Children W/ Hearing Problems

[ditzyscrap]

Do any of you have a child or children with hearing problems? For a while now my daughter has been speaking, lol (she wasn't delayed or anything like that) but lately I've been noticing that some things she says are just "off", especially when repeating something we say to her. For example, the other day she was introduced to the bus driver...his name is "Mr Wooley", but she calls him "Mr Whirley". And today we made biscuits, but she calls them biskicks. She said something else to me just now and I it just triggered something to me that maybe she's just not hearing these words properly and that's why she's saying them wrong. She says a lot of things wrong, and I thought it was cute...but she's 4.5 and she actually believes she's saying the words properly. :confused:

I'm going to book an appointment with an audiologist anyhow, and see if maybe there is a problem. Or if maybe it's a speech problem?

Has anyone been through this and have advice?

ETA: She's also a very clumsy kid...she always has been. I don't know if that maybe makes a difference or not?

[jessica31876]

Its not like a lisp? Like when my son says well it sounds like whale and when he says any word starting with r or has r in it it sound smore like a w. He sees the speech therapist twice a week for this.

[kscwgirl]

If her balance is off, it could be her ears. Did she have a lot of ear infections when she was young? JJ had a bunch, and that caused speech problems.. he was in therapy for a while and I think he's going back in for stuttering.

[lauren grier]

I dunno.. could just be an age thing still. Connor still says some words all cooky and stuff.

[ditzyscrap]

No, it's not like a lisp, she just says the words totally wrong, lol...not sure how to explain it. She hasn't had an ear infection in her life, either.

I wasn't sure if it was covered by our provincial healthcare to see an audiologist, so I just am taking her to our family doctor and going to ask him to refer us to one, lol.

[kscwgirl]

Well you just killed my only idea, Bree. LOL

[lauren grier]

oh yes.. and ce is super clumsy, as am I, and his hearing is just fine :)

and an example of a cooky word..

he says ball instead of bulb. So really.. I'd lean to just the age thing.

[ditzyscrap]

Well you just killed my only idea, Bree. LOL

Sorry, I didn't mean to. Mason has had TONS of ear infections (they stopped as soon as he went off chemo, weirdly enough), but Natalie has never had a single one.

[lauren grier]

does she respond to you when you speak to her.. like if you're not looking directly at her and give her a direction does she still do it? They test kids here for hearing issues @ the dr's- your pedi might be able to do a preliminary test (I mean obviously if there was a problem we'd get referred to a specialist).

[ditzyscrap]

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I think that one depends on what is going on around her and what she's paying attention to.

She can hear a candybar wrapper easily, though. ;)

[twentytinytoes]

My husband has a hearing problem so we were told to watch for certain things. Try whispering to her while not facing her and have her repeat it, things where she can't actually see your face because if its a hearing problem she may just be reading your lips & putting things together. Thats what my husband did when he was little and they didn't realize until he was 5 that he needed hearing aids. Its probably just a saying things wrong thing though. Like my kids have a friend named wyatt and they know its his name but they call him quiet. If we say it slow they can say it like y at, but then they forget and just call him quiet. LOL

[jessica31876]

Oh another thing when you are talking to her does she ask you to repeat yourself alot? When she watches tv does she turn it up louder then it should be or have to sit closer to hear it? When she talks tto you does she speak louder then you would expect? Those are things that I would think might signal a hearing problem.

When my son was little he had problems speaking and I never really realized how bad it was because I udnerstood him perfectly. When he started school he was tested and had alot of sounds he had to work on. Some sounds at 4 1/2 are normal for them to not be able to say. Im not sure which ones anymore but I was given a list when he was tested.

[isaacsmom]

Ok...so my son is deaf so I know just a little about this. He has cochlear implants now and can hear but will always be considered hearing impaired. One difference though is that he lost his hearing suddenly from meningitis. So, we didn't have to wonder if he could hear - we had a test done while he was in the hospital for the meningitis that told us he was deaf.

I do know that speech issues can be a sign of hearing problems. However, the sounds you mentioned with the r in whirly is one of the later sounds that children master. So it is hard to tell based on that. I can say though, the sooner the intervention, the better. Even 6 months can make a difference, so if you suspect that she has a problem, I would definitely get it checked out! There are so many things that they can do for kids. The problem comes in when you don't catch it soon enough and their hearing problems begin to interfere with speech, learning, reading etc. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions. Also, my son has terrible balance issues and is a general clutz, but I'm not sure if that is because of his hearing loss, or just a general side effect of the meningitis. Hope this helps and good luck to you!

[MelindaH]

I agree with isaacsmom (no children with hearing issues here) ... "r" is one of those sounds that is a bit harder to master. And there was a student in a first grade classroom I worked in that had a lisp, and it was considered still normal at that age too. I am leaning more toward a speech development issue. Speech therapy could really help her work through that. My oldest was in speech therapy until he was 3 years old. She would bring toys to our house and the activities she would do would lead them to using words that would practice the sounds he needed to work on. I think "white truck" was one of the things she brought, and it helped him to get the "tr" sound out ... because otherwise he always said "shuck" for truck.

On the other hand, it could easily be connected to hearing. I am sure you will follow through on whatever your family doctor recommends, so you're already doing just what I'd suggest! :)

~Melinda

[scrappychic]

Mckenna is 5 and just now is starting to speak a bit more clearly. I use to think she was behind because the other kids in her class spoke better. With her it's more mumbling and being shy, I think. Now I can understand her on the phone. When we had her kindy check up her dr said she has some difficulty in the higher frequencies or something like that. That reminds me we're supposed to bring her back for another test.

[Stacey42]

DS2 had problems with speech & hearing. When he spoke it sounded like he was saying words that he had heard while underwater, if that makes any sense. Like what he was hearing was muffled, so he wasn't saying things properly because he never heard them properly. He also often sounded like he was congested, even when he wasn't. He was always complaining about not being able to hear the TV or what we were saying if there was any sort of background noise going on. Nothing turned up on the audiology report so we were sent to an ear, nose & throat specialist. Turns out his tonsils were HUGE and so were his adnoids & they were interfering with his hearing & his speech. They were also making him snore & interfering with his sleep. He never had any ear infections so our ped never considered the tonsils a problem. He had them out a month ago Since then his speech has cleared up. He still has trouble with 'l' and 'r' but that is age appropriate but you can tell he is hearing the words properly and is able to say them properly. He is sleeping soundly. Plus he now complains that things are too loud.

[Jennilyn]

I wasn't sure if it was covered by our provincial healthcare to see an audiologist, so I just am taking her to our family doctor and going to ask him to refer us to one, lol.

Kaylee went to see an audiologist last year and she was covered. It might not be the same since we're in different provinces, but I would think she'd be covered.