Are You a Family who is in Need of Support for a Child’s Hearing Loss Journey?

There are so many online resources that are available for families with deaf/hard of hearing children, who are in need of support. It can be too much to sift through.

Hearing healthcare providers are responsible for guiding families on how to raise a child who is deaf/hard of hearing. Even though there are many resources available through the internet, it’s important that family members of the child with hearing loss consult a professional to narrow down the most important information. 

In order to make the best decisions for their child, families should conduct research through professionals, parents, deaf/hard of hearing adults, books, websites, and their own local community. There is a learning curve when it comes to your child’s hearing loss. 

Discovering that your child has hearing loss can be devastating and overwhelming. You may have so many questions and concerns, but might not know where to begin or forget to ask them.  

Here is a List of 8 Commonly Asked Questions from Parents who have Children with Hearing Loss: 

1. Why can my child react to certain sounds?
2. How often should my child use their hearing aid devices?
3. How can I explain the importance of my child’s hearing aid devices with family and others?
4. What can be done in the home to improve my child’s development in communication?
5. What resources are available to strengthen my child’s confidence, social skills and resilience?
6. If we want to learn sign language, how can we do so and where can we begin?
7. I want to connect with others who are having the same experience. How can I meet other parents who have children with hearing loss, and/or adults who have hearing loss?
8. What can I do to support our child care provider when it comes to our child’s communication needs? 

Click here to see an article about a Question Prompt List. 

Create better Access to Visual Cues for Your Child

Infants who have healthy hearing abilities can hear their parents/caregivers, without having to face the person who is speaking. Children who are deaf/hard of hearing might not be afforded the same access to acquiring language and information through verbal communication and are helped mainly through visual cues. Parents and caregivers should learn and make basic changes in their daily life and their child’s environment to expand access. No matter what range of hearing a child has, they can use their sense of vision to efficiently communicate, build stronger linguistic skills and establish strategies that they can use for the rest of their life.    

For Parents: Tips on Language, Literacy, Social-emotional Growth

Learn about experiences from other parents and caregivers of deaf/hard of hearing children from here. Each tip sheet sums up a description of the developmental process of babies and young children after identifying their hearing loss for cognitive, emotional, social, language (semantics, syntax-morphology, pragmatics, phonology - auditory and visual), pre-literacy and literacy development.   

Safety Guidelines for Children

A Parent Safety Toolkit has been developed with the help of Hand & Voices O.U.R. (Observing, Understanding, Responding) Children’s Project. This system can be used by parents to instruct and model behavior, while taking action to make the lives of their deaf/hard of hearing children safer. 

A Guide for Parent-Professional Relationships in a Hearing Healthcare Environment

There is a possibility for a family of a deaf or hard of hearing child, and a hearing healthcare provider to have a long-term relationship. It requires mutual respect and support from the healthcare provider. Families will feel supported by a professional when the care they receive is a joint partnership that is built on trust. This process develops over time. It involves transparency, honesty, very clear communication and compassion. Active listening is very helpful in these situations, and creates a bond with the families. Hearing healthcare providers are a crucial foundation of support for families when they learn that their child has hearing loss. 

If you, your child or grandchild are experiencing hearing loss, please contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a free hearing test and consultation. We offer a variety of hearing aids and assistive listening devices for your individual hearing needs. 

Please be aware that Pure Sound services will only be available by appointment and for essential visits at this time. Essential visits include all appointments that require new hearing aid fittings, repairs and re-fittings. We ask that you please wait in your car, while wearing your mask, and place your hearing aids in a clean zip lock bag.  We will come to your car to get them. If you are having any issues with your hearing aids, or an assistive listening device, please contact us before visiting one of our office locations. 

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