Child Hearing Loss

We all know the ramifications of age. We know it brings with it, aging tends to bring HEARING LOSS. But there is a population that falls victim to the world of silence at or near birth so that they never learn the total beauty that nature and life has to offer. The total or partial inability to hear sounds classified as mild, moderate, severe and profound. While MILD HEARING LOSS is the retention of some sense of hearing… incapable of hearing sounds like whispered conversations, dripping water, leaves rustling, feet shuffling on floors/carpets, and birds chirping, MODERATE HEARING LOSS is a more acute loss in one or both ears… they may be unable to hear sounds like normal conversation or the ringing of a telephone. Those classified with SEVERE HEARING LOSS can hear some sounds, but very poorly. They may not be able to hear someone speaking, even if they are using a normal voice. They may be able to hear only very loud sounds. PROFOUND HEARING LOSS designates the ability to hear only very loud speech or loud sounds. People with severe hearing loss cannot hear speech at a conversational level and for people with profound hearing loss, loud sounds are mainly only perceived as vibrations.

At age six, my own child was diagnosed with MODERATE to SEVERE hearing loss after surviving spinal meningitis followed by pneumonia which had hospital physicians predicting his death while recovering from the first days of pneumonia. As if that did not terrify me to the extreme... to wits end, it was only the beginning of raising a potentially handicapped child. The blessing in the definition of that word is that a HANDICAP is something that holds one back. All throughout his life he has met the challenge not to be handicapped for his loss of hearing from his bout with meningitis followed by pneumonia which nearly killed him. Weeks surrounding his third birthday, doctors were ready to sign him off. Instead, a specialist called for tenting and vaporizing the airspace his small bed with inhalants. We are a family that meets set backs head with "it could be worse." Such a devastating illness at such a young age could have left him with mental impairments. As a portion of the hospital's assessment spinal fluid taken by spinal tap revealed the infection which would never have been noticed if not by intervention of my grandmother, a certified nurse assistant working at Doyle’s Nursing Home on Vincennes in Chicago's south side. He was brought home from a weekend paternal visit with his father and stepmother and did not awaken three hours after arriving. My grandmother phoned his grandmother’s home to find that he had been sleeping before leaving and was ill most of the prior day during the three day visitation. He was admitted to the hospital just after his third birthday. Two days later, after the spinal tap, he was diagnosed with meningitis. Meningitis is an inflammation of the fluid and membranes (meninges) surrounding your brain and spinal cord. The swelling from meningitis typically triggers signs and symptoms such as headache, fever and a stiff neck. Most cases of meningitis in the United States are caused by a viral infection, but bacterial, parasitic and fungal infections are other causes. Some cases of meningitis improve without treatment in a few weeks. Others can be life-threatening and require emergency antibiotic treatment. The complications of pneumonia immediately following the battle to escape meningitis were supplemented by interjections of alternated Night watch by me and my grandmother, multiple prayers from as far as Blackfeet Native American reservations in Montana and BREAST AND LUNG TEA. An herbal blend recounted for assisted breathing and recovery from flu. It was nearly one full month before he recovered well enough to come back home with me and his five year old sister; I could continue to love my children. [Research suggests that a blend of Ginger Root tea, Camellia Sinensis tea, black tea, Eucalyptus tea, Fennel tea, and Licorice tea may reduce inflammation, relax your respiratory muscles, and boost your breathing, among other benefits.~ Mayo Clinic] That herbal tea is now available prepacked in many grocery stores and health food stores. At any rate a gain for continued life was the prize... a blessing brought by constant prayers, diligent physicians and or herbal medicine and love. So many children are added to the lot of early life injury or ailment that leaves them and their parent crippled and aiming for stunted expectation for their future. The herbals worked. The physicians hurt. And love cures many aches and pains.

An order for audiology exam followed by an order of hearing aids plants an image of an elderly man or woman for most, but according to statisics, five in one thousand children from preschool through high school age and who, whether from birth illness or injury, fall into the masses requiring some form of hearing apparatus before the issue of age occurs.

Exams

Schools for the deaf are situated in every state in these United States to address educational needs of the hearing impaired of deaf child while attendance in public school or "main streaming" is also an option for some. They feature the same education as provided in public school with additional focus on training in communication with their personal hearing device, social skills for the hearing world around them and learning independent living skills.

Life assistance recommended via MIRANDA HAUS for youth who incidentally end up in homeless young adult family situations and DEF HAUS for young deaf adults assistance into the mainstream of life... referred to State Schools for the Deaf for preparing graduates from high school for life issues beyond teen years into adult life. Because of their status it was felt that additional support toward locating employment, fitting into community and assimilating themselves in the financial world where basic living requirements such as accounting for household expenses, communicating to prospective employers and generally fitting into the hearing environment.

Age and on into Retirement with hearing aids!? Here we go again!

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