Throughout my undergraduate and graduate education I took several audiology courses. I enjoyed most of them but not enough to decide to become an audiologist. Last fall I took a pediatric audiology course and learned a lot about identifying and treating children with hearing loss. It was a very interesting course and has helped me answer questions and educate families when I do newborn hearing screenings.

One of the last days of class the professor invited two moms of children who were deaf to share their stories with us. One mom talked about the family’s decision to use ASL and the other mom talked about the family’s decision to have her child receive bilateral cochlear implants. There is definitely controversy regarding whether parents of a deaf child should teach their child ASL only or have their child use hearing aids/cochlear implants (with or without ASL). It is a big decision families have to make and the sooner they make it the better it will be for their child. It is critical that children receive some type of language input before they are 6 months old or they will be behind their peers in language development.

After a child is diagnosed with a hearing loss, an audiologist and/or other professional should continue to follow them until they enter preschool or kindergarten to ensure they don’t fall behind their peers. A newspaper article in the Salt Lake Tribune yesterday stated many babies/children diagnosed with a hearing loss in Utah don’t get the follow-up care they need. The article also stated that some pediatricians use the “let’s wait and see” approach to delayed speech and language development. All I can say is – yikes! There needs to be more public education (pediatrician education) regarding the services available for children developing behind their peers and the importance of early intervention.

Overall, parents need to be aware of speech and language developmental milestones and be persistent with pediatricians who want to “wait and see” if their child catches up. In addition, parents need to be informed that there are many resources available to help their child if they are behind in speech and language development or have a hearing loss.

Okay, I’ll get off my soap box for now.

FYI: I met the boy featured in the article in my class last fall and read his mom’s blog frequently.