Is hearing impairment not uncommon with ASD?

[billabong]

My nephew is in his mid-twenties and, the more I'm learning about AS (with an AS husband), the more I suspect that my nephew - on my side of the family - is AS. I can see traits in his mother and his grandfather. They are all hard of hearing, particularly my nephew.

 

Thanks for any advice - I'm sure it will follow.

 

Billabong

 

PS did you like the double-negative?

[peppa]

My niece is five and hearing impaired, she was diagnosed with ASD early this year, no connection was mentioned, but they were told its not uncommon.

 

Sorry cant give more insight, hopefully someone can give more info.

[JsMum]

J had to under go loads of hearing tests because they though he had impaired hearing, he has serious sensory issues, and he actually hears better than most children, to him things are crystal clear and painfull, overtime he has more assessments and what seems to be the problem for J is the prossessing, and how he recieves the information, there for he has receptive impairments.

 

JsMum

[madme]

I don't know about hearing impaired but my son was suggested to also have APD(auditory processing Disorder) when he was 6 - he is now 13 and we have never managed to get him referred appropriately. I tried to get a referral to GOS years ago( after a locum SALT said he also has APD probably) but the GP didnt undrstand and it was rejected and at the time ADHD and asd seemed the way forward. I do know that my son often doesnt hear me or his teachers even when he appears to be concentrating and he apparently has good hearing. He cannot hold a conversation properly if the radio is on. He finds it hard tom"tune in and out" all the noises around him.

[JsMum]

I don't know about hearing impaired but my son was suggested to also have APD(auditory processing Disorder) when he was 6 - he is now 13 and we have never managed to get him referred appropriately. I tried to get a referral to GOS years ago( after a locum SALT said he also has APD probably) but the GP didnt undrstand and it was rejected and at the time ADHD and asd seemed the way forward. I do know that my son often doesnt hear me or his teachers even when he appears to be concentrating and he apparently has good hearing. He cannot hold a conversation properly if the radio is on. He finds it hard tom"tune in and out" all the noises around him.

 

 

 

If a child has a diagnosis of ADHD it is highly likely it will be Auditory Proscessing Disorder, Like you its hard to get this recognised and diagnosed so ADHD is much more suspected and diagnosed quicker, personally I feel that ADHD is APD.

 

JsMum

[billabong]

I do know that my son often doesnt hear me or his teachers even when he appears to be concentrating and he apparently has good hearing. He cannot hold a conversation properly if the radio is on. He finds it hard tom"tune in and out" all the noises around him.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. My nephew wears hearing aids (well, he does when he can be bothered) so has been diagnosed as having a hearing impairment.

 

I'm intrigued by the similarities between ASD people and 'highly-sensitive' NT people. I'm one of the latter and identify entirely with what I've quoted above. I even had a hearing test and was told that my hearing was perfectly good. There's no way I can hold a conversation with DH (AS) while the radio is on, I can't pick out voices if there's lots of background noise and I'm forever saying 'pardon'. I used to cover up my ears as a child if the vacuum was on, and still find it unnerving if someone else is vacuuming. Guess it's over-sensitivity, however you're wired. No, I'm definitely not AS. Anyone else with the same experience?

[bikemad]

Interesting thread my son wears bilateral hearing aids n is on the waiting list for an op for a 3rd set of grommits...theyalso think he has adhd.

[jewel]

Hi

My son 8yrs dx AS wears hearing aids, moderate loss and has glue ear..infact we thought most of his problems were at 1st about his hearing, interesting!

[jb1964]

Guess it's over-sensitivity, however you're wired. No, I'm definitely not AS. Anyone else with the same experience?

 

 

Hi Billabong,

 

My daughter (ASD) cannot filter out noises and gets very upset/can't concentrate etc - and oddly enough hubby is exactly the same. I myself have high sensitivity to smells - and again so does my daughter.

 

She was under the audiology clinic every couple of months because they were convinced she couldn't hear properly as she forever had ear infections and her readings on the machines were pretty poor. This got better when she was older (9/10yrs) - I think it's quite a common problem - something to do with the length of some tube in the ear or something similar?!!!!

 

Take care,

Jb

Edited October 1, 2008 by jb1964

[MelowMeldrew]

This brings back memories ! I am deaf so is my son's mother, and we had 11 (!) tests on our son when we took him to be diagnosed, after I watched a program on autism on TV and recognized the issues in my son. I had to really really fight the medical profession and the SS over it, they refused to believe deafness or hearing loss wasn't the reason my son's communication was poor, and, blamed his parents as well ! Had I not threatened them with court action and demanded a specialist look at him which would have been the norm for anyone else, then my son would not be diagnosed as an autistic, and in a special school now. The specialist took 11 MINUTES to come out with "Your son has Aspergers, and there is nothing wrong with his hearing..." He has had hearing tests EVERY year since with no sign of any loss at all..... The sheer prejudice and ignorance we got from the medical profession who at one point suggested autism was the result of having deaf parents and other mind-boggling declarations was on file too. Some facts they could have been made aware of 9 out of every 10 parents of someone deaf is HEARING, the majority of parents with autistic children are also hearing.. There is no survey or statistic that suggests deaf people have higher incidence of autistic children, a deliberate blame culture from the NHS ! A number of problems exist, via assessment, autistic assessment focus's on communications and social interactions, they WILL fail to work IF that child or indeed an adult has a hearing loss, since hearing loss WILL seriously affect social interaction too, the problem I had was even when the tests displayed many times NO hearing loss in my son (My father had the opposite he had hypercausis), and I suspect my son has it too, because of his excessive reluctance to be in areas where there are noise levels, there were times when they still suggest deaf people were to blame for their son's autism, after I had proven them wrong via dubious genetic suggestions, they chpped away at us, deaf people can't talk DOH ! My son seems in pain if the TV is a little louder than usual, my TV sets and audio devices are set by hearing relatives to a reasonable but comfortable level and are never changed, we found the level our son tolerates, and everything is set to that. If he goes to school and they have music lessons he will just sit there with his fingers in this ears, he hates loud noise, if someone talks loud he will tell them to shut up, which gets me into situations sometimes ! He seems to want total silence all the time, which we, DON'T !

Edited October 2, 2008 by MelowMeldrew

[Sooze2]

My son was thought to be deaf at 6 months but would scream at sudden noises like laughing, the hoover, a drill etc etc.

 

He had grommits fitted at 5 which solved the hearing problem. That didn't stop him zoneing out and not reponding to people when they spoke to him though, thats when we thought he was just totally ignorant lol! Now we know different.

 

So yes he did have a hearing problem but now he just has a reponding problem!!!

[Zosmum]

This makes really interesting reading

Z had grommets age 5 then went on to have Tonsils and adanoids out and a second set of grommets age 6

A lot of her early problems with social and behaviour in school and home were put down to her not hearing

Maybe she wasn't able to listen rather than not able to hear

[billabong]

I agree, this is really interesting - and thanks for the comments re your own and your family's experiences, Jb. Certain smells as a child used to make me heave - DH still reacts that way to certain food smells. I hate bright lights - especially if there's a spotlight which I can see from the corner of my eye - and, even though I like music, I prefer not having background music.

 

Re hearing, now I think about it, nephew seemed to be forever having grommets (not Grommit) fitted as a child. Hm, think I need to ask my brother a few tactful questions.