By Maria del Mar Granados LópezDeafness is one of those losses to the naked eye can not detect. Its diagnosis is not easy, especially in the first years of life because they are the parents along with professionals, who have to discover that the baby something happens out of the ordinary and what exactly he has. The problem in these cases is that time is working against, and the sooner it is detected before the hearing is to be able to stimulate communication between the baby, her parents and the rest of the family, so its development will be less committed.
It is true that when a baby comes home, parents have to adapt to a new rhythm of life, have to meet the new family member to meet their needs. The chest to demand regular changing diapers or bathing absorb most of the time of those parents that at no time raised their son or daughter has been born deaf.
It is usually around 2 or 3 years when definitive diagnosis is achieved, but there are a number of clues that can help parents to bring their offspring to a specialist and this determines whether or not a problem.
Early signs
In a newborn child is very difficult to know if you hear or not. We can say that if the baby is very quiet and not disturbed, startled or awakened by loud noises that occur in their environment, parents must remain vigilant. Another warning signs in children under 6 months the baby would not be reassured to hear the voice of his mother or any family member to maintain frequent contact or unwilling to smile when spoken to this. If the baby turns his head and looks around the person speaking, or emit guttural sounds to attract attention, is also a sign of suspicion.
As the child grows is easier to detect the problem. After 6 months, hearing children begin to imitate the adult and make sounds. The deaf child does not babble or is oriented toward sounds. Not include the meaning of "goodbye" or "no" unless these words are accompanied by a gestural sign. Between 12 and 18 months, not "Dad" or "mama", does not name common objects or says something when he is appointed. In these cases, consult a specialist. True, it may not try to deafness or other condition as each baby has its own pace of development, but yet with a simple test you can discover whether or not a bigger problem and to act in time.
The baby gets older
It would be concerned that a child from 18 months did not pay attention to the stories tailored to their age, although they lend it to your drawings especially if they are colorful and bright. Please identify your name or two-word phrases do not understand simple orders not accompanied by gestures, parents are another warning sign.
A from 3 years the signs would be obvious if you do not understand the words that you say or repeat phrases or answer when asked about simple things. From age 4, the deaf child can not tell what's wrong or is able to hold a simple conversation.
The exception in the rule
Although there are tricks to detect hearing loss, sometimes it is necessary to be guided by intuition, because they fail. It is possible that deaf children do respond to "auditory stimulus" without knowing that there is a sound, because this propagates through space and the small waves are perceived by other places other than hearing, the chest area the body on which rests, head, etc..
There are other times when there is hearing loss affects only specific sounds. It is likely that children have more trouble hearing in some environments than others-for example listening at home but not in the park or with specific people, listening to dad but not his grandmother.
They also often play a deaf child to make more noise, not bothered by the noise produced or need more amount of noise to the ear perceives something that only obeying orders when he is looking at who gives them and that about it falling phrases like "only serves what he wants and when he wants." In addition, these children often play alone and are in particular difficulty with pronunciation of certain sounds-R, S, D, L, J and T-.
© Maria del Mar Granados Lopez.
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