Chapter 5
What can your
child hear?
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Some children are completely deaf and cannot hear
at all or can hear only very loud sounds. When
babies are very young, parents notice their babies
cannot hear, because they do not turn their head
or respond, even to loud sounds.
Many more children with some hearing
loss can still hear a few sounds. This sort of
hearing loss can be harder for parents to
notice. A child may show surprise or turn
her head to a loud noise, but not to softer
noises. She may respond only to certain
kinds of sounds. Some children can still
hear a little when people speak to them.
They may slowly learn to recognize and respond to some words. But they
do not hear all words clearly enough to understand. Children with this
sort of hearing loss are slow to learn to speak.
Many children develop hearing loss because of repeated and long-lasting
ear infections, or as a side effect of certain medicines (for causes of
deafness see Chapter 15). Parents may not notice a child is slowly losing
his hearing until he is maybe 4 or 5 years old and has not yet started
talking, or is not talking clearly.
If you can find out early how much your child can hear, it will help
you know what kind of extra help to give him so he can communicate.
Sometimes parents, other children, or teachers think a child with hearing
loss is mentally slow. If children who are deaf get extra help to learn
to communicate, most of them can learn and be educated like other
children. That is why it is important to find out what, if anything, a
child can hear.