Parenting is never an easy task. It is even more difficult when your child is physically handicapped in a way that affects their daily life. Hearing problems is one such problem that affects a child's overall growth in a disturbing way, if proper efforts are not put in to help him learn and adapt. Here's what you can do if you are the parent of a child with hearing impairment.
The first and foremost thing that you can do as a parent of a child with hearing impairment is encourage him to use his hearing aid during all the time when he is awake. Expose your child to only one language until your child has developed all the basic language skills in that language. When the appropriate time arrives, it would be ideal to introduce a second language.
Communication is very important and thus it is also very necessary to face your child when you are speaking. This helps them gain confidence to face other people. Talk as much as possible in all the moments when it is possible. Talk to your child in a natural manner and make sure to give them enough time to express their thoughts. Rushing the process will lead them to not speak what they were planning on saying in the first place. Never avoid talking to your child assuming that your child won't understand. The more you talk, the more your child will try to figure out what you are saying.
Furthermore encourage him to attend to you when you are speaking. While you are talking make sure to keep the sentences simple and short. In this way, your child will be able to comprehend more and learn more effortlessly. It is to be noted that the limitation that your child faces in terms of utterances is extremely useful for you to encourage them to speak more. You can also encourage your child to imitate your lip movements. This will help them to attempt more to speak.
How to help your child who has hearing impairment learn how to speak?
You are your child's first friend. So it is very important that you spend as much time as possible with them. Talking is the primary solution. Talk as much as you can. Talk in all the ways that it is possible, slowly, naturally and meaningfully, but talk, talk and talk more. It would be helpful for your child to learn about daily life and also pick up speaking habits when you talk more about your surroundings. These daily life situations will provide more opportunities for your child to learn to speak more.
Labeling the various objects or situations in the environment is fruitful as it helps your child to learn certain words. When you say something meaningful, repeating it will help your child retain the information. It is your duty to provide a need or create an opportunity for your child to talk, thus encouraging him to talk.
Rewards are attractive for a child. Reward your child in their attempts to talk. When other people notice that your child has difficulty in speaking, they will try to speak for your child. Always discourage such acts and make sure to avoid them yourself too. When you are doing a certain work, try to describe it verbally while you are doing it. Taking the role of a commentator while you are carrying out your daily activities will help your child to learn the narrative structure and gain more skills to describe his feelings. For example when you are playing with a car, you can say, "Oh, you have a car", "The car is big", "Now you are pushing the car", or "there goes the car". Such kind of verbal description will motivate your child in expressing themselves more comfortably.
By asking questions is how we learn a lot. So encourage your child to ask more questions. Once again use simple words and sentences. Additionally, you can also use pictures and objects to teach certain words and sentences. Telling stories has always been a perfect way to teach children about various things. The same can be done with your child with hearing impairment.
While carrying out all of these activities, always ensure that your child is watching, attending and listening to you while you carry out all of the above activities. Read out loud to your child and sing to and with your child. You can help him learn and become around of certain sounds in our environment. This can be voices, noisy games, door bells, pressure cooker, telephone sounds or sounds that animals and birds make and many others.
Lastly, remember that your child deserves all the love and affection like any other child and they are your child.
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