Just Found Out Newborn Is Hearing Impaired, Looking for Advice.

Dear K.,

First, congratulations on the birth of your beautiful son! The most important sign is: \!,,! If you make that shape with your fingers (thumb, first finger and pinky extended, middle and ring fingers down) you are saying, "I love you."

Columbus has a fantastic resource called Deaf Services Center. It's located at 5820 N. High St. The phone number is ###-###-####. I know they will be able to help you adjust to this news, and they'll help you to discover how much of the world is open to your son. They have resources available for people of all ages, with all levels of hearing loss, and their families.

My husband and I have a friend whose daughter was born totally deaf. She is grown now, and a beautiful and amazing young woman. She was on the cheerleading squad at O.S.U. when she was in college, and she is now an actress, living in California and doing quite well.

Please contact Deaf Services Center so you can begin preparing for a wonderful life with your darling boy. Oh! ~ and please give him a kiss for me. :-D

K. - First, congratulations on your new little one!

I'm sure that this is upsetting and so unexpected for you and your family. And made harder by the holidays, recovering from childbirth and having to parent your other child as well. I'm a mom of a child with a different special need, but in the beginning I think that we all have similar feelings and apprehensions. And it's normal to grieve for a little while and to need time to wrap your head around it. It's an adjustment, but I promise that everything will get worked out.

I would contact Columbus Speech and Hearing. Check out their website at www.columbusspeechandhearing.com. I'm sure that a call to them can guide you with respect to services. They were helpful when I first looked for places to get my son tested. (Hearing issues were eliminated for him, but it was a starting point.) I would imagine that they would try and get your family involved in learning ASL or using other communication methods as soon as possible so that you can best teach and communicate with your little guy as he grows. I'm sure that they can help you with connecting with other parents and families, too. Usually Yahoo has Groups that you can connect with online. Try meetup.com as well.

Help Me Grow is another agency that you should contact and would be responsible for your child until they are three (at which time your school system will be responsible for a free & appropriate education as well as transfer to the social services agencies that can offer assistance )and can help you get set-up with any county services that you are eligible for so that any impact on your family finances is minimized.

You've probably already checked them out, but I'm sure that there are several non-profit organizations that deal with hearing impairment issues and would probably be good resources for toys, equipment, etc. I would also look into some classes that would benefit him as other senses may be sharper. Maybe baby massage, baby gyms, etc. Perhaps your pediatrician can recommend if and when occupational therapy might be needed.

Finally, take out your health insurance policy and read about the services that are covered with respect to hearing impairment treatments and equipment. Another thing to consider is whether or not he will be hard to insure as an adult. If so, you may want to see if he qualifies for a child's insurance policy that will grow with him into adulthood.

Anyway, I hope that helps. I have no doubt that you'll get better advice from other moms on this forum who have been down your road and have some more practical help to offer. All the best to you and your family and Happy Holidays!

This is really tough to go through. The good new is though that there are so many tools for you and your baby that will enhance your life. The first lady that responded had some great advise and I would check all of that out. You can also contact Children's Hospital and find out if they can refer you to any support groups. If you want to find out about sign language, there are tons of great books out there fr beginners and also for little kids that cover the basics in a fun way. Your 3 year old would probably have fun learning a new language while you are learning it too. I know many moms that started sign language with their infants. Stay strong. While this can be very overwhelming, it will also shape you as a family, give you a better understanding for each other and make you stronger.

Hi K., if your baby was diagnosed with the hearing loss at a local hospital (if you are in the Columbus area), you should have received a packet/folder of information. If you did not, I recommend your first call should be to the Regional Infant Hearing Program. In Columbus, I believe the contact person works out of AG Bell Elementary School. I do not have the phone number on hand, but you should be able to find the RIHP through the Help Me Grow website. The Columbus contact does a wonderful job of presenting all of the options available to you. I assume the contacts for the other counties are just as informative. Good luck!

Hi K.,

I am an American Sign Language interpreter & I just wanted to tell you that from a professional perspective, I agree with all of the other posts as far as references. Columbus Speech & Hearing, Deaf Services Center, Head Start, AG Bell are all great. You can also check into the Alice Cogswell Center which is a preschool on the Ohio School for the Deaf campus. Actually OSD has a whole outreach program which may be helpful as well. When your son is ready for school you can also contact the CHIP (Columbus Hearing Impaired Program) in the Columbus Public School system.

I also think learning sign language is very important for your whole family to communicate. The above resources probably offer classes, & both OSU & Columbus State have classes that you & your husband can take to learn it. Someone suggested books & they are OK but I would suggest video tapes or websites. Since ASL is a visual language, it's much easier to learn from a 3-D video than a 2-D book. You can google American Sign Language & will get tons of hits for sites to learn from.

Feel free to contact me personally thru this site if you would like more information or would like to meet some time. I'd be happy to show you some basic signs. Good luck!