Hearing Aids get fitted.

He gets his hearing aids fitted this Friday 27^{th (2003)}. Everyone is telling me it will help with his frustration and temperament. I simply cannot believe this until I see it. I fear his hearing has deteriorated over time. I’m not sure whether I am just a lot more aware of him not hearing, or whether it really has become worse. The audiologists are hinting that it possibly has worsened over time because he passed the test back in November 2002. They indicated that maybe he could hear clearly then. I don’t think we will know until he has continuous tests done over time, or maybe we will never know.

Today is Saturday 28^th February. Indi got his hearing aids fitted late yesterday afternoon. He was very good during the fitting/programming. He had to be very still while the audiologist set the digital frequencies to suit Indi’s type of hearing loss. Indi just sat there and let him do it. I was very impressed, I was expecting him to say no and fight it. Once they were turned on he acted a bit weird. I think he was stunned or surprised, plus he had a look of concentration on his face, like he was really listening to the different sounds of our voices etc. Then he started repeating himself over and over, saying “Hunter’s in daycare” about a million times. I’m sure he was listening to his own voice. Then he was making loud funny noises and being silly, again I think he was listening to himself. He must have sounded so different to himself. He wore them for about 10 mins, and then just took them out. I put them back on him for the car trip home, and he was fascinated with the music coming from the radio. Then when I stopped the car, he said “Where music go?” My heart felt sad that he must have never heard the car radio before in his entire 3 years. But today he wasn’t very keen to wear them. He did keep them in, here and there, but never longer than about 30 or 45 mins before he took them out. If I must say whether they are making any difference, I think it’s too early to tell. He won’t leave them in long enough. I think he can hear better when they are in, but they must annoy him, or he is just very conscious of them and wants them out.

The other day, he was playing in the sandpit in the backyard. I was hanging washing, when suddenly he yelled out, he was startled, and very frightened. I watched his face; I asked him what was wrong. He very quietly said “What was that?” We both sat together and listened. Then there was the sound of a bird, cooing, like a dove or pigeon. He grabbed me tightly and looked at my face. He was really terrified. I reassured him that it was a bird singing, and we tried to find the bird in the tree together.  Later I cried, realizing that he had never heard the sound of a bird before.

His behavior seems to have improved slightly over the last week or 2. After the children’s specialist came over and saw him in action we have seen some changes. The 3 house rules are working well. If he hurts, throws inside (destructively) and/or wrecks/damages intentionally, he goes straight to time out, no warnings. This seems to have started to deter him, mainly the hurting rule, as that was the most common form of poor behavior. Finally, I think we might be turning the corner. I feel positive today for him. I feel like he is going to be fine. We had a fun day, and he was happy. Which is great to see as it’s not that common. All I want is for him to be happy, to enjoy himself. He is only 3; he should be loving life!!