From the article: How to Help Child Adjust to Hearing Aids
What advice would you give to a parent whose hard of hearing child or teenager does not want to wear his hearing aids in school? (There are multiple reasons that an older child or teenager may not want to wear hearing aids in school, such as wanting to fit in.)
11 Year Old Son
- I dk what to do my son is now 11 and does not want to wear his aids. He does know asl but is main streamed received aids @ 6 yrs old.
- —Guest ForThoseBOys
Need vs Want
- I think it depends on whether or not the hearing aid benefits a person. For me, I don't remember ever not wanting it. I can't imagine not wearing it. It was a great need, in order for me to function well in hearing school, I needed it. When I went to a deaf residential school, it became a habit and it was still a need, even to this day, I have to wear it. Love it. If I had chosen not to wear it, it would not have been a big deal to my deaf parents. It was their decision to fit me with a hearing aid, it was my choice to continue to wear them, and I did.
- —Guest Candy
Made Deal With Grandma
- Worn HA since the age of 3; 60 years ago. Peer pressure got me at the age of 10; and would not wear a HA but grandmother made a deal with me. I wear it to school and when I get home, I can take it off. It gotten so that I needed the HA so then I cannot do without one; and still wear one today.
- —Guest Squirrelley
Monitor Kids
- As a concern parent and a deaf man and teacher myself, I believe some of the Deaf/HH kids who don't want to wear their Hearing Aids should be monitored to see if they can cope with teachings using Sign Language as opposed to verbal means of communication. From experience here in Sierra Leone, West Africa, our deaf children prefer teachings been done using Sign Language than the use of Hearing Aids to assist them in verbal communication. Hence Sign Language must be a MUST LEARN language for the deaf and the Hard of Hearing (HH) and be used in all educational programs for the Deaf and HH people..
- —Guest Tamba Aloysius Bull
Rebellious Kids
- First I do not agree with this term, rebellious. Why force children who do not want to wear hearing aids? I was forced and I refused to wear it. It was uncomfortable. I am profound deaf and am happy for who I am. I do not benefit anything from wearing hearing aids. I think people who "force" kids to wear hearing aids need to reconsider their power. Kids are NOT rebellious. Nobody even the parents do not like to be "forced" or even "persuaded" too much.
- —Guest Maria
ASL
- If the child knows ASL they should not be required to wear it if they don't want to do so.
- —Guest anonymous
It's called PARENTING
- There are three scenarios where a teenager wouldn't want to wear his or her hearing aids: • Audiological: It's a crap fit. It can be uncomfortable earmolds, too loud, not loud enough, the frequency response &/or compression is not set properly, or the hearing aids lack aggressive enough mic directionality & digital noise reduction. My recommendations for this scenario: 1) FIRE your pediatric audie; 2) Treat your teenager like an adult: Find an audie who specializes in tech-savvy adults, and get a great pair of hearing aids that have a Bluetooth streamer for their mobile phone, TV & game console: Make them a fashionable yet-indispensable "communications hub" (think consumer electronics), rather than bland beige prosthetic medical devices. (more in next comment) Dan Schwartz, Editor, The Hearing Blog http://www.TheHearingBlog.com
- —TheHearingBlog
From a Teacher
- I am a teacher and sevel of my students refuse to wear their HA in middle school. Looking for suggestions.
- —Guest Kq732
Fitting In?
- Fitting in? Sometimes I wonder. Over half the kids, even college kids wear earpieces everywhere they go. Fitting in, depends on which crowd they wish to "fit in" with. It's a way of tuning out everyone else. If it's a deaf child that needs hearing aids, if he wanted to tune others out, all he has to do is the opposite, just pull the plug, or in this case, the earpiece. So it can be a sign of rebellion. So first you have to figure out why he's doing it and it could be more than one reason, including a hidden one that even he may not be aware of. Trying to impress a girl perhaps?
- —JAMESSURRATT
Now I Use It All the Time
- I have had an aid since I was 9 years old, however since I identified myself very strongly with my deaf peers and deaf culture when I was a teenager, and didn't see the need to use one. I would use it when I was at home with my family because I needed to communicate with them orally. This continued until I graduated from College and had to get a job and really needed all the help I could get to be able to communicate with my co workers, and I also needed to be able to communicate with my kids even though they are very fluent in sign language, and with my grand kids, and the hearing people in my community as well, . I use my aid all the time now, cant live without it. So my advice is to be patient and let your teen decide what he/she wants to hear and whether he wants to use his aid, one day he will and perhaps he might even chose to get a cochlear implant, who knows. Been there Done that.
- —Guest Deaf Mom
Don't Force It
- I wear hearing aids all the time as its a symbol of my Deaf identity. I would never force a child or any other deaf person to wear them though. The hearing world is forcing too much technology on the Deaf trying to make us more hearing like. That is disturbing too because it shows us hearing people do not accept us as we naturally are. It should be the deaf person choice as to what he or she chooses. Its that Deaf person's deafness and no one else.
- —Guest Jasin
Accept It
- Teenagers are old enough to know when something isn't benefitting them. I wore hearing aids since 6 months old, and at 10 years old, I realized that they weren't really benefitting me. When I told my parents, audiologists, teachers, etc., they wouldn't believe me, or would give me "you just have to get used to them" or some other encouragement. I was punished for not wearing them. So for 6 years, I wore them, but never turned them on, and nobody was the wiser. I wish I had the courage to flush them down the toilet.
- —roxxxrox
