I have mentioned before that every Health Care Professional has there own opinions about the effects of SSD in children. I have came across many Doctors and some Audiologists who believe that my son's developmental delay and speech delay/disorder can not be contributed to him being deaf in one ear. Most want to blame it on the trauma he went through and birth. I know I am not a Doctor, and I haven't had the "proper education and training" in this area, and I don't see and treat a big population of children on a daily basis. But I know what life is like for one SSD child because I LIVE it everyday. I have worked with my son day after day for over 3 years. I see where he progresses and where he does not. I have done my own research. Along with talk to other parents with SSD children, some have speech issues and some do not. I have also talked to adults that have lived with SSD, some have struggled with speech and some haven't. Most of them (children and adults) did not have a traumatic start like my son and still had speech issues! Most of the Professionals who blame the delay on issues from his birth, are also the ones who said he would never be "normal" either. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I am entitled to mine. Our family, friends, his teachers and Therapists at school who really know Christian also know their is much more to this boy then what he went through at birth. He is a strong-willed little boy will love, compassion, energy and a smile that shines as bright as the sun. He catches on developmentally more quickly than most people give him credit for, usually the Doctors who visit with him a couple times a year for 15 to 30 minutes and don't see how hard he works and how far he comes everyday. If they spent more time with him they would see he doesn't have a learning disability, he just has a disadvantage of hearing as well as most children and it makes it harder to keep up with development and speech with those as the same age as him.
The reason I am blogging about this subject is because I found a great article about Single Sided Hearing Loss and I wanted to share the article with our followers (most of which are an important part of Christian's life) and you may learn something from it and our followers who are parents of children with Unilateral Hearing Loss as well. I also just felt the need to vent and express while the subject of Single Sided Hearing Loss was brought up.....
http://www.californiaearinstitute.com/ear-disorders-singled-sided-hearing-loss-children-ear-institute.php
I am always interested to hear what other people think about SSD or Unilateral Hearing Loss to any degree , feel free to express or vent if you wish! :)
Showing posts with label Single Sided Deafness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Single Sided Deafness. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
Hearing Update
Christian went back for his Behavioral Evaluation today. Although he threw some pretty big fits in the sound booth, the Audiologists got all the information they needed for the second time in a role! By the time the hearing test was over, Christian had sweat all over his head. I had sweat so much, my pants and shirt were soaked from holding him down so long and so tight. Needless to say I was hot! But none the less the left ear is still in the normal range and the right ear is.....well the ear is still there. I guess God just must have put it there for decoration! ha. So, not any change.
We will go back in June for another routine test. Hopefully next time he will tolerate the tympectomy and handle the hear phones over his ears so he can do some of the games. But, thankfully we don't need a sedated ABR.
They recommended speech services while he attends preschool. Have that covered already! They recommended the FM system while he is in preschool. He already has one in his preschool room!
Everything seems to be in place...and going good.
We will go back in June for another routine test. Hopefully next time he will tolerate the tympectomy and handle the hear phones over his ears so he can do some of the games. But, thankfully we don't need a sedated ABR.
They recommended speech services while he attends preschool. Have that covered already! They recommended the FM system while he is in preschool. He already has one in his preschool room!
Everything seems to be in place...and going good.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Update on Communication
The last blog entry I did about Christian's speech delay was posted back in January of this year, on another blog that I had. Since then his communication skills has improved very much! It is hard to believe this time last year, he didn't say much of nothing! This year, his verbal words include; "I want, I like, mama, dada, tete (sissy), dog, kitty cat, cat, no, eww, ski, and de" (deer). However, the words he can sign, I can't even keep up with anymore.
The biggest change in his communication skills in the past few months hasn't been the amount of words he has. But, being able to put them together to make sentences as typical kids his age (without hearing loss) can do. However, while most kids may say verbally, "I want more drink please." Christian's is a bit different. He will say verbally "I want" but finish the sentence by signing, "more drink please." Or as were a child would say, "Mommy, read book please." He would sign the whole sentence. So far the most words he has signed at one time is 5. "Mommy, read more book please." Needless to say he has made progress, which is what his "team of people" are the most concerned about. It is not how far he is delayed or how fast he "catches up", it is the fact he is able to make progress! If he hadn't been making progress, they would fear he had more brain damage then originally thought or that he would be falling into the Autistic Spectrum. But, thankfully he is making progress...so it isn't a concern anymore.
Even though he has continued to make progress, it has still been hard for me to make decisions based on how to treat each situation. Communication has been at the top of the list. When he started Speech Therapy at 16 months old, I was asked to teach him sign language. I thought that was crazy, like I could ever teach a 1 year old, sign language! But, I was desperate and gave it a try. Much to my surprise teaching him was the easy part! The criticism and all the loads of information that came along with teaching sign was much more complicated. I was told by many audiology and speech/language professionals at Kosair Children's Hospital, The Vanderbilt Audiology Clinic, and National Center For Childhood Deafness that teaching sign language to any child with a severe to profound hearing loss, regardless of unilateral or bilateral. The child would always choose sign language over verbally talking and taking this approach would be a bad idea. Once you got the child signing, it would be hard to get them to say actual words. However, many other professionals in these facilities mostly agree but, still feel like it is a approach to help with his communication. Even though I made the decision to go ahead to teach him sign until he learned to talk, I now wonder if I made the right decision, even though he can use both.
To further explain, when I ask him to SAY "mama" (which he can) he will instead, SIGN it. When he wants his favorite drink, Ski. I ask him to SAY "SKI" (which he can, and quiet well) he will instead, SIGN drink. He can say "de" for deer and if you ask him to say it, it will sign it instead. He says a word once or twice then signs it from there on out. So, it has left me wondering.....Did I make a mistake?! What do I do to help with this situation? I don't want to take him away from a language he is comfortable with and that he can benefit from at times. But, I don't want him to forget he is capable of communicating verbally either. I have been focusing less on sign and focusing more on his speech. Only time will tell on what method will help him. If only every "educated professional" didn't have a "personal opinion."
I think the most important thing is that he babbles all the time. Babbling is something that he used to not do. A lot of times, he makes no sense and sounds like he is talking in chinese. But, he is attempting to talk and he knows his mouth works. Progress there..... Regardless of what I do....there is one thing I know that will always be effected. To try everything possible, if something fails, try something else. The main thing is to never give up. I know in the end, we will find a way to get through this challenge. After all, we got this far didn't we!
The biggest change in his communication skills in the past few months hasn't been the amount of words he has. But, being able to put them together to make sentences as typical kids his age (without hearing loss) can do. However, while most kids may say verbally, "I want more drink please." Christian's is a bit different. He will say verbally "I want" but finish the sentence by signing, "more drink please." Or as were a child would say, "Mommy, read book please." He would sign the whole sentence. So far the most words he has signed at one time is 5. "Mommy, read more book please." Needless to say he has made progress, which is what his "team of people" are the most concerned about. It is not how far he is delayed or how fast he "catches up", it is the fact he is able to make progress! If he hadn't been making progress, they would fear he had more brain damage then originally thought or that he would be falling into the Autistic Spectrum. But, thankfully he is making progress...so it isn't a concern anymore.
Even though he has continued to make progress, it has still been hard for me to make decisions based on how to treat each situation. Communication has been at the top of the list. When he started Speech Therapy at 16 months old, I was asked to teach him sign language. I thought that was crazy, like I could ever teach a 1 year old, sign language! But, I was desperate and gave it a try. Much to my surprise teaching him was the easy part! The criticism and all the loads of information that came along with teaching sign was much more complicated. I was told by many audiology and speech/language professionals at Kosair Children's Hospital, The Vanderbilt Audiology Clinic, and National Center For Childhood Deafness that teaching sign language to any child with a severe to profound hearing loss, regardless of unilateral or bilateral. The child would always choose sign language over verbally talking and taking this approach would be a bad idea. Once you got the child signing, it would be hard to get them to say actual words. However, many other professionals in these facilities mostly agree but, still feel like it is a approach to help with his communication. Even though I made the decision to go ahead to teach him sign until he learned to talk, I now wonder if I made the right decision, even though he can use both.
To further explain, when I ask him to SAY "mama" (which he can) he will instead, SIGN it. When he wants his favorite drink, Ski. I ask him to SAY "SKI" (which he can, and quiet well) he will instead, SIGN drink. He can say "de" for deer and if you ask him to say it, it will sign it instead. He says a word once or twice then signs it from there on out. So, it has left me wondering.....Did I make a mistake?! What do I do to help with this situation? I don't want to take him away from a language he is comfortable with and that he can benefit from at times. But, I don't want him to forget he is capable of communicating verbally either. I have been focusing less on sign and focusing more on his speech. Only time will tell on what method will help him. If only every "educated professional" didn't have a "personal opinion."
I think the most important thing is that he babbles all the time. Babbling is something that he used to not do. A lot of times, he makes no sense and sounds like he is talking in chinese. But, he is attempting to talk and he knows his mouth works. Progress there..... Regardless of what I do....there is one thing I know that will always be effected. To try everything possible, if something fails, try something else. The main thing is to never give up. I know in the end, we will find a way to get through this challenge. After all, we got this far didn't we!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Adapting to Hearing Loss and Speech Delay
How does Christian adapt to his hearing loss?
Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. I noticed he acted different when he came home from the hospital before he was even officially diagnosed with hearing loss. I had never seen a baby that was picky about which side you laid them on. Christian was very picky as early as one month old. If you laid him on the left side (good ear) he would cry or get fussy but as soon as you laid him on the right (bad ear) he would stop. Why? When you cover up the left ear he can't hear much or nothing at all. He is 2 years old now and he still refuses to lay on the left side unless he is in a deep sleep. The bath tub could create problems the first year as well. If you laid his left ear in the water or water was poured over the left ear he would cry or at times scream. It never bothered him to have his right ear in water or have water dumped over that ear. He tolerates it much better now..he still doesn't like the left ear to be emerged in water but pouring water on that ear isn't as traumatic for him anymore. I think he has got use to it. Riding in the car can be a challenge to him. If you place him behind the driver's seat his good ear is next to the door and speakers. Making it harder for him to understand you or at times to hear you at all. So, if we place him behind the passenger seat his good ear is in the middle and he has a more balanced sound between the radio and someone talking, making it easier to hear. Restaurants can be a challenge. If it is loud or noisy and you are on his bad side he usually won't respond to a word you say, because he can't hear you or your words are distorted to him and he doesn't realize you are talking to him. If you call is name or talk to him on the good side he almost always responds depending on how loud you talk. But, sometimes we get lucky and a restaurant isn't busy and is quite and him hearing isn't as much of a problem. Of course on a daily basis if a t.v, washing machine, radio and such is on in the back ground he may not be able to locate your direction at first, have trouble understanding what you are saying and sometimes he may not hear you at all depending the volume of things and how far away he is. Sometimes he mistakes what you are saying...for instance, if you say "please" he will sign "cheese" or if you say "look" he may sign "book" and most often if you say "stop" he will sign "dog." As long as it is not real noisy and he isn't to far away from you he does pretty good with hearing everything.
Speech delayments?
Every medical professional has there own opinion whether or not children with "single sided deafness" have speech delayments or not. Some say they may have them and some say there shouldn't be any problems with speech. Everyone is different and handles it differently. As for Christian he has speech delayments. From 15 months to 25 months he could only say "Mama and cat" and not up until the last 2 weeks he has started saying "yeah and dada." He still babbles and jabbers a lot throughout the day but there are no real words. By the age of 2 he should have 240 words which includes putting words together to make short sentences or phrases. He only says 4 words and 2 words are brand new to his vocabulary list. So, how have I been handling this problem? He has been receiving speech therapy since he was 16 months old. Even though he is speech delayed he is still able to communicate, how? At 17 months old I started teaching him sign with the help of his speech therapist. He can now successfully sign 24 words. Words include; "finish, more, sleep, eat, milk, cheese, bath, car, dog, deer, baby, sqoosh (his favorite dog), ball, book, shoes, rain, sit, fish, teddy bear, cereal, daddy, apple, drink, and play" the newest one! About 4 to 6 weeks ago he started putting words together. Such as, "more milk, more cheese, eat more, more cereal, and finished book." His words continuously increase...he learns a new word every week to two weeks. Most people with "single sided deafness" learn to read lips. He pays more attention to your hands then lips so lip reading is not a good option for him right now. Signing also benefits us in a restaurant. If someone is on his bad side and Christian can't hear what someone is saying to him, you can sign to him and not have to yell to communicate with him. It also cuts down on his frustration with having to concentrate so much on what your saying. Some people criticize me for teaching him sign and some people praise me for it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and personally I couldn't care less what people think! I have to do what I feel is best for him and signing works in his case. In the beginning my goal was not for him to become fluent with sign it was to simply give him a way to communicate. Give him a voice. Through the hard work and dedication on his part and his family he can communicate despite being hard of hearing or speech delayed. We still strive to get him to talk verbally and he tries really hard to say the words we want him to repeat. But, almost always the wrong sounds come out unless it is mama, cat, yeah and dada. His father and I want him to thrive in life and we will do what ever it takes to do that...even if it means taking a different approach then most kids his age. If God forbid he ever loses the hearing in his left ear and goes completely deaf we will still have a form of communication. But, regardless we will continue to encourage both and hopefully soon he will be talking all the time and be able to sign as well
Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. I noticed he acted different when he came home from the hospital before he was even officially diagnosed with hearing loss. I had never seen a baby that was picky about which side you laid them on. Christian was very picky as early as one month old. If you laid him on the left side (good ear) he would cry or get fussy but as soon as you laid him on the right (bad ear) he would stop. Why? When you cover up the left ear he can't hear much or nothing at all. He is 2 years old now and he still refuses to lay on the left side unless he is in a deep sleep. The bath tub could create problems the first year as well. If you laid his left ear in the water or water was poured over the left ear he would cry or at times scream. It never bothered him to have his right ear in water or have water dumped over that ear. He tolerates it much better now..he still doesn't like the left ear to be emerged in water but pouring water on that ear isn't as traumatic for him anymore. I think he has got use to it. Riding in the car can be a challenge to him. If you place him behind the driver's seat his good ear is next to the door and speakers. Making it harder for him to understand you or at times to hear you at all. So, if we place him behind the passenger seat his good ear is in the middle and he has a more balanced sound between the radio and someone talking, making it easier to hear. Restaurants can be a challenge. If it is loud or noisy and you are on his bad side he usually won't respond to a word you say, because he can't hear you or your words are distorted to him and he doesn't realize you are talking to him. If you call is name or talk to him on the good side he almost always responds depending on how loud you talk. But, sometimes we get lucky and a restaurant isn't busy and is quite and him hearing isn't as much of a problem. Of course on a daily basis if a t.v, washing machine, radio and such is on in the back ground he may not be able to locate your direction at first, have trouble understanding what you are saying and sometimes he may not hear you at all depending the volume of things and how far away he is. Sometimes he mistakes what you are saying...for instance, if you say "please" he will sign "cheese" or if you say "look" he may sign "book" and most often if you say "stop" he will sign "dog." As long as it is not real noisy and he isn't to far away from you he does pretty good with hearing everything.
Speech delayments?
Every medical professional has there own opinion whether or not children with "single sided deafness" have speech delayments or not. Some say they may have them and some say there shouldn't be any problems with speech. Everyone is different and handles it differently. As for Christian he has speech delayments. From 15 months to 25 months he could only say "Mama and cat" and not up until the last 2 weeks he has started saying "yeah and dada." He still babbles and jabbers a lot throughout the day but there are no real words. By the age of 2 he should have 240 words which includes putting words together to make short sentences or phrases. He only says 4 words and 2 words are brand new to his vocabulary list. So, how have I been handling this problem? He has been receiving speech therapy since he was 16 months old. Even though he is speech delayed he is still able to communicate, how? At 17 months old I started teaching him sign with the help of his speech therapist. He can now successfully sign 24 words. Words include; "finish, more, sleep, eat, milk, cheese, bath, car, dog, deer, baby, sqoosh (his favorite dog), ball, book, shoes, rain, sit, fish, teddy bear, cereal, daddy, apple, drink, and play" the newest one! About 4 to 6 weeks ago he started putting words together. Such as, "more milk, more cheese, eat more, more cereal, and finished book." His words continuously increase...he learns a new word every week to two weeks. Most people with "single sided deafness" learn to read lips. He pays more attention to your hands then lips so lip reading is not a good option for him right now. Signing also benefits us in a restaurant. If someone is on his bad side and Christian can't hear what someone is saying to him, you can sign to him and not have to yell to communicate with him. It also cuts down on his frustration with having to concentrate so much on what your saying. Some people criticize me for teaching him sign and some people praise me for it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and personally I couldn't care less what people think! I have to do what I feel is best for him and signing works in his case. In the beginning my goal was not for him to become fluent with sign it was to simply give him a way to communicate. Give him a voice. Through the hard work and dedication on his part and his family he can communicate despite being hard of hearing or speech delayed. We still strive to get him to talk verbally and he tries really hard to say the words we want him to repeat. But, almost always the wrong sounds come out unless it is mama, cat, yeah and dada. His father and I want him to thrive in life and we will do what ever it takes to do that...even if it means taking a different approach then most kids his age. If God forbid he ever loses the hearing in his left ear and goes completely deaf we will still have a form of communication. But, regardless we will continue to encourage both and hopefully soon he will be talking all the time and be able to sign as well
Christian's Hearing Loss
My son was in the NICU for the first month of his life from complications at birth and as a result he didn't get his first newborn hearing screening done until 26 days old, and failed in the right ear. He had a ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response), done while he was asleep when he was just 7 weeks old, and it showed a significant hearing loss. But, he was referred to a University who could handle this situation and give him an accurate diagnosis. He had his first sedated ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) done on May 1, 2008 at 5 months old and was diagnosed with severe to profound hearing loss in the right ear and had normal hearing in the left ear. We took him every 3 to 6 months to have Behavioral Evaluations (BE) done and everything seemed to be going okay. In July of 2009 the BE indicated he was losing hearing in the left (his good ear.) So, he had another sedated ABR done in November of 2009... 3 weeks before his 2nd birthday. The ABR showed normal hearing in the left. They tested Christian all the way up to 100db in the right and there was no brain response. No response at 91 db+ is considered profound (complete) hearing loss. 91 db is like the sound of a push mower. I was so thankful Christian still had normal hearing in the left that he didn't hit me that he was deaf on the right side until we left the hospital. When I finally thought of the audiologist saying the right ear was completely gone, I began to cry! I was mad and I was angry. But, then I thought to myself....he was deaf in that ear yesterday and we managed just fine. So, there is no reason why we couldn't today or any other day. Then I thought to myself "what if the left ear goes?" I started to lose control again and then I thought "If it is God's will then we will find the way to manage." That is still what I think about it too this day!
So, Are you wondering what caused the hearing loss?
Well, so am I and everyone else in his life. We don't know 100% certain what caused it and more then likely we never will know. He had a CT and MRI scan done in October of 2009. Neither one of the tests revealed anything abnormal in his ears. He was diagnosed with Sensorineural Hearing Loss (meaning nerve damage.) Which is probably the best possible answer. Reason number 1, when he was born he has hydrocephalus(extra fluid on the brain) and had a blockage to the blood supply in his brain which could of put pressure on the nerves and could of caused the nerve damage. Reason number 2, he was on several ototoxic medications that have been known to cause hearing loss. Reasons 3 &4 are being on a ventilator for over 5 days (he was on one for 8) and having low apgar scores (his where 1 at 1 minute, 2 at 5 minutes and 6 at 10 mintues) which are very low! I personally believe with all my heart it was the pressure on the nerves from the fluid...but, there is no way to prove it! But, it is any ones guess and those are the possibilities.
So, Are you wondering what caused the hearing loss?
Well, so am I and everyone else in his life. We don't know 100% certain what caused it and more then likely we never will know. He had a CT and MRI scan done in October of 2009. Neither one of the tests revealed anything abnormal in his ears. He was diagnosed with Sensorineural Hearing Loss (meaning nerve damage.) Which is probably the best possible answer. Reason number 1, when he was born he has hydrocephalus(extra fluid on the brain) and had a blockage to the blood supply in his brain which could of put pressure on the nerves and could of caused the nerve damage. Reason number 2, he was on several ototoxic medications that have been known to cause hearing loss. Reasons 3 &4 are being on a ventilator for over 5 days (he was on one for 8) and having low apgar scores (his where 1 at 1 minute, 2 at 5 minutes and 6 at 10 mintues) which are very low! I personally believe with all my heart it was the pressure on the nerves from the fluid...but, there is no way to prove it! But, it is any ones guess and those are the possibilities.
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