Understanding Childhood Hearing Loss : Whole Family Approaches to Living and Thriving

Permanent hearing loss in children is far more common than most people know, affecting thousands of newborns and older children each year. This book offers parents and caregivers a guide to what to expect when a child has a hearing loss, how to treat it, and how to support both the child and the whole family when faced with hearing loss.

Childhood hearing loss is more common than most people assume, and yet this invisible condition can rob a child of the ability to develop close emotional relationships with family and friends. This book demystifies this condition and offers emotionally-supportive approaches to caring for the child and the whole family. It is written from the perspective of a pediatric audiologist who has diagnosed hearing loss in hundreds of newborns and young children, and who has shaped clinical best-practices during his career. Hearing loss is not an “all or nothing” condition, but a range from very subtle, slight challenges, to very little ability to hear. The impact that hearing loss can have on a child’s language, intellectual, social and emotional development is enormous. But when the team of healthcare providers, developmental specialists, and parents are all working together, the hearing loss can become just another trait of this wonderful, unique child, rather than the single condition that defines the child and the family’s experience raising that child. This book offers an explanation of “what is hearing loss” for parents, describes who is on the team working with the child (and team members’ roles), and practical guidance for navigating what can be an uncertain path for families. Any family living with a child with hearing loss will benefit from the gentle guidance and hopeful stories found in this work.