My 15 year old son is the only deaf memeber of our family. We discovered his deafness when he was about 1 year old. I noticed little things like him playing with toys that didnt make sound anymore when my daughter, who is one year older would not play with them anymore. He would not always respond when we called him ( like if he couldnt see me or feel vibrations on the floor). I took him to our family doctor who told me " oh he just has a cold and is ignoring you" I replied I'm his mother, I know! something is going on. So finally, he asked ( this is after repeated vists and me demanding we test his hearing) " Do you want to have him tested?" GRRRRRRRR
First they did an audio booth test; he sat on my lap and they played sounds in different corners of the little room; which also had little lights and moving toys like a bear playing drums. They would send the sound, and sometimes when they sent the sound they would have the lights and bear going also. He only responded to the lights and toys. I knew then he was deaf, dad had a much harder time. My mother who lived in another state had just 6 months before, for no real reason, had gone back to school and was learning ASL; she began teaching me sign over the phone. People around me where telling me I was crazy, hes not deaf. One person lived near us and I took my son over there for them to watch him while I went to the store. When I came back, they were asking me if I really thought he was deaf. I looked in their daughters room where my son was playing, his back to the door. I said, he was really upset when I left ( he was a mamma's boy when he was little) and they said, well yeah. I said watch.. I stood at the door and called his name.. nothing... I yelled his name... nothing finally I stomped on the floor and he turned around and ran to me.
He was given a BARE test to measure his deafness. He is profoundly deaf. We will probably never know where the deafness comes from. He was born in a Navy hospital (biting my tongue about that crap) and his head was stuck in the birth channel for a bit, also his soft spot (fontell) was closed too soon, causing his head to be misshaped. He had surgery to correct that when he was 3 yrs old. That was a terrible time, for 3 days his face was so swollen he couldnt see...Then when he was 4 he had the surgery for the CI.
He went to speech therepy for 5 yrs. His speech therepist wanted us to stop signing to him, which I refused to do. His speech has improved some, I can understand most of what he says. And we sign.
My mother in law thinks we could sue the government or at least the Navy for neglect for not telling us about the problems they had during delivery and I honestly think the nurse who saw him at his 6 week check up knew his soft spot was closed( i think it was closed right after his birth because of the problems) but she never said anything,I just will never forget the look she gave me before going ahead with the rest of the exam. When I asked her if anything was going on she smiled some stupid smile and said no.Anyway, I dont think we can go after the navy and I dont think knowing why is going change anything.
