Raising A Deaf Child: Tips For Mothers

Motherhood is fundamentally a challenge, but when you have a deaf child the task becomes even more complex. This article will teach you more about deafness and hearing problems in children.

If you have a deaf child, you may not always feel understood by society. This then makes it even harder for you to deal with this situation. In today’s article we want to talk about raising children with hearing impairments.

The fact that your child has hearing problems can also mean that he or she is having language, cognitive, and social difficulties. However, you can work on these issues through a variety of interventions both at home and at school.

Raising a Deaf Child

Raising a deaf child means that you have to adapt to this new situation and also overcome certain social hurdles. The first challenge is to accept the diagnosis. Just a few hours after birth, most babies undergo otoacoustic emissions to test their hearing. However, numbness can appear later in life.

It is therefore important that you are aware of certain signs that can help you identify your child’s deafness early on. You should be careful in the following cases:

• When children aged 1 to 2 fail to understand simple instructions, respond to their name, fail to identify their body parts, only speak in monosyllables, ignore stories you read to them, etc.
• When a child’s language is very incomprehensible by 2 to 3 years of age and cannot repeat simple sentences or answer simple questions.
• You should also pay attention if by the age of 3 to 4 your child is unable to have a simple conversation or is unable to express himself at all.
• When children between the ages of 4 and 5 cannot speak to other children or have insufficient language that only their families can understand.

In addition, you should also keep an eye on the following situations:

• When your child lacks language skills, or disappears, or develops too slowly for old age.
• In addition, it can be a sign of a deaf child or a child with hearing problems if your child is unable to find their way around in class or if they have severe learning difficulties.
• In addition, a tendency towards severe colds, frequent earache or allergies can also be warning signals.

Raising a Deaf Child: Some Tips

Technical aids

If your child has been diagnosed with hearing loss or deafness, the next step is deciding on the appropriate technical aids that can support your deaf child.

The most commonly used aid for deafness is a hearing aid. This device is like a miniature amplifier that can be used for certain types of deafness.

There are also other aids such as a hearing implant. These implants are used when a child has severe or inner ear hearing impairment.

Adapt your communication practices to suit your deaf child

There are also various systems your child can learn to use to express themselves and understand the spoken language as well. This can help your deaf child develop the most normal social bonds possible.

If you have a deaf child, you can choose from the following options:

• Learn sign language
• Use of a combination of language systems

• Use of the phoneme-determined manual system (cued speech)
• Learning to lip reading
• Use of a phonetic alphabet

Stay in close contact with your child’s school

If you have a deaf child or a child with a hearing impairment, you should develop a trusting relationship with the school. You should also ensure that there is regular mutual exchange.

This way you will always be informed about what the school is doing to meet your child’s specific needs. In addition, you should maintain a positive and active attitude and follow the teacher’s recommendations and advice.

Become part of an organization or self-help group

Specialized organizations or self-help groups are the ideal place to get in touch with families who are in the same situation. In fact, these organizations can help you with this:

• To deal with this situation better and less stressful.
• Better to deal with your grief.
• Build a strong and emotional bond with your child.
• To think about your child’s future and what opportunities might be available to them.
• Remove all worries and doubts about your child’s problems.

Deafness and the Attitude of Society

Unfortunately, to this day, society is still insufficiently or partially incorrectly informed about what it really means to be deaf or to suffer from a hearing impairment. There are still many stereotypes about deaf people. Some people speak to them very loudly or very slowly and spell almost every word. This behavior can be very uncomfortable and annoying for those affected.

In short, children with hearing disabilities, their families, and their entire community should take steps that enable those affected to feel welcome, integrated and accepted.