Deaf baby and motor skills

K

kat05

New Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Messages
90
Reaction score
0
Dear all,
My 17-month old baby boy is deaf and also facing difficulties in his motor skills. He was a little late in all his milestones, he does not yet walk unaided and is having physiotherapy for his trunk hypotonia.
We have put him to loads of tests, thank God everything coming back normal. I read somewhere that maybe a delay in motor skills could be attributed to deafness (labyrinth?) and would like to know if any of you parents of deaf babies have such experience as I am really anxious about it.
 
hey, I had some hypertonia as a baby and I am also HOH too so welcome to AD!
if U look at my avvie, my hearing aid rocks.
 
Safari girl, would you mind giving me some more info about what you experienced? did you have physiotherapy? Our therapist says that my son's mobile issues will get better by practice but I am anxious about their origin.
 
kat05 said:
Safari girl, would you mind giving me some more info about what you experienced? did you have physiotherapy? Our therapist says that my son's mobile issues will get better by practice but I am anxious about their origin.
Click to expand...

yeah I had some physiotherapy! it's kinda like that but it's more occupational therapy. :)
I also experienced low muscle tone right on the upper trunk though
 
kat05 said:
Did you have a diagnosis about all this?
Click to expand...

well I may have the same snydrome as deafdyke here so U may see her running around in the forums!
another interesting fact: I also have a lump (chest shield) right where the sternum is and my father also has that 2.
 
kat05 said:
Dear all,
My 17-month old baby boy is deaf and also facing difficulties in his motor skills. He was a little late in all his milestones, he does not yet walk unaided and is having physiotherapy for his trunk hypotonia.
We have put him to loads of tests, thank God everything coming back normal. I read somewhere that maybe a delay in motor skills could be attributed to deafness (labyrinth?) and would like to know if any of you parents of deaf babies have such experience as I am really anxious about it.
Click to expand...

my son has horrible fine motor skills, and is unable to eat solid food..but they said his deafness is in addition to these issues. my little guy has hypotonia as well. we have had every test known to man, all normal..and he falls more and more behind with every month!
 
I have mild hypotonia too! It's not something to really worry about. From your desciption, it sounds like he's Deaf with mild CP. (cerebal palsy)
I didn't walk until I was two, and had issues with fine motor (trouble handwriting) I'm pretty much OK now, although my handwriting looks like a little kid's, and my "grip" (way I hold things) looks VERY CP-ish.
If you haven't already done so, I would contact your country's CP association, and see what they can offer. It's a REALLY good idea to push Sign with dhh kids with hypotonia, b/c a lot of times we have significent speech/spoken language issues. Sign can overcome that.
 
His speech therapist has started signing and I am also trying at home. He has started to use 3-4 signs already. It's strange, my son has good fine motor skills (eating on his own, "writing" with crayons etc) but his gross motor skills seem to be the problem... Is there a test we could run to see whether this is CP? We have seen 3 neurologists all denying this diagnosis.
 
Also, another question: his brain MRI is normal. Does that mean something?
Unfortunately, the doctors cannot give us answers they say that we "wait and see" so I have started searching the web. For the hearing part, my baby has started wearing HAs (he throws them every 30 secs) and we will apply for a CI in January.
 
frankies was normal too,but if he is picking up on signs and feeding himself..i wouldnt worry at all..my little guy cant do any of that but he can walk, climb, and run on his tiptoes..how odd! :)
about the CI..im no expert here but i would say to see how the hearing aids work out..frank has had his for several months and it is AMAZING how much he can hear now! we originally thought about the implant but they told us it could kill what hearing he does have and it might not work with his delays.
 
kat05 said:
Also, another question: his brain MRI is normal. Does that mean something?
Unfortunately, the doctors cannot give us answers they say that we "wait and see" so I have started searching the web. For the hearing part, my baby has started wearing HAs (he throws them every 30 secs) and we will apply for a CI in January.
Click to expand...

if your guys throws them down, try putting a hat on him or the ear gear (look up ear gears on google)
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
if your guys throws them down, try putting a hat on him or the ear gear (look up ear gears on google)
Click to expand...

Ear gear never worked for us :-( It took him taking his ha's out 900 times and me putting them back in 901. Now he doesn't even notice them, unless we go shopping.
 
Thanks for your answers. I thought about the little hat but I was told that it affects the sound he hears through his HAs and I should better avoid it. How long should we wait for the HAs to make a difference? HE has been wearing them since the first days of November (not full time) and I think that there is NO difference at all.
 
Could maybe a DNA test shed light on our issues? Any experience from any of you?
 
frankiesmom said:
frankies was normal too,but if he is picking up on signs and feeding himself..i wouldnt worry at all..my little guy cant do any of that but he can walk, climb, and run on his tiptoes..how odd! :)
about the CI..im no expert here but i would say to see how the hearing aids work out..frank has had his for several months and it is AMAZING how much he can hear now! we originally thought about the implant but they told us it could kill what hearing he does have and it might not work with his delays.
Click to expand...

Frankiesmom, that is exactly our thought, whether the CI is an answer since we have no diagnosis about his other issues. His ear doctor says that the deafness is independent and that we should go on with the implant, the neurologists say that he is a little late in his motor skills because he cannot hear and say yes to the implant. NOthing of these seems too convincing...
 
i would definitely hold off. and that is what we were told too, that his hearing loss is totally unrelated to everything else going on..but if hes able to learn sign language and stuff, that is great! my little boy has absolutely no idea about anything, although he has learned what no means recently! we are going back for more dna testing, but i doubt they will find a thing..it looks like that our francis is just "one of those things". if anything though, you can wait until hes a little older and see if he wants the implant..that is what we were originally going to do with frankie, but since it looks like he might not ever be able to have that discussion with him, we are just going to work with what we have, so to speak. i have to say that it is very interesting to hear of another child with hearing loss and motor skills delay like ours!
 
He does use a few signs (food, sleep for example) after a lot of work. Do you visit a neurologist in America? What stresses me is that no doctor gives us a specific answer, everyone says "go on with the implant" without taking into consideration the rest ..
 
kat05 said:
He does use a few signs (food, sleep for example) after a lot of work. Do you visit a neurologist in America? What stresses me is that no doctor gives us a specific answer, everyone says "go on with the implant" without taking into consideration the rest ..
Click to expand...

yea and I was like, no way in a million years that I would wear that LOL!! (that's why I prefer tiny hearing aids like mine)
I had some genetic testing when I was little but I think it came out negative, might try again when my butt's outta of school after I graduate :D
 
Back
Top