When Brett was born, he failed the newborn hearing screening at the hospital. This is not uncommon and they told me to bring him back for a retest in 3 weeks. We did..and he failed it too. The audiologist said that he had fluid in his ears and that was the cause for failure. At 5 weeks, he ran a high fever and had to be admitted into the hospital. Because all of the viral cultures and spinal tap returned negative, Dr. Oliver decided to put tubes in his ears. This was not a surprise since all of our kids have had tubes. After the tubes, Brett still failed the hearing test. Dr. Oliver decided to refer him for an ABR test- auditory brainstem response. Brett took that test on Oct. 31 and it looked like he had mild bilateral hearing loss. Because he was awake and moving some, they decided to sedate him in Dec. and retest. This is the most definitive test for hearing loss. Brett took the test on Dec. 23 and the results were the same.
Yesterday we went to Savannah Speech and Hearing. Brett was fitted and had the molds made for hearing aids in both ears. Hopefully, he will only have to wear them in both ears for a few years until he learns all of his sounds. Hopefully, he will not have to have speech therapy in school and will be fine. Of course, we hate to think that anything is wrong, but we are thankful that this is something that is treatable and not life threatening. He is such a sweet child and the best baby ever!! I will keep you updated on his hearing. He should be getting his hearing aids in the next few weeks.
Yesterday we went to Savannah Speech and Hearing. Brett was fitted and had the molds made for hearing aids in both ears. Hopefully, he will only have to wear them in both ears for a few years until he learns all of his sounds. Hopefully, he will not have to have speech therapy in school and will be fine. Of course, we hate to think that anything is wrong, but we are thankful that this is something that is treatable and not life threatening. He is such a sweet child and the best baby ever!! I will keep you updated on his hearing. He should be getting his hearing aids in the next few weeks.
Have you ever seen such a cute puppy???
I found your blog through google. My little guy also wears hearing aids (got them at 4 months old) and has a mild/moderate hearing loss. He's doing great, though! They never did find a reason, but he's just fine other than the hearing loss. Your little one sure is cute- we have a dalmation costume that's pretty similar (g).
ReplyDeleteMy little one is sixteen months old now. He's doing great! He has 20 words, which is more than my normally hearing son had at that age, lol. The early intervention really helps- so much so that he is testing above the level of his normally hearing peers. He's at or above in all other developmental areas, too. We had some worries when he was around a year because he couldn't point to body parts, etc. but that was because of fluid in his ears on top of the preexisting loss which was making it worse. He got tubes and his language took off! It can be a roller coaster at first, but things do settle and these little guys do really, really well.
ReplyDeleteKellie,
ReplyDeleteI followed the link from your comment on Leah's blog.
I, too, have a HoH son. I love to hear about you moms that catch the hearing loss really early. My son was born before the infant testing began in hospitals (at least in our area) and wasn't diagnosed until he was 3 1/2. He's 10 now, and doing great :0)
Welcome to the "club",
Julie