Re: Families with more than one HOH child

May 23, 2001

wrote:

>? And does anyone know the probabilities of a third child having

>hearing loss also? My husband and I have debated having a third and

> >decided

>probably not because of the hearing issue

I don't know that there has ever been a study done on it. Our audiologist

told me that my children have a chance (my hearing children) of having a

child with a hearing loss. I am not sure that we would continue to see this

audiologist. I hope that that possibility does not deter them from being

parents because both are great kids who have adapted well and love their

sister. They are her greatest playmate. Additionally, my fiance and I are

blending a family. I would love to have a child with him. Having had

Hayley does not deter me - I would have another one in a minute. The

stresses of cross country move, new job and most importantly - my age - 40

this year - is pointing to no more kids. But possible hearing loss is not

why we would not have another, and I certainly hope other parents who want

more children are not deterred because their children *could* have a hearing

loss.

v/r

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May 23, 2001

Hi :0)

I really think it is a personal decision. Having a child with a

significant hearing problem is a major stressor on any family in terms

of the commitment of the extra time and money involved. Some people may

wish not to commit to such extra stress in their life (esp if they're

already living through it once) and may instead prefer to just sit back

and relax, enjoying what they have. Some relationships may be on the

verge of breaking already and that little extra stress can do them in.

Some may not even be up to it the first go around. How many hearing

aids can one family afford? How much speech therapy? For some

families, having another child with hearing loss can take away from the

support available for the rest of the family...esp, if there's already

one child...$5,000 just for h/a's, second child...another $5,000 just

for h/a's.....then, if you want them to develop speech, thousands and

thousands a year again for speech therapy... It truly is a personal

decision and if it's a second child, I think that decision is impacted

with how hard the struggle was with the first and what kind of successes

they've achieved when that parent is considering another. Do you think

your thoughts would have been significantly different 4-5 years ago

before Hayley made such tremendous gains? Luckily, I don't have to make

that decision as I'm now too old for children and 's hearing loss

was not hereditary.

" E. Mapa " wrote:

>

> wrote:

>

> >? And does anyone know the probabilities of a third child having

> >hearing loss also? My husband and I have debated having a third and

> > >decided

> >probably not because of the hearing issue

>

> I don't know that there has ever been a study done on it. Our audiologist

> told me that my children have a chance (my hearing children) of having a

> child with a hearing loss. I am not sure that we would continue to see this

> audiologist. I hope that that possibility does not deter them from being

> parents because both are great kids who have adapted well and love their

> sister. They are her greatest playmate. Additionally, my fiance and I are

> blending a family. I would love to have a child with him. Having had

> Hayley does not deter me - I would have another one in a minute. The

> stresses of cross country move, new job and most importantly - my age - 40

> this year - is pointing to no more kids. But possible hearing loss is not

> why we would not have another, and I certainly hope other parents who want

> more children are not deterred because their children *could* have a hearing

> loss.

>

> v/r

>

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May 23, 2001

I'm also very interested in this topic. I have three children with one on

the way. My oldest was identified with hearing loss nearly 3 years ago.

Shortly thereafter, we had our other two children tested and they were both

perfectly normal. We learned last Friday, two years after breathing a sigh

of relief that our two younger children had normal hearing, that my middle

daughter (age 6) is showing a mild-moderate loss in one ear. It's also

high-frequency loss like her sister's -- although sister's loss is in both

ears. Very frustrating and difficult to deal with since we thought we were

" home free " on the two younger children...only to see onset of loss around

age 5 or 6 with my middle child. I'm curious if others found that they

experienced the same grieving process with the second child as they did with

the first -- that the pain wasn't lessened by the fact that they'd already

been-there-done-that??

I would suspect it would have a lot to do with the type and cause of the

loss which has not been definitely identified in our family -- despite the

connexin testing, CT scans, blood work, no family history, etc. etc. Our

audies and ENTs suspect some type of as-of-yet-unidentified, recessive

genetic mutation which would, statistically, give a 1 in 4 chance that any

one of our children could have a hearing loss.

But, yes -- I am definitely also interested in other people's experiences

and stories.

Pam

Families with more than one HOH child

> I am just curious about families that have more than one HOH child. Both

of

> my girls are moderate/severe. I had to the audiologist yesterday and

> we were comparing the two sister's audiograms and found them to be

> identical. In fact, they will soon be wearing idential aids. Is this

> common? And does anyone know the probabilities of a third child having

> hearing loss also? My husband and I have debated having a third and

decided

> probably not because of the hearing issue.

> Just curious.......

>

> , mom to

> , 9, moderate/severe, Oticon analogs, soon to be Phonak Claros

> , 6, moderate/severe, Phonak Claros

>

> All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post

is the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to

copyright restrictions.

>

May 23, 2001

MY oldest is HOH, girl and my middle is hearing, girl, then my youngest (of

first husband) has a severe profound loss. boy,, I have another younger child

who is hearing (second husband). My ex sopposibly has a mild loss but feels

that it was contributed to loud noise, also with my father same thing.

My oldest has one ear worse then the other, the docs feel it was because of

all the ear infections when she was younger. So if it weren't for that she

would have only had a mild loss.

you should look into some genetic counseling, maybe they can give you some

insight and some probililties, but I have met entire families from

grandparents on down who are deaf....and deaf Mom with deaf and hearing child.

A childs a gift and perhaps when they are older you wont feel so unsure of

having another deaf child.

I personally feel it would be easier to have one or the other its hard to

have a mixed family.

May 23, 2001

MY oldest is HOH, girl and my middle is hearing, girl, then my youngest (of

first husband) has a severe profound loss. boy,, I have another younger child

who is hearing (second husband). My ex sopposibly has a mild loss but feels

that it was contributed to loud noise, also with my father same thing.

My oldest has one ear worse then the other, the docs feel it was because of

all the ear infections when she was younger. So if it weren't for that she

would have only had a mild loss.

you should look into some genetic counseling, maybe they can give you some

insight and some probililties, but I have met entire families from

grandparents on down who are deaf....and deaf Mom with deaf and hearing child.

A childs a gift and perhaps when they are older you wont feel so unsure of

having another deaf child.

I personally feel it would be easier to have one or the other its hard to

have a mixed family.

May 23, 2001

,

My husband and I are both HOH as well as our two sons, 5 and 2 1/2. The boys

have the same type and pattern of loss that I have and the older ones loss

ranges from 45 to 60dbs and the younger ones loss ranges from 25 to 40dbs,

but the pattern is the same. My loss is is from birth as is the boys, but my

husband's loss came later on....late teens, early 20s and is genetic also.

As for us....we knew that there was a very strong possibility that any

children we had would have some type of hearing loss, but that did not deter

us esp since we are both HOH and know what its like and how to deal with

things.

But you're right in that you do have to consider a lot of things....for us

the big thing will be the expense of buying all four of us hearing aids.

Mom to , HOH and , HOH

May 23, 2001