Initially, parents and teachers will think that a child has a learning disability if a child falls behind in class. But you must also factor in the likelihood that the child has hearing impairment. It is a condition that is very common. Often, hearing loss has hugely adverse effects on your child’s life. To mitigate hearing loss issues in your child, it is critical to provide your bundle of joy with baby earmuffs. Ear protection ensures that as they get older, they will never have to suffer hearing loss.
Hearing and learning are interconnected
- Vocabulary learning
Vocabulary learning develops at a much slower pace with children who have hearing loss. These children will often have difficulties learning abstract concepts such as peace, love, and liberty. As the children age, the gap between the vocabulary learning of children with normal hearing and those with hearing loss widens. Without intervention, children with hearing impairment do not catch up.
It is a challenge for children with hearing impairment to understand words and concepts with multiple meanings. For example, the term bank can mean a stream’s edge or a place to deposit money.
- Sentence structure
In children with hearing loss, they can understand and produce shorter and simpler sentences compared to children with normal hearing. Children with hearing impairment often have a challenge understanding and writing specific sentences, such as those with relative clauses. They also have trouble with passive voice structures.
It is typical of children with hearing impairment not to hear certain word endings. The result is misunderstanding of verb tenses relation as well as non-agreement of subject and predicate. They also have confusion with possessives.
- Speaking
Children suffering from hearing impairment often cannot hear subtle speech sounds and the stronger consonant sounds. In many cases, their speech becomes a challenge to understand.
It is also possible that children suffering from hearing impairment may not hear their voices as they speak. Because of this, they may speak at a high volume or not sufficiently loud enough. They may sound like they are mumbling because of poor diction and poor speaking rate.
- Academic achievement
Children with hearing loss have challenges in all areas of academic achievement especially reading and mathematical concepts. In the case of children with mild to moderate hearing loss, on average, they will often be one to 4 grade levels lower than their peers who are not suffering from hearing loss. Because of this, it is critical to apply appropriate management measures. To make sure your child will never suffer hearing loss as they get older, one of the strategies you can do as a responsible parent is to provide baby earmuffs for your newly born bundle of joy.
Social struggles
Aside from struggles in school, children who have hearing impairment can also experience trouble in social situations. Speaking and listening is critical to social interactions as well as peer relationships. Without the ability to communicate optimally, your children often experience feelings of isolation and depression.
You must provide your child protection for their hearing. Your child might suffer the consequences of hearing impairment if you are not vigilant about noise levels in your environment and the places you take them to. You must start taking care of your baby’s ears so they will grow to have healthy hearing, which is necessary for their many activities in life.
