RE: Introduction=

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

We live right outside Philadelphia also in Delaware County Area.

Welcome to this great this list. My daughter was diagnosed at birth and

is now 7 years old. She has a moderate to severe hearing loss and wears

bilateral hearing aids. We also have no family history of hearing loss.

This list is full of support and wisdom. If you're not sure of

something ask away and someone will be able to help you out for sure.

My daughter was born 7 weeks premature and has other issues besides

hearing loss. We were on a roller coaster ride for several years in the

beginning. I planned on returning to work also after le was born,

but that did not happen. We decided it would be best for me to stay

home and care for her needs, which at the time we were dealing with many

issues. Once you get accustom to the changes in your life, then hearing

loss is part of your family and things are much easier. There is so

much thrown at us in the initial stages and sometimes it more than we

can bear, at first. There are still times to this day, I feel like we

are still on the roller coaster and it's never going to stop. However,

those days are far and few between for us now. She is doing remarkable

well, she is very shy socially, but fully mainstreamed in our school

district, she is involved is basketball, baseball, cheerleading,

gymnastics, and bowling, she seeks to amaze us everyday.

There are daycare's that have had hearing impaired infants; several of

the children in le's Hearing Impaired preschool classes were in

Daycare's.

Have you contacted the Early Intervention Team in your area? There are

services available to you from birth to 3 years of age, along with

therapy and parent

training etc. through the county office at no charge to you. I am sure

they could possibly recommend a day care that they are aware of that has

had hearing impaired infants.

I am a little behind on my mail but love to read each post and try to

help when I can. This list has been so valuable to me and I am sure you

will feel the same. There is a wealth of inspiration and support on

this list. The kids you read about here are just remarkable, as well as

the there parents and the support is overwhelming. We have all been

were you are now and totally understand the emotions that you are going

through. Right now it's a lot to bear but trust me it does get easier.

There are no questions that are dumb questions. We all started out

right where you are, if your not sure what an abbreviation means or not

sure about something, don't hesitate to ask. Feel free to email me if I

can be of any help to you.

Take Care,

Colleen

Mom to le 7 moderate to severe hearing loss, asthma, allergies,

peters anomaly of left eye, reflux, etc.

Mom to 12 hearing, asthma and allergies.

Introduction

Hi all,

My name is and I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

My younger daughter is 1 month old and was diagnosed with severe (maybe

worse) hearing loss in both ears last week. She failed the newborn

hearing screen at the hospital 2 times, but as we knew multiple families

whose children had failed at the hospital and then passed upon further

testing we tried not to worry too much. We were shocked to find out at

the more involved testing that our dear girl couldn't hear. We have no

family history of hearing loss and none of the risk factors seem to

apply to us.

We are still in the process of absorbing this news, as I'm sure you

can all imagine. I hope to learn a lot from all of you as we move ahead

and do our best to make sure our sweet little one has every advantage we

can provide for her.

My first question - I am currently on maternity leave and am lucky

enough to be able to take 6 months off from work. I am due to return to

my job at the end of September. However, as I learn more and more, I am

starting to wonder if it will even be possible for my daughter to go to

daycare. Any input?

I look forward to learning more about your kids and hope I will

someday be a good resource for others as well. Thanks!

_____