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Undetected hearing loss: a mother's story
One of the last things a new parent might expect is for their child to have a degree of hearing loss, but it's easily missed. If a child is incorrectly diagnosed as having normal hearing at birth, problems with hearing can be an ongoing issue
Suzanne Duffill's son Joe, born in 2000, was not diagnosed with hearing loss until he was four and a half. Suzanne and her husband knew that children could develop at different speeds so they thought that Joe might just be a bit slower than his older sister.
'His sister always used to know exactly what she wanted and she would get it, whereas Joe didn't appear to have as much motivation,' explains Suzanne. 'But it was only when he started playgroup that we properly realised he had a problem with his hearing.
'The main indication for us was that Joe's speech did not progress at the same rate as his peers. He passed the health visitor's test, which I still believe it is hit and miss.'
Like many parents of deaf or hard of hearing children, the Duffills had no experience of deafness. One in 1,000 children in the UK are born with some hearing loss, but most are born into hearing families.
Parents can be perplexed as to why their new baby has impaired hearing. But there can be myriad causes, from complications at birth to childhood illnesses like measles. Sometimes it's impossible to pinpoint the reason. But children like Joe can do well at school once they are fitted with hearing aids.
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