Our son was not diagnosed as having a profound hearing impairment, until he was two and a half. Given that the crucial years for language are the first 4 years of life, this meant that he lost two and a half years of key language development, at a time when valuable auditory memory and pathways are being developed and laid down.
Why was this diagnosis so late? Incredibly, he passed all of his hearing tests! It was only because of our concerns that he was not developing speech, and our persistent pushing and demand for a proper audiology test, that he was finally diagnosed. Now we are playing the catch-up game, and continuing to fight to get him those additional key services such as Speech & Language Therapy, and school supports. It’s not easy, it’s not always available – and we have had to travel to the UK to obtain some of these services. It’s tiring, but like so many other parents – we persist.
In our son’s case, early intervention in the provision of neo-natal screening would have spotted the hearing loss before he was ever discharged from hospital after birth. Or if standard baby hearing tests were conducted by Audiologists instead of Health Nurses, he could have been diagnosed earlier. Thankfully, after hard lobbying, and tremendous work on the part of some dedicated people, such changes are under consideration and there is some movement now to pilot the neo-natal screening in parts of the country. This kind of screening is already available as standard practise in some so called “third world” countries. You have to wonder…
What we do know is that early diagnosis and intervention is of crucial importance for our children with disabilities. We also know that from a financial perspective, it makes economic sense because in some cases the requirement for later services will be reduced by early intervention.
So it’s time now to demand that our children deserve better.