Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hi Sharon - first, welcome to Listen-up. It sounds like you have your hands full! My older son, who is now 12 (his name is Tom) has been diagnosed both with hearing loss and ADHD. Tom was not diagnosed with his hearing loss (which is a severe hearing loss) until he was 3-1/4. Like you, so many people couldn't believe he couldn't hear because he did so well with language up to that point. Our younger son, Sam, is now 10 and was diagnosed 6 months later when he was 15 months old. Sam has a profound loss... Both our boys wear hearing aids. At first I thought many of Tom's issues were because of his hearing. I mean, if you can't hear well, you wouldn't necessarily pay attention, right? But then Sam, with a greater hearing loss, exhibited none of the focus issues Tom has so it made us wonder if something else was going on with Tom. We ultimately had Tom tested at e School for the Deaf - e is an oral school for the deaf in Northampton Massachusetts. They were perfect because they have folks who can look for other issues but really know hearing loss as well. Tom indeed has ADHD and hearing loss - but like you, I wouldn't have been comfortable with a definitive ADHD diagnosis when my child was 3. I don't know resources in your area (you maybe said - where are you now?), but would strongly suggest you finding someone who is expert in both hearing loss and ADHD. We have a neuropsychologist here at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (we're in beautiful Hanover/Lebanon NH) who specializes in both and in fact, has a deaf brother so he knows sign. His name is Isquith. He trained with Terrell who I believe is at Boston Children's Hospital (Mass listmates - correct me if I'm wrong!); she'd be great too. My point is that you can have both ADHD and hearing loss in the same kid, but to have someone who knows nothing about hearing loss say that your 3 year old has ADHD concerns me. Yes, it's good to have kids with ADHD diagnosed early but gosh, three is awfully young! Particularly since your son also has hearing loss. I think you're doing what you should - make sure he's properly amplified, settles in to his routine and then see if he's still showing ADHD signs... There's an excellent website about ADHD called CHADD.org that may be of help. Take care! Barbara --- You wrote: I am a 43 year old mother of one toddler boy. he is four and a few mths ago was diag with mild to moderate hearing loss. I am hard of hearing, and come from a large deaf family. Am org from England and have lived here for 14 years. I am in the process of having my Son fitted with 2 hearing aids. The problems we have right now is not many even believe he has any hearing loss. My soon-to-be ex husband had him diag with ADHD.First at just 3 years old. Well, she refused to diag him because she knew we had some marriage issues. And also said he thinks more like a 5-6 year old but emotionally more 3 years. He is very, very bright. She said he was strong willed and maybe needed a little different direction in parenting. I agreed, thought my ex did as well. That was last Nov. Well Feb this year he came home and said he had set him up with another professional, he was not happy with the previous one. I was upset because even if he had ADD I was not ready to put him on meds at such a young age and had been researching ADD for over a year anyway because our Son was also born 9 weeks early. And was showing some behavior problems starting around 2.5. ( hitting mostly). --- end of quote --- ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hi Sharon - first, welcome to Listen-up. It sounds like you have your hands full! My older son, who is now 12 (his name is Tom) has been diagnosed both with hearing loss and ADHD. Tom was not diagnosed with his hearing loss (which is a severe hearing loss) until he was 3-1/4. Like you, so many people couldn't believe he couldn't hear because he did so well with language up to that point. Our younger son, Sam, is now 10 and was diagnosed 6 months later when he was 15 months old. Sam has a profound loss... Both our boys wear hearing aids. At first I thought many of Tom's issues were because of his hearing. I mean, if you can't hear well, you wouldn't necessarily pay attention, right? But then Sam, with a greater hearing loss, exhibited none of the focus issues Tom has so it made us wonder if something else was going on with Tom. We ultimately had Tom tested at e School for the Deaf - e is an oral school for the deaf in Northampton Massachusetts. They were perfect because they have folks who can look for other issues but really know hearing loss as well. Tom indeed has ADHD and hearing loss - but like you, I wouldn't have been comfortable with a definitive ADHD diagnosis when my child was 3. I don't know resources in your area (you maybe said - where are you now?), but would strongly suggest you finding someone who is expert in both hearing loss and ADHD. We have a neuropsychologist here at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (we're in beautiful Hanover/Lebanon NH) who specializes in both and in fact, has a deaf brother so he knows sign. His name is Isquith. He trained with Terrell who I believe is at Boston Children's Hospital (Mass listmates - correct me if I'm wrong!); she'd be great too. My point is that you can have both ADHD and hearing loss in the same kid, but to have someone who knows nothing about hearing loss say that your 3 year old has ADHD concerns me. Yes, it's good to have kids with ADHD diagnosed early but gosh, three is awfully young! Particularly since your son also has hearing loss. I think you're doing what you should - make sure he's properly amplified, settles in to his routine and then see if he's still showing ADHD signs... There's an excellent website about ADHD called CHADD.org that may be of help. Take care! Barbara --- You wrote: I am a 43 year old mother of one toddler boy. he is four and a few mths ago was diag with mild to moderate hearing loss. I am hard of hearing, and come from a large deaf family. Am org from England and have lived here for 14 years. I am in the process of having my Son fitted with 2 hearing aids. The problems we have right now is not many even believe he has any hearing loss. My soon-to-be ex husband had him diag with ADHD.First at just 3 years old. Well, she refused to diag him because she knew we had some marriage issues. And also said he thinks more like a 5-6 year old but emotionally more 3 years. He is very, very bright. She said he was strong willed and maybe needed a little different direction in parenting. I agreed, thought my ex did as well. That was last Nov. Well Feb this year he came home and said he had set him up with another professional, he was not happy with the previous one. I was upset because even if he had ADD I was not ready to put him on meds at such a young age and had been researching ADD for over a year anyway because our Son was also born 9 weeks early. And was showing some behavior problems starting around 2.5. ( hitting mostly). --- end of quote --- ******************************* Barbara Mellert Manager, Social Science Computing Kiewit Computing Services Dartmouth College 13A Silsby Hall; HB 6121 Hanover NH 03755 Telephone: 603/646-2877 URL: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ssc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 I think it would be interesting to see how he " settles down " after wearing hearing aids for awhile. So many times other disorders are diagnosed as ADHD/ADD. If I couldn't hear what was going on around me, I think I would be very distractable, also. I'm not saying the doctor would be wrong in his/her diagnosis, but if he has a hearing loss that would probably make a huge impact on his attention issues. One of the deaf daughters we adopted was examined at by a resident doctor while she was in foster care shortly after being taken for the umpteenth time out of an extremely disfunctional home. That doctor, in all her ignorant wisdom, wrote in her report that she is " probably mentally retarded " . Well, try and get that out of a medical record!! Issues like deafness, HOH, attachment disorders, etc, seem always to be rubber stamped with a misdiagnosed disorder like ADHD, or low mental capacity. Enough of that... Tish > loss. My soon-to-be ex husband had him diag with > ADHD.First at just 3 years old. Well, she refused to > diag him because she knew we had some marriage issues. > And also said he thinks more like a 5-6 year old but > emotionally more 3 years. He is very, very bright. She > said he was strong willed and maybe needed a little > different direction in parenting. I agreed, thought my > ex did as well. That was last Nov. Well Feb this year > he came home and said he had set him up with another > professional, he was not happy with the previous one. > I was upset because even if he had ADD I was not ready > to put him on meds at such a young age Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 I think it would be interesting to see how he " settles down " after wearing hearing aids for awhile. So many times other disorders are diagnosed as ADHD/ADD. If I couldn't hear what was going on around me, I think I would be very distractable, also. I'm not saying the doctor would be wrong in his/her diagnosis, but if he has a hearing loss that would probably make a huge impact on his attention issues. One of the deaf daughters we adopted was examined at by a resident doctor while she was in foster care shortly after being taken for the umpteenth time out of an extremely disfunctional home. That doctor, in all her ignorant wisdom, wrote in her report that she is " probably mentally retarded " . Well, try and get that out of a medical record!! Issues like deafness, HOH, attachment disorders, etc, seem always to be rubber stamped with a misdiagnosed disorder like ADHD, or low mental capacity. Enough of that... Tish > loss. My soon-to-be ex husband had him diag with > ADHD.First at just 3 years old. Well, she refused to > diag him because she knew we had some marriage issues. > And also said he thinks more like a 5-6 year old but > emotionally more 3 years. He is very, very bright. She > said he was strong willed and maybe needed a little > different direction in parenting. I agreed, thought my > ex did as well. That was last Nov. Well Feb this year > he came home and said he had set him up with another > professional, he was not happy with the previous one. > I was upset because even if he had ADD I was not ready > to put him on meds at such a young age Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 I think it would be interesting to see how he " settles down " after wearing hearing aids for awhile. So many times other disorders are diagnosed as ADHD/ADD. If I couldn't hear what was going on around me, I think I would be very distractable, also. I'm not saying the doctor would be wrong in his/her diagnosis, but if he has a hearing loss that would probably make a huge impact on his attention issues. One of the deaf daughters we adopted was examined at by a resident doctor while she was in foster care shortly after being taken for the umpteenth time out of an extremely disfunctional home. That doctor, in all her ignorant wisdom, wrote in her report that she is " probably mentally retarded " . Well, try and get that out of a medical record!! Issues like deafness, HOH, attachment disorders, etc, seem always to be rubber stamped with a misdiagnosed disorder like ADHD, or low mental capacity. Enough of that... Tish > loss. My soon-to-be ex husband had him diag with > ADHD.First at just 3 years old. Well, she refused to > diag him because she knew we had some marriage issues. > And also said he thinks more like a 5-6 year old but > emotionally more 3 years. He is very, very bright. She > said he was strong willed and maybe needed a little > different direction in parenting. I agreed, thought my > ex did as well. That was last Nov. Well Feb this year > he came home and said he had set him up with another > professional, he was not happy with the previous one. > I was upset because even if he had ADD I was not ready > to put him on meds at such a young age Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Sharon, First, welcome to the group. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or seek advice on any topic. Parents here have kids of all ages and use all kinds of communication modes. Oral, Cued speech, ASL, SEE ... and I am certainly forgetting some. Some kids are aided, some have CIs or BAHAs and others have no assistive listening devices. There is a little bit of everything here and the people are very willing to share their experiences.A good supportive group! I'm Jill and my son, Ian, is HOH, a bilateral moderate conductive loss. He's now 14. His loss was identified very VERY late by today's standards -- he was in second grade. So many times I've wished there had been infant screening for him, but given what we know about his loss, it may not have existed back then. Ian is very oral. His verbal skills and his lip reading ability helped hide his hearing loss from us for so long. In reference to your son's ability to speak: our Ian speaks as clearly as any hearing person I know. His loss is in the 50-55 db range, and it is a deteriorating condition so he'll lose more as time goes by. If you did not see his aids, you would never suspect that he has any loss. When we took him down to Montefiore Hospital in NYC to meet with cranio-facial specialists, their audiologist was stunned at his articulation. She was also pleasantly surprised at his lip reading ability. (He enjoyed that praise!) So, don't let anyone convince you that his articulation means he couldn't possibly have a heraing loss. I doubt any doctor would tell you that a good speaking ability means there couldn't be a hearing loss. That is just ridiculous. Not to be too suspicious, but that sounds to me like your ex is trying to sell you something. If I were told that by a doctor, I'd be running out the door never to return again. Diagnosing ADD is not a simple task and it takes more than a simple office visit to get it right. Even if ADD was the right diagnosis, medication is not your only choice. ADD, like other things, comes in degrees. Some kids have a more severe presentation of it. Some can control it with behavior modification and dietary adjustments. othere need meds. There are also several choices for what medication could work for your child. What works to calm and control one child can start another child bouncing off of walls or twitching. You have to trust the doctor who is medicating your kid and ask tons of questions as you decide what is best. Diagnosisng ADD is a process, not a quick fix for a kid who is acting out. The simple reality of his parents seperating and his getting adjusted to going back and forth between two homes can bring out some incredibly unpleasant behavoirs in some kids. (My sisters were absolutely obnoxious as they got use to that routine.) Barbara has already given you some great information about hearing loss and ADHD. If I was looking for advice on that topic, she'd be the one I'd call/email/bribe-with-homemade-brownies for any and all advice. (grin). Our experience with ADD is very different from hers because our son doesn't have ADD. Our local school insisted that our son had ADD (inattentive type -- meaning no hyperactivity component). We discovered Ian's hearing loss while we were looking for the source of his academic troubles and had no clue he had a loss. We saw doctors and the school did all sorts of testing, academic and behavioral. One test that stands out is Conner's Behavioral test because it is a very common one and the results are often used in the process of diagnosing ADD. It is made up of two surveys. One for the parents and one for the teachers. They fill out the forms based on the observations of the child's behavior. We did not see focus or impulse problems at home, so the ADD issues were not pronounced on our survey. However, the teacher did observe many behaviors that could flag ADD. He couldn't focus, would get frustrated trying to follow directions and complete tasks. He was always looking at other student's papers and into their books. Without knowing about the hearing loss, our kid looked like he had ADD. But he was never rude or disruptive in the classroom. He didn't ever get up from his seat or interrupt the class in any way. He would shut down, go into his own little world, and draw in his notebook. At the time of the testing, Ian was unaided, his loss as yet undiagnosed. The first ENT put him in the testing booth and then did no bother to block Ian's veiews of his hands or mouth. Ian lip read his way through the testing and a 10 db loss was confirmed. It was wrong. What we were left with was basically a diagnosis of ADD with a couple other issues involved. But ADD has to be diagnosed by a doctor, not the school, so we were back to the pediatrican again. Our pediatrician didn't really agree that ADD was the source of the problem, so Ian was classified by our school district (under IDEA) as having " mulitple disabilities. " We took him to a neurologist and a clinical psychologist. Neither really supported the ADD diagnosis. At some point our pediatrician sent us to another ENT at Columbia in NYC and Dr. Keller immediately re-tested Ian's hearing. At that point we found out about the hearing loss and exactly what it was (35 db in his right ear, 15 in his left). An unaided moderate/mild loss explained so many of his school troubles. Ian was then aided in his " bad " ear. The school's testing was re-done. Amazingly, those ADD type behaviors were basically gone. Getting that ADD-versus-hearing-loss thing straightened out took about 6 months and several doctors. Once we knew what was going on, we knew what we needed to do to help our boy. I agree with Barbara, you are definitely doing the right thing. I would be very hesitant to medicate a child as little as your son. Especially when there is a hearing loss that is just beginning to be dealt with. So, go with your gut ... my feeling is that you're on the right track. After he's had the aids for a while and he's gotten use to them, if you still see ADD behavior then look into that. Seek out the right kinds of doctors. I would find someone who has knowledge of both ADD and hearing loss. (And I'd avoid whoever it was that gave your ex that lousy advice.) Some kids do have that double whammy of ADD plus a hearing loss. Some kids don't. Teasing out the proper diagnosis can be a very slow and tedious process. It was for us! Best of luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Sharon, First, welcome to the group. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or seek advice on any topic. Parents here have kids of all ages and use all kinds of communication modes. Oral, Cued speech, ASL, SEE ... and I am certainly forgetting some. Some kids are aided, some have CIs or BAHAs and others have no assistive listening devices. There is a little bit of everything here and the people are very willing to share their experiences.A good supportive group! I'm Jill and my son, Ian, is HOH, a bilateral moderate conductive loss. He's now 14. His loss was identified very VERY late by today's standards -- he was in second grade. So many times I've wished there had been infant screening for him, but given what we know about his loss, it may not have existed back then. Ian is very oral. His verbal skills and his lip reading ability helped hide his hearing loss from us for so long. In reference to your son's ability to speak: our Ian speaks as clearly as any hearing person I know. His loss is in the 50-55 db range, and it is a deteriorating condition so he'll lose more as time goes by. If you did not see his aids, you would never suspect that he has any loss. When we took him down to Montefiore Hospital in NYC to meet with cranio-facial specialists, their audiologist was stunned at his articulation. She was also pleasantly surprised at his lip reading ability. (He enjoyed that praise!) So, don't let anyone convince you that his articulation means he couldn't possibly have a heraing loss. I doubt any doctor would tell you that a good speaking ability means there couldn't be a hearing loss. That is just ridiculous. Not to be too suspicious, but that sounds to me like your ex is trying to sell you something. If I were told that by a doctor, I'd be running out the door never to return again. Diagnosing ADD is not a simple task and it takes more than a simple office visit to get it right. Even if ADD was the right diagnosis, medication is not your only choice. ADD, like other things, comes in degrees. Some kids have a more severe presentation of it. Some can control it with behavior modification and dietary adjustments. othere need meds. There are also several choices for what medication could work for your child. What works to calm and control one child can start another child bouncing off of walls or twitching. You have to trust the doctor who is medicating your kid and ask tons of questions as you decide what is best. Diagnosisng ADD is a process, not a quick fix for a kid who is acting out. The simple reality of his parents seperating and his getting adjusted to going back and forth between two homes can bring out some incredibly unpleasant behavoirs in some kids. (My sisters were absolutely obnoxious as they got use to that routine.) Barbara has already given you some great information about hearing loss and ADHD. If I was looking for advice on that topic, she'd be the one I'd call/email/bribe-with-homemade-brownies for any and all advice. (grin). Our experience with ADD is very different from hers because our son doesn't have ADD. Our local school insisted that our son had ADD (inattentive type -- meaning no hyperactivity component). We discovered Ian's hearing loss while we were looking for the source of his academic troubles and had no clue he had a loss. We saw doctors and the school did all sorts of testing, academic and behavioral. One test that stands out is Conner's Behavioral test because it is a very common one and the results are often used in the process of diagnosing ADD. It is made up of two surveys. One for the parents and one for the teachers. They fill out the forms based on the observations of the child's behavior. We did not see focus or impulse problems at home, so the ADD issues were not pronounced on our survey. However, the teacher did observe many behaviors that could flag ADD. He couldn't focus, would get frustrated trying to follow directions and complete tasks. He was always looking at other student's papers and into their books. Without knowing about the hearing loss, our kid looked like he had ADD. But he was never rude or disruptive in the classroom. He didn't ever get up from his seat or interrupt the class in any way. He would shut down, go into his own little world, and draw in his notebook. At the time of the testing, Ian was unaided, his loss as yet undiagnosed. The first ENT put him in the testing booth and then did no bother to block Ian's veiews of his hands or mouth. Ian lip read his way through the testing and a 10 db loss was confirmed. It was wrong. What we were left with was basically a diagnosis of ADD with a couple other issues involved. But ADD has to be diagnosed by a doctor, not the school, so we were back to the pediatrican again. Our pediatrician didn't really agree that ADD was the source of the problem, so Ian was classified by our school district (under IDEA) as having " mulitple disabilities. " We took him to a neurologist and a clinical psychologist. Neither really supported the ADD diagnosis. At some point our pediatrician sent us to another ENT at Columbia in NYC and Dr. Keller immediately re-tested Ian's hearing. At that point we found out about the hearing loss and exactly what it was (35 db in his right ear, 15 in his left). An unaided moderate/mild loss explained so many of his school troubles. Ian was then aided in his " bad " ear. The school's testing was re-done. Amazingly, those ADD type behaviors were basically gone. Getting that ADD-versus-hearing-loss thing straightened out took about 6 months and several doctors. Once we knew what was going on, we knew what we needed to do to help our boy. I agree with Barbara, you are definitely doing the right thing. I would be very hesitant to medicate a child as little as your son. Especially when there is a hearing loss that is just beginning to be dealt with. So, go with your gut ... my feeling is that you're on the right track. After he's had the aids for a while and he's gotten use to them, if you still see ADD behavior then look into that. Seek out the right kinds of doctors. I would find someone who has knowledge of both ADD and hearing loss. (And I'd avoid whoever it was that gave your ex that lousy advice.) Some kids do have that double whammy of ADD plus a hearing loss. Some kids don't. Teasing out the proper diagnosis can be a very slow and tedious process. It was for us! Best of luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Sharon, First, welcome to the group. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or seek advice on any topic. Parents here have kids of all ages and use all kinds of communication modes. Oral, Cued speech, ASL, SEE ... and I am certainly forgetting some. Some kids are aided, some have CIs or BAHAs and others have no assistive listening devices. There is a little bit of everything here and the people are very willing to share their experiences.A good supportive group! I'm Jill and my son, Ian, is HOH, a bilateral moderate conductive loss. He's now 14. His loss was identified very VERY late by today's standards -- he was in second grade. So many times I've wished there had been infant screening for him, but given what we know about his loss, it may not have existed back then. Ian is very oral. His verbal skills and his lip reading ability helped hide his hearing loss from us for so long. In reference to your son's ability to speak: our Ian speaks as clearly as any hearing person I know. His loss is in the 50-55 db range, and it is a deteriorating condition so he'll lose more as time goes by. If you did not see his aids, you would never suspect that he has any loss. When we took him down to Montefiore Hospital in NYC to meet with cranio-facial specialists, their audiologist was stunned at his articulation. She was also pleasantly surprised at his lip reading ability. (He enjoyed that praise!) So, don't let anyone convince you that his articulation means he couldn't possibly have a heraing loss. I doubt any doctor would tell you that a good speaking ability means there couldn't be a hearing loss. That is just ridiculous. Not to be too suspicious, but that sounds to me like your ex is trying to sell you something. If I were told that by a doctor, I'd be running out the door never to return again. Diagnosing ADD is not a simple task and it takes more than a simple office visit to get it right. Even if ADD was the right diagnosis, medication is not your only choice. ADD, like other things, comes in degrees. Some kids have a more severe presentation of it. Some can control it with behavior modification and dietary adjustments. othere need meds. There are also several choices for what medication could work for your child. What works to calm and control one child can start another child bouncing off of walls or twitching. You have to trust the doctor who is medicating your kid and ask tons of questions as you decide what is best. Diagnosisng ADD is a process, not a quick fix for a kid who is acting out. The simple reality of his parents seperating and his getting adjusted to going back and forth between two homes can bring out some incredibly unpleasant behavoirs in some kids. (My sisters were absolutely obnoxious as they got use to that routine.) Barbara has already given you some great information about hearing loss and ADHD. If I was looking for advice on that topic, she'd be the one I'd call/email/bribe-with-homemade-brownies for any and all advice. (grin). Our experience with ADD is very different from hers because our son doesn't have ADD. Our local school insisted that our son had ADD (inattentive type -- meaning no hyperactivity component). We discovered Ian's hearing loss while we were looking for the source of his academic troubles and had no clue he had a loss. We saw doctors and the school did all sorts of testing, academic and behavioral. One test that stands out is Conner's Behavioral test because it is a very common one and the results are often used in the process of diagnosing ADD. It is made up of two surveys. One for the parents and one for the teachers. They fill out the forms based on the observations of the child's behavior. We did not see focus or impulse problems at home, so the ADD issues were not pronounced on our survey. However, the teacher did observe many behaviors that could flag ADD. He couldn't focus, would get frustrated trying to follow directions and complete tasks. He was always looking at other student's papers and into their books. Without knowing about the hearing loss, our kid looked like he had ADD. But he was never rude or disruptive in the classroom. He didn't ever get up from his seat or interrupt the class in any way. He would shut down, go into his own little world, and draw in his notebook. At the time of the testing, Ian was unaided, his loss as yet undiagnosed. The first ENT put him in the testing booth and then did no bother to block Ian's veiews of his hands or mouth. Ian lip read his way through the testing and a 10 db loss was confirmed. It was wrong. What we were left with was basically a diagnosis of ADD with a couple other issues involved. But ADD has to be diagnosed by a doctor, not the school, so we were back to the pediatrican again. Our pediatrician didn't really agree that ADD was the source of the problem, so Ian was classified by our school district (under IDEA) as having " mulitple disabilities. " We took him to a neurologist and a clinical psychologist. Neither really supported the ADD diagnosis. At some point our pediatrician sent us to another ENT at Columbia in NYC and Dr. Keller immediately re-tested Ian's hearing. At that point we found out about the hearing loss and exactly what it was (35 db in his right ear, 15 in his left). An unaided moderate/mild loss explained so many of his school troubles. Ian was then aided in his " bad " ear. The school's testing was re-done. Amazingly, those ADD type behaviors were basically gone. Getting that ADD-versus-hearing-loss thing straightened out took about 6 months and several doctors. Once we knew what was going on, we knew what we needed to do to help our boy. I agree with Barbara, you are definitely doing the right thing. I would be very hesitant to medicate a child as little as your son. Especially when there is a hearing loss that is just beginning to be dealt with. So, go with your gut ... my feeling is that you're on the right track. After he's had the aids for a while and he's gotten use to them, if you still see ADD behavior then look into that. Seek out the right kinds of doctors. I would find someone who has knowledge of both ADD and hearing loss. (And I'd avoid whoever it was that gave your ex that lousy advice.) Some kids do have that double whammy of ADD plus a hearing loss. Some kids don't. Teasing out the proper diagnosis can be a very slow and tedious process. It was for us! Best of luck -- Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 I read an interesting quote on a web site once spoken from a successful professional who also happened to be hearing impaired. It went something like this: " It took our doctors and the school board five years to discover that I had a hearing loss; and they called /me/ slow. " God bless you guys and good luck with everything. , 7, hearing Caleb, 5, bilateral SNHL, aided Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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