Speak to me

Hearing impairment symptoms are important for a parent to be aware of because hearing problems often lead to speech and/or language delays later on. 

Birth to 6 months:

-Child does not respond to a loud noise nor look in the direction of a noise.

-Child is not soothed by sound of mother’s voice

10 months:

-Child does not respond to his/her name

12 months:

-Child does not respond to familiar sounds (dog bark, car, etc.)

-Child does not produce vowels in loud, long shrieks

-Child does not turn toward someone who is speaking

15 months:

-Child is not imitating sounds and words, when he/she does, speech sound productions is not normal

15 months-5 years:

-Child produces an abnormal tone of voice

-Child doesn’t pay attention to loud voices

-Child frequently says “huh” or “what” when spoken to

-Child is inconsistently responding to sounds, which may lead parent to feel he is stubborn or too focused on another activity

-Child prefers high or low sounds

-Child demonstrates a speech-language delay

What we can do:

-Hearing Screen and appropriate referrals to other professionals in the community

-Evaluation of speech and language skills.

-Work with parents, audiologists, physicians, and teachers to encourage optimum conditions for speech-language development.

-Therapy for delayed language or speech sound production skills