Before sending your kid to school, you buy pencils, crayons, calculators, new backpacks and more. Parents of children with hearing loss have one more thing to consider: hearing aids.
Let’s take a look at how hearing aids can help your child thrive in school and a few ways you can introduce them.
How Hearing Aids Help Your Child Thrive
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 34 million children worldwide require rehabilitation to address their hearing loss. There are a few ways hearing aids can help your child thrive in the classroom:
- Better engagement. When kids strain to hear, they might zone out, rather than continue to struggle. This can hurt their learning, potentially leading to failing grades. Hearing aids bring their attention back to the speaker.
- Improved speech and language development. We develop our ability to speak and understand through hearing. Think about the first time your kid said “mama” or “dada.” They learned to say that because you said it to them. When hearing loss dulls your speech, or their teachers’ or classmates’ speech, they won’t have that crucial framework on which they develop their language. Hearing aids fill these gaps, boosting their communication skills, which is an essential part of classroom success.
- Greater confidence. Hearing loss can make it difficult for your child to engage with other kids and participate in group activities like classroom projects or games at the Chastain Park playground. Hearing aids help them feel confident enough to throw themselves into the next game of freeze tag or capture the flag.
Helping Your Child Adjust To Hearing Aids
Your child may not want to wear their hearing aids to school, often for fear that they’ll look different. These feelings are normal, and you shouldn’t be afraid to address them head-on. Try a few of these tactics to increase their confidence:
- Start with fun outings. Before sending your kid off to school, have them wear their new hearing aids during fun activities like going out for ice cream or building massive pillow forts. Introducing their devices while they’re already having fun will help them see the change as an exciting adventure, not a boring treatment they don’t want.
- Talk about a time you were scared. Getting their first pair of hearing aids is difficult for some children. They may feel afraid about what other kids will think. Remind them that it’s okay to feel scared by sharing your story of overcoming these feelings. An old broken-arm-in-a-cast story is always a safe bet.
- Grab inclusive books. Most children don’t understand how common hearing loss is. Introducing them to books portraying kids or adults with hearing loss will help them understand that they’re part of an amazing community.
For more information on caring for your child’s hearing loss, contact Advanced Hearing today.