The day James Rios was fit with a hearing aid was the first time his mother, Carrie Rios called out her son’s name and he turned to exactly where she was with a smile. It was the day James’ world was changed.

After three-year-old James failed his newborn hearing screening, the Rios family heard constant back and forth diagnosis about why he failed the test. He was officially diagnosed with a mild unilateral hearing loss when he was two years old.

When the nurse wheeled our daughter Raina’s bassinet away for her newborn hearing screening I said, “Go ace your first test baby girl!”

Forty-five minutes later, she came back with bad news: Raina didn’t pass.

Speech activities for children with hearing loss don’t have to be a boring or frustrating experience. In fact, working on speech can be fun and connecting.

Developing speech and language skills at a young age is important. The need to have brain simulation helps lay the foundation for future language development.  Ayden’s awesome speech pathologist, Amy Krischel, offered some insight on the importance of speech development.

“Maintaining speech production at an age-appropriate level is important for the academic load that begins as early as preschool,” says Amy. “Children with speech sound errors often have more difficulty learning letter names and their sound associations, which is an important precursor to reading success.”

Mothering a child with hearing loss has broadened my perspective. As a hearing person, I used to take certain things for granted. Now I understand that not everyone experiences the world the way I do. My hard-of-hearing daughter reminds me to have empathy in this diverse world.

 A HearingLikeMe tradition for Mother’s Day is to ask moms to consider the question, “What’s the most rewarding thing about being a mother to a child with hearing loss?” Here’s what they said:

When you are a child with hearing loss, sometimes understanding exactly what hearing loss is can be difficult. Phonak partnered with UK radio station Fun Kids Live, to create educational YouTube videos about hearing loss for children.

The YouTube videos are called, “Professor Hallux’s Hearing Help Desk.” Professor Hallux is a scientist works with Nurse Nanobot to learn how the ear works. 

Having a child with a hearing loss sometimes can feel isolating but mom Macey Kibbey has found kindred community through Instagram. 

The hearing loss journey for Macey’s son Oliver began when his left ear failed the newborn hearing screen. A repeat test when he was one day old showed opposite results. Oliver was then referred to a specialist and diagnosed with a mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss at three months old. 

In the beginning of my children’s hearing loss journey, I had no idea the complexity of hearing loss. Frequencies, decibels (dB), audiograms, pitches – were just random words that would eventually form into meaning.

I confess, that with limited understanding of the deaf world, I assumed you were either hearing or deaf. It didn’t occur to me that there was a whole wild world in-between. 

Today, there are many supports that are legally in place to accommodate students with hearing loss, but that wasn’t always the case.

If we were to travel back in time a little over 100 years ago, we would see a sight that would turn our stomachs. A child that had intellectual or physical disabilities would have had no access to school or would have been institutionalized. The current special education system in the United States is a product of many different events and influences that have occurred throughout the years. Both political and social issues have played a significant role in the evolution of special education. Specifically, the key players have been parent advocates and the civil rights movement.

Nine-year-old Rayna is living out her passion for riding while enjoying her new world of sound after receiving her first hearing aid.

Rayna has both hearing loss and Tourette’s syndrome but doesn’t let her disabilities hold her back. She thrives on her abilities and is embracing her new hearing technology.