Imagine a life where you aren’t able to express yourself through words. Not easy to imagine, right? The fact though is that many children in India and across the world are known to suffer from hearing loss. As per statistics in India, over 63 million people in India are deaf and it is known to be the second most common cause of disability in India. Furthermore, education of the children suffering from auditory loss is a concern because for every 20 lakh deaf children on 25-300 interpreters are available. While communication is a difficulty for people with hearing loss, it makes it all the more overwhelming for kids because they want to communicate so much and aren’t able to do so.
Having a child with auditory loss is again disastrous news for parents when every parent longs to hear their child call them dad or mom. The ideal solution is to observe and go for expert advice. An early diagnosis could go a long way in helping your child deal with this disability. Hearing aids are the preliminary solutions that could help your child drastically. Other hearing loss treatments for children include cochlear implants that help in development of the language and speech of the child of hearing aids are not so helpful.
Benefits of Early Intervention
Early intervention works well with children having auditory loss issues. If parents follow certain guidelines while communication with their children, this could work wonders for your child in the later years.
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Make eye contact while talking to your child. If you are not making eye contact, are looking down or doing something else like reading a newspaper then it could be difficult for the child.
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Keep a distance of around 1-5 meters from your child and face your child. This way your child can see you and read your lips and understand your expressions.
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Do not talk to your child while chewing or eating. This could confuse your child as he or she would not be able to ready the lips and even the pronunciation could be different for a child wearing hearing aids.
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Do not let other sounds interfere with your talk when communicating with your child. So, switch off background stuff like TV, music systems, etc., because it would definitely confuse your child.
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Lastly but most importantly, because your child can’t hear doesn’t mean you shout into them. Talk softly and clearly so they can read you to understand. Shouting wouldn’t be of any use. If your child is facing difficulty understanding, try rephrasing your sentence.
Well, it is difficult to parent a child with auditory loss but if you begin early on and follow the guidelines given above, you should be able to make a notable difference in the life as far as communication is concerned.
*Sourced from Internet
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