Has your child ever been considered to have hearing problems?

[DaisyProudfoot]

Reading the posts on this site I've noticed a lot of people's children were first considered to have hearing problems before a diagnosis was given.

 

My son spent years back and forth to the hospital checking for hearing problems and he turned out to have perfect hearing but was given a diagnosis of AS.

 

Anyone else experienced this?

[Sarah666]

Hi Daisy

 

Although J(9) hasnt been diagnosed yet(waiting for CAMHS appointment), as a younger child, he was always having to have hearing tests. I remember the HV telling me when he was about 4 that he can hear but chooses not to listen , and now here we are, years later awaiting diagnosis

 

love

 

Sarah

Edited March 20, 2006 by Sarah666

[Lynden]

Yup, Logan failed a few health visitor hearing tests, although it was perfectly obvious he could hear, he didn't respond by turning his head so they had to fail him. He had the full hearing tests in hospital after being referred and has perfect hearing - just like we said he had.

 

Lynne

[LKS]

Hi Daisy my dd has had many hearing tests in the past but they were all OK. However she is due to be assessed at GOSH for auditory processing problems, which is not what you hear but how the brain deals with the information. The consultant has told me that many children with ASD suffer from this.

[Tilly]

Dd appeared not to hear very well when she was young, now she can hear feathers falling.

When she was 2 years old she had grommets inserted as she had glue ear.

 

Just last month an old lady was talking to me and asked how my family were etc. and asked how my little one who was deaf was coming along

 

Tilly

[Jill]

I thought The Boy was deaf (didn't respond to his name or even when we were offering something he wanted).

 

Turns out he has excellent hearing - was just me spotting the early signs of ASD I guess & not knowing anything about it at the time assuming he must be deaf.

[oracle]

Even though Matthew passed his hearing tests as a baby his hearing was the first thing they ruled out before they continued on the ASD path.

 

Carole

[helenl53]

I follow the same pattern as Llaverty - hearing tests before one year old, subsequent testing at every developmental check for sluggish hearing - then threat of exclusion for pushing and agression towards other kids in nursery and lack of remorse Told by nursery manager that deaf children can be aggresive caused by frustration. Medical and HV said no - no one thought about AS - too busy chasing me for burning my child! (that is another story!) Hubby and I sought out private audio guy - couple of hundred quid later - no probs - very very slight glue ear but nothing to write home about.

 

Amongst our group of parents, this is almost universal that the kids were tested for hearing problems.

 

HelenL

[Guest flutter]

dd was deaf

had grommet for a bit

all good now tho

[Paula]

Yep

 

My son convinced the powers that be he was profoundly deaf.He even had some women comeing every week to teach him sign language.

 

I knew he werent deaf because the young ###### could hear a pin drop if the mood took him.He was an expert at bloomeing ignoreing everything around him.It was only wehen he had a cochliar hearing test brainwave thingmajig that they realised his hearing was perfect.I fealt like shouting i told yer so.

[nellie]

Yes. My eldest had two hearing tests in his early years, he was found to have no hearing problems.

 

Nellie xx

[Tylers-mum]

Yep, y son was issues with a hearing aid back a few years ago, he has moderate hearing loss. I believe that this dx hampered his HFA dx in that the Pead etc kept putting his ASD issues down to his hearing loss!

He still wears an aid now and has since been dx HFA also.

 

Just wanted to clarify that T does have a hearing loss (I too wear an aid, as does a few other members of my family). It's not that he was mis-dx or anything.

Edited March 20, 2006 by Tylers-mum

[jb1964]

My daughter was having 6 monthly audiology appointments from when she was very little - right up until she was around 5yrs. She failed practically all of them and they told me that if it wasn't for my insistence that she could hear they would have had her down as having severe hearing problems.

 

Having said all that she continually had ear infections which didn't help.

Jb

[Bullet]

Yes, Ds1 did have glue ear. But I don't think it was as bad as was thought. The number of times I would feel daft for saying he had glue ear as he turned towards the sound of a bell ringing, or some paper rustling was uncanny. But a dog could bark its head off right next to him and he wouldn't bat an eyelash.

[Jill]

What's interesting (to me) about this thread is the number of people that say their child had a lot of ear infections. The Boy had an ear infection with every tooth he cut. My MIL actually commented on it at the time - she suggested I mentioned it to the HV because my hubby has a cousin (who is now 21) that was exactly the same, always had ear infections, and was dx as dispraxyic (I actually think he's ASD too, but that's just my opinion). At the time I thought she was crackers - how could ear infections denote anything else - but I often wonder now, as it seems such a common theme within Autistic children.

[Tylers-mum]

T also had a LOT of ear infections and also glue ear (proven to be true via the test they do with a thingy me jib they put in his ear and it reads the eardrum pulses) when he was younger.

Not so many ear infections now though, touch wood.

Edited March 20, 2006 by Tylers-mum

[bjkmummy]

my son had hearing problems - we went private last year and he had grommits in - hearing is now perfect but the asd problem got worse so hence why we are goung down the dx path at the moment. i feel that a lot of his problems were put down to his hearing - oncehearing sorted out everyone became aware that this was just masking something else

[Kathryn]

My daughter had a hearing test at the age of about 8/9 as the teacher had raised concerns that she wasn't responding sometimes in the classroom. Her hearing was found to be OK. We didn't know at the time that it was an auditory processing problem, and it was to be another 6 years before her dx of AS.

[Suze]

Yes my son also had several auditory tests done pre-school age.He appeared to have selective hearing.

[Mother in Need]

Yes, my ds was thought to have hearing problems as well (which he didn't) but this was more because they didn't want to recognise that he was dyslexic (which was proven he was by private EP).

[fiorelli]

.

Edited May 10, 2006 by fiorelli

[phasmid]

Same story here. Phas Jr was tested at about 2 yrs old for hearing. He passed it without difficulty. This was just the start of a series of tests that culminated in his being DX'd autistic at three - they just didn't tell us that! (but thats a different story)

 

Oddly enough my twins both had almost constant ear infections and one has since been dx'd with mild hearing loss in one ear, this has been put down to the very servere jaundice he had when he was born, niether of them have ever been suspected, by us or anyone else, to be anywhere on or near the spectrum.

[sharron]

k had a ear infections every time he cut a tooth, the hv thought he had a hearing problem when he was 2, but they they werent sure so they kept testing his hearing every 6 months, they have since found out he has got a slight hearing loss on his right side as well as asd.

[justamom]

Even though Matthew passed his hearing tests as a baby his hearing was the first thing they ruled out before they continued on the ASD path.

 

 

Same here , took the words out of my mouth carole!!!

[lisa35]

Thought this may of interest_ Iposted on another site- so cut & apsted it

Lisa

 

 

New to this site so hello !

My son is 10 & for several yrs he s struggled at school, socially more than academically, hes had glue ear & grommets twice!

Had a recent assesment at school from Learning Support Service that in summary said

displays some traits of aspergers

Specific Learning Difficulty- Auditory Pocessing

Non verbal cues

Social Interaction

I knw that the non verbal stuff and interaction relate t the traits of aspergers

But what about the auditory stuff? A lot of what Ive read sounds just like him- worse in noisy environment, etc,etc,

So what do I need to do next? Im muddled as many of the autistic spectrum traits and aud processing all overlap!!!

He s waiting for further assessment for a paedriatrician but do I ask to see an audiologist?

Sorry if Im garbled, a lot to try to understand!

Also, is aud processing regarded as on the spectrum?

Thanks

Lisa

 

 

 

 

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From: DonnaKer Sent: 20/03/2006 10:56

Hi Lisa

 

Your son sounds very similar to mine - he is also 10 and has problems with social skills, non-verbal cues, etc. Aspergers has been suggested a number of times and every time I look at it in detail he has some traits on the spectrum but really does not fit into any serious definition of Aspergers - the problems are just too mild except on the auditory side. I eventually found out about auditory processing problems, took him to the local audiologist who had heard of auditory prcoessing but that was the extent of his knowledge, he could do no tests and knew nobody he could refer us to! We then lucked in by finding out that the local speech and language specialist had an interest in auditory processing issues and could help. It is not a standard speciality of speech and language therapists. So the first thing to do is find someone who knows something about auditory processing - APD UK can come up with suggestions - I can point you in the right direction if you live in south Cumbria. It may be an audiologist or it may not! I've never met a pedeatrian who knew anything about it, but they must exist somewhere.

 

My son did the SCAN-C test (an american test) which clearly showed up that he has an auditory processing problem. The problem probably dates back to ear infections when he was a toddler. There can be various reaons for auditory processing problems orginating in various parts of the brain. It appears that he has an integration deficit between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, i.e. the two halves of the brain were not working well together so that the two ears were not working well together and hence he was struggling to make sense of what he heard. It also however meant that he struggled with non verbal cues because visual processing is done by one side of the brain and auditory processing by the other side. He also had diffculty in putting complex thoughts into words (he is a mainly visual thinkers so his thoughts start as images not words). He could always talk about things he was interested in and could be very chatty but there was a significany delay in anwering verbal questions and great diffciulty in putting emotions or fears into words, or writing down stories. Problems at school would not come pouring out of him but had to be gently eased out. Slight motor clumsiness as well.

 

Because there can be different causes of auditory processing problems there are differnet solutions. Many of the suggested remedies for auditory processing problems such as sitting where you could see the teacher clearly and making use of non-verbal cues and lip reading were of no use for my son because he did not like to look and listen at the same time. The visual cues muddled the auditory cues.

 

The good news is that my son has done a course of sound therapy which has made a major difference!!. It was 10 minutes a day listening to some special classical sounding music, the easiest therapy to implement I have ever heard of. School is astounded at the disappearance of the delay in answering questions, he can now participate in a verbal question and answer discussion in a group. We have just had an assessment of motor skills which showed up no problems with motor skills, social skills are improving (though I am an not sure if he will ever catch up those missing years in socal awareness), he can express emotions as words far more easily (we had a tearful few months while he got used to that). The thing I am least certian of is how much his listening has improved, it is still very hard to get his attention if he is reading a book. So there is a lot of hope - major changes can occur if you can figure out what the problem is and find the right therapy - APD UK can tell you about the latest tests being developed, specialists and therapies linked to the tests. We did the Johannsen Sound Therapy which was available for free from speech and language however I don't think many areas offer it - it is usually available on a commercial basis and is quite expensive. There are various commercial therapies available. The trouble with a commecial set up is you are not sure if they are recommending it because it is right for your son or for the money!.

 

Re Apgergers and auditory processing. Auditory processing is not part of the autistic spectrum! It is quite possible to have auditroy processing and not have Aspergers. However the spectrum is very wide, and having some sort of processing / sensory problems is now starting to be seen as part of the autistic spectrum. I.e. being autistic will nearly always involve some sort of sensory / processing problem BUT having an auditory processing problem does NOT mean you are austitic. I did supect my son might have both but having seen the difference the sound therapy has made I am starting to discount that possibility. No one is seriously suggesting you can cure Autism quite that easily. If he does have both it is still worthwhile treating the auditory procesing problems, one major problem with a diagnosis of Aspergers is that it seems to come with a suggestion that there is not much to be done about it and you just have to acept his limitations. The auditory processing coiuld be a seperate problem and still be treatable! Or it could be a linked problem, the integration deficit I descibed could be linked to the Apsergers which would also involve a wider problem in the brain. Either way there it is worth doing something about the auditory processing. It may make a major difference.

 

Good luck!

 

Donna

 

 

 

 

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From: lisa35 Sent: 20/03/2006 19:02

Hi Donna,

First of all Id like to say thankyou so much for taking the time & trouble to respond to my query

So much of what you ve said has made a lot of sense, in fact just last night I was saying to hubby- it seems unfair for Joe- not only has he probs with aud processing but also reading body language, cues,etc

If he had one & not other he could compensate, he doesnt fit many of the asperger criteria either, & a lot of his behaviour could be realted to the auditory problems

Im up north, West Yorkshire, but think Ive seen a speech & language therapist in Sheffield on the site, so when I go see the paed I think Ill take you re email if thats ok & see what she thinks

One thing Ive realised is how little the professionals really know, and Ive learnt lots through my own reading/ research

My son sounds so much like yours- the emotions & expressing them especially, he finds this very difficult, for example, he lost his grandad (my dad ) recently & finds it so difficult to express his feelings (tho Im sure this isnt uncommon in most 10 year olds!)

Joe has yet another hearing test soon, but I dont want the paed to blame his problems on his grommets/ glue ear as I think theyve always been there, even when his hearing has been 100%, I do believe thought that its worse for him when hearings poor

It maybe that he does have traits & the aud processing issues, but what youve said is so helpful that if that is the case we can help him most appropriatley

Asfor the music therapy- funny you say that, my son has always loved classical music!!!!

Did you find your son worse when superfocused on something , such as tv, reading, I have to switch off tv, physically stand in front of him at times & get him to look at me, also if we re in another room he drives us nuts shouting us as he cant tell which room / where in the house we are??!!

Thanks so much again

Lisa

[cmuir]

Hi

 

My son had several hearing tests as a baby due to the fact that he wasn't responding to sounds in the usual way by using appropriate eye contact. At the time it didn't make any sense, but makes sense now.

 

Caroline.

[bettybiscuit123]

Pretty much the same as some of you, my son had hearing test when he was a baby and didnt respond so had a more thorough hearing test at the hospital which was fine.

Then when the health visitors grew concerned with his delay in developement they referred him for hearing tests again, which were all fine, a year later he was diagnosed with autism.

[jen]

my son has had lots of hearing injections. He is hyposensitive to some noises e.g he hears sounds coming out of the teachers mouth before she talks. Hears creatures in the ground tunneling along the dirt. Yet he misses other sounds. High decibel sounds cause him extrem pain. Currently he is being assessed for an sensory and auditory processing disorder.

 

Jen

[pim]

Hi,

 

It's so interesting that so many had concerns with their childs hearing. With Ds we had it checked when he was 3 as he didn't seem to respond to questions. I thought his hearing was good as he could hear things when he wanted to. It was his nursery who raised some concerns. The audiologist said his hearing was good even though he didn't do many of the tests. She was blasting sound to his left and right ear. He just ignored it and carried on playing. She was clued up and realised that it wasn't because he couldn't hear. She was concerned by his behaviour and refered him to be seen by a paeditrician. Three months later he was dx with ASD. SO it's a big thanks to the audiologist for picking it up and of course the paeditrician.

 

pim

[tmf]

Hi

 

 

DS was born with a bi(something) earlobe. He was on a drip for his 1st day, after numerous visits they decided they were concerned about his earlobe and whether his hearing was affected or not. I ended up having to stay in hospital for 5 days with him whilst he had numerous tests. All of which were fine.

 

During his 1st year though, he had a number of ear infections and plenty of hearing tests. Glad to say now his hearing is fine and no long term damage.

 

Just selected hearing

[karin]

hi all my twins always failed their hearing test at the time of the health visitors check ups and was sent to hopsital constantly to have other hearing tests done twin2 had recurrant ear infections and was fed antibiotics till they came out of him (sorry bout the qip its just that they realise now that too many antibiotics are not good for you wish they had known that when twin2 was a baby ) even up till last year they had a hearing test as the so called specialist thought they might be deaf turns out he was they weren't (i mean he didn't listen to me or hubby when we told him they had been for numerous hearing tests and all came back normal) funny how all our kids have had probs with hearing makes you think if you knew then what you knew now keep smilin luv karin xxx

[neda]

A has had hearing tests as well, 3 in the past 18 months all have shown his hearing is fine.

[Melow]

We had all this too, and it was complicated by the fact I was deaf. My son had no less than 9 tests on his hearing, he passed A1 on them all ! The switch then came... he wasn't talking much because I was dumb ! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! We had two years of VERY Heavy arguments and upsets, we were in fact as parents under seige from the medical profession and the social worker, who nagged away at us to 'talk' more to him (My speech is perfect !). As it all kicked in at about 18 months-2years I suspected Autism (it was linked to the MMR thing), and I suggested a consultant might examine my son, they refused still saying you MUST Talk more to him, So I took my son to the consultant and camped outside his office (It was a her actually !), I had to wait a further 2 months but he was examined and declared ASD the same day without doubt, and, his hearing was they viewed 'selective' but perfect, they also added "HIs father is a very erudite person, his speech very good, and actually speaks 3 languages !) .

 

My son's speech was VERY selective ! they did the old rattle test and his eyes never blinked, which is pretty difficult for a child who would if they can hear respond some way, mine didn't ! He has very good hearing in fact, and can detect certain sounds quite far away others don't. He will hear all you say, he may or may not decide if you are worthy of an answer, it has to come from him, nobody can seem to be able to encourage it but me it seems. We suffered as much as him early on, we were all under relentless pressure from the 'support' and system, whom I declared incompetent frankly, this took away emphasis from what was really happening, because we rowed all the time, I'm still angry about it. It took a further 6 years to actually get hima special school placing, even after mainstream, special needs, and an autistic 'add-on' failed. They dug in near most of my son's life rather than suggest I might be right. KNowing I was didn't endear me to them either, a complete shower, I really fear for some parents who might well have given up long ao, I'm glad I stuck with it. but it took a heavy toll.

[Flora]

Daisy, my youngest (Luke) was seen by a paed aged 3 because he was totally none verbal. The first thing he did was refer Luke for thorough hearing assessment which actually proved he had virtually no hearing due to severe glue ear on both sides. This discovery fogged the whole issue for a long time because all his development problems were put down to hearing impairment. Once the glue ear cleared up it became apparent that it was a bit more than that and he has since been dx with Semantic Pragmatic disorder and ASD and dyslexia. The hearing issue delayed his dx by 3 years!

 

William was also sent for hearing tests aged 3 which proved perfectly normal; he was eventually dx AS aged 8.

 

Lauren

[Melow]

The Irony of all this was my son babbled away as per usual for his age at 18months to 2 years, then stopped, it's not as if he never spoke, he did, the shut down overnight. Like many other things we considered the MMR to be at the base of it as it happened 2 within weeks after his jabs, no GP entertained the idea. We got no explanations no further referel but those we pushed for ourselves. If a child stops talking overnight, one would sugges there is some issue involved ! the medical profession and SS in my area put it down to ME being deaf, you could not credit it. I should have sued their ass off there and then. As it was we changed the health visitor, our GP, we moved home, dumped the Psychology person at his school, (Who was too stupid to be allowed near ASD kids, he had no idea what he was doing or saying, at least he admitted it), and we had to have his 'reports' removed from my son's files as a result, we then ended up demanding his speech and language therapist be changed, because she was hostile to us as deaf people, and displayed complete ignorance about AS and how communication actually works, (HOW do they train these people ?), as deaf people we are highly tuned to what actually does and doesn't, if it doesn't we cannot follow, easy enough ! and I wasn't born deaf, had a hearing background of 30 yrs from birth like most. You end up fighting so many battles when the only one that should count is your child's. At one point we had the mind-boggling view of a language therapist "The boy's AS seems to be directly attributed to the fact he has two deaf parents" so now you know .... She also resigned 4 weeks after we had her removed, good riddance...