Deafness
and Communication
31CHAPTER
257
Different children have different amounts of
hearing loss
A few children are completely deaf; they do not hear at all.
Parents often notice early that their child cannot hear,
because she does not turn her head or respond, even to
loud sounds.
Much more often, children are partly deaf. A child may
show surprise or turn her head to a loud noise, but not to
softer noises. She may respond to a low-pitched sound
like thunder, a drum, or a cow’s ‘moo’, but not to high-
pitched sounds like a whistle or a rooster crowing. Or (less
commonly) a child may respond to high-pitched sounds
but not low ones.
The child who is completely deaf
does not respond even to very
loud noises. (But he may notice
movements or vibrations caused by
sudden loud noises. For example,
clapping behind the child’s head may
move the air at his neck and cause
the child to turn.)
Some children who are partly deaf hear a little when
people speak to them. They may slowly learn to
recognize and respond to some words. But many
words they do not hear clearly enough to understand.
They are slow to begin to speak. Often they do not
speak clearly, mix up certain sounds, or seem to ‘talk
through their nose’. Unfortunately, sometimes parents,
other children, and teachers do not realize that the child
has difficulty hearing. They may treat her as if she is
mentally slow, or ‘dumb’. This only increases the child’s
problems.
For more information about children with hearing
problems, see Helping Children Who Are Deaf or the
other books listed on page 639.
Problems that may result
For most growing children, hearing and language are
very important for getting to know, understand, and relate
to the people and things around them.
The child who is only partly deaf
hears some sounds, but may not
hear clearly enough to tell the
difference between certain sounds
or words. Families are often slow
to recognize that these children
have difficulty hearing.
COMMUNICATION is the way in
which we understand what is said
to us and the way we say or express
to other people our thoughts, needs,
and feelings. People who can hear
communicate mostly through speech.
For a child with a hearing loss, the biggest problem is learning to communicate. Because
she cannot hear words clearly, it is much more difficult for her to learn to speak. So she has
trouble both understanding what people want, and telling them what she wants. This can
lead to frequent disappointments and misunderstandings, both for the child and others. It is
no surprise, then, that children with hearing loss sometimes are slow in learning to relate to
other people, feel lonely or forgotten, or develop ‘behavior problems’.
The exchange of ideas and information through some form of communication is important
for the development of any child’s mind. Most deaf children are just as intelligent as other
children. But for their mental ability to develop fully, they need to learn to communicate well
from an early age.