8 Tips For Helping Your Child Adjust To Hearing Loss

Health & Medical Blog

After an older child is diagnosed with hearing loss, you have the responsibility of helping him or her adjust to this new state. Due to the impact hearing loss can have on your child, you have to go to work quickly to help your child adjust. Here are some tips to help you and your child adjust to hearing loss:

1. Get family involved. By involving family in developing communication strategies, you help to ensure that everyone understands their part in making life a bit easier for your child.
2. Make hearing aids more attractive. A skin tone colored hearing aid can be offsetting to a child. Look for colorful aids with funky accessories to make wearing the devices more appealing to your child.
3. Talk to your child more. If your child is refusing to wear the hearing aids as needed, encourage family and friends to talk to him or her more. At some point, your child will start wearing the devices more because he or she will want to know what is being said.
4. Check for understanding. When talking to your child, ensure that he or she is actually understanding what is being communicated. You can ask your child to repeat back to you what is being said.
5. Focus on the positives. Celebrate positive moments with your child to encourage him or her to wear the hearing aid more. This can be an upsetting experience, but you can help make it more bearable through encouragement and praise.
6. Develop problem solving strategies. When your child has a problem related to hearing, encourage him or her to work with you to find solutions. By involving your child, you help him or her to avoid frustration but understanding there are solutions available. 
7. Be patient. When communicating with your child, it is important you are patient. If your child is feeling self-conscious about wearing a hearing aid, it can impact his or her ability to quickly formulate responses to questions.
8. Get an adjustment. If your child is still refusing to wear the hearing aids, have the devices assessed. There is a chance that the hearing aids are causing discomfort that is making them less desirable to your child.

Talk to your child's pediatrician and audiologist or get hearing aid counseling about any concerns that you have with your child's hearing loss. The sooner you communicate issues to them, the sooner you can have those problems resolved. With a solid plan in place, you can help your child deal with his or her loss of hearing in the best way possible.

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7 January 2015