understand her for a LONG time. She did have many ear infections as a baby, but it just never clicked with me. Finally when she was about 3ish, I realized there was something bigger going on. I told her ped. that I was thinking she was having a hard time hearing. They didn't do hearing tests at that office, so she referred me to a specialist. Well her tests confirmed that she had fluid in both of her middle ears, and her hearing was diminished. Of course I felt awful for not realizing it sooner...my poor baby was probably hearing sounds as if she was under water, and that of course led to the slow to talk aspect and the terrible speech, because she wasn't really hearing the words correctly. Anyhow, she ended up with tubes, and her hearing has come back most of the way, there is still a SLIGHT loss, and she is in speech classes through our public school. Sorry this is soo long, but just wanted to share our experience with hearing loss, in case any of this rang true for your situation. (By the way, the Ear/Nose/throat specialist had WAY better equipment to test the hearing than our school (preschool evaluation), they said her ears were fine, when I already knew there was a loss of hearing.)Good luck! Hope there isn't a problem!
Hi M., I would have to agree with the other moms responding Please don't wait to have your daughter tested. I am a mother of a 16 yr old daughter who is hearing impaired and I waited until she was 4 to get her tested. I am not sure where you live, but I live in Joliet and they start screening children in the Joliet Grade schools at 2 yrs old. So if your school district does screen, please take the time to do it. Waiting with the hearing isn't a good decision at all..
Good Luck
C.
Take your child to a ENT (ear nose and throat) doctor and they will do a hearing test. My daughter had to have tubes put in at a very early age, but if she didn't she might have had speech delays.
Speech delay sometimes can be due to hearing loss, so be sure to get her hearing checked. I would mention it to the pediatrician and get the test done.
On a side note, I am hard of hearing myself, and though my daughter passed her newborn hearing screening, she is speech delayed. So she got a sedated hearing test to be sure, which she passed with flying colors.
So bottom line is, bring this up to your pediatrician ASAP.
I would probally bring in up to her pediatrician and then have her hearing tested. My son had very frequent ear infections and we noticed he would not respond to us so finally the doctor referred us to an ear nose and throat specialist, he needed tubes and now can hear better. Good luck.
I agree with many of the previous posts. It could be selective hearing but of course I would strongly urge you to follow up with your physician. If they want to test her hearing at the dr's office, I would encourage you to request that they refer her to an actual ENT or audiologist...someone who does test hearing on a more regular basis as they will get more reliable results, especially in a child that is so young. As one of the other posters mentioned, you can also be refered to Easter Seals. Better to be safe than sorry...
dr hotaling out of loyola i think 2 or 3 offices maywood, wheaton, and poss. oak brook
they tested my daughters hearing and work great with her
i vote get it tested to rule out hearing loss, wax build up but also to double check for things as scary as autism
my cousin's son is autistic and hearing test is where they began their journey
good luck to you and your family
I wouldn't be so sure about hearing but more likely attention. My older girl will sometimes be so engrossed in what she's doing that she will NOT hear what's going on around her, but her hearing is fine; her attention is just elsewhere. A fast and easy check is to be interactively playing with her on the floor and ask her to do small tasks, such as "please hand me the Lego" or something minor. Since you're part of the activity, she'll be in your focus. Note whether or not she's looking at you at the time.
As someone else mentioned, TV isn't a good factor, since MANY people, even adults with full hearing, will not switch attention away from a television show simply because their name is called.
Such attention focus is part of a wide spectrum: from autism to normal "heavy focus", with Asperger Syndrome being in there somewhere, as well. (Don't worry - your child's not autistic.)
BTW: Check with your local pre-school, elementary school, and county offices about young child screening. I believe Kane provides free testing for children under 5 for hearing, speech, development, vision, etc. as it's in the school systems interest to have such issues handled and identified before kindergarten.
Regarding the previous post about Early Intervention through the state. EI is only up to their 3rd birthday so do not wait!Anything beyond age 3 is done through the school district and their pre-k screenings. My son went to EI for therapt and the fees are very reasonable! It is based on your salary and my husband makes decent money and we only had to pay $20 a month! You can get the info through the state of Illinois website.
If you are going to follow up with someone a first conservative step would be going to a chiropractor. Chiropractic was founded on restoring a deaf man's hearing. Since it sounds like it may be slight changes chiropractic would be a good start. This website lists some doctors who specialize in kids. Check it out www.icpa4kids.org
I would say if you think that there's a problem, bring it up with your pediatrician, but I will tell you that my kids do the same thing. My daughter, who's 4.5 will watch TV, read or just be pretending and I could talk to her for hours without her responding once. She gets EXTREMELY engrossed in what she is doing, to the point where she is tuned out to everything. My son does this at almost 3 when he's watching TV or playing on the computer. I know that my daughter's hearing is fine, she was just screened in the spring, through school, and I am pretty sure that my son's is too, although he has not been tested. Believe me, sometimes I have to SHOUT to get their attention. So, as I said, bring it up, but it could be completely normal.
Good luck!
