Discussing Hearing Loss with Children

Around 12,000 newborn babies in the United States are born with some form of hearing loss every year. Hearing loss can occur at any age and this is why it is imperative to discuss the topic of hearing loss with your children for various reasons.

Children with hearing loss often face negative behavior, bullying, and mocking from their classmates in school. This is why it is important to teach your child about hearing loss to help them gain perspective in order to empathize with their hearing-impaired classmates who wear hearing devices.

Be sure to teach your children to be kind, helpful, compassionate, and unbiased when it comes to communicating and spending time with children wearing hearing aids. No child is born with cruelty in their hearts and children simply behave the way they see others behave. Teach them the appropriate way in which to approach hearing-disabled children and more importantly, model these appropriate techniques yourself so that you can serve as a role model for them.

Help your child realize that hearing-disabled children are no different from any other normal child so that they can happily accept individual differences as a regular part of life where differing abilities only show us how unique we all are.

If you suspect that your child may be suffering from hearing loss, pay attention to the following indicators: If your child positions themselves closer to the television and turns up the volume to a louder level than normal when watching television they may be suffering from hearing loss. Your child may also be suffering from hearing loss if you need to constantly repeat yourself before your child can hear what you said, or if a teacher complains about your child not listening to what is being said in class.