Discovering your young child has auditory problems can be scary and stressful for parents. Aside from dealing with the normal issues that come with a toddler or preschooler, you are also tasked with a new set of obstacles. If your child has an auditory problem, they are likely to need to wear hearing aids. Getting a young child to keep a hearing aid in can be a challenge. Here are some stress free tips on how to get your little one to leave their hearing aids alone.
Distraction
When your child is first starting to wear their hearing aids, try to put them in right before a fun activity. By putting them in and then continuing on to do something enjoyable, your child may be distracted enough to forget about the strange object in their ears for a while. The first few days, you may not leave them in for very long, but gradually increase the length of time until they are in all day. Celebrate with your child when they are able to leave them in for your predetermined amount of time.
Routine
After your child has been introduced to their new hearing aids, develop a consistent routine. Put them in first thing in the morning with the intent of leaving them in all day. Never skip a day! If your child pulls them out, be kind yet firm with the child so they know that the hearing aid must stay in. Take them out before bed every night. Personalize your routine to fit your family's needs. You can sing a song while you put them in, or read a story right before removing them.
If your child is in child care, make sure that the provider understands the importance of the hearing aids and communicate the strategies that you use. It is important that the hearing aids stay in the ear all day, so those who work with your child when you aren't around must also be enforcing it.
Make them Fun
Hearing aids don't have to look boring. You can purchase brightly colored ear molds, fun straps, cute headbands, clips, and specialized stickers.
All of these "fun" accessories also serve to keep the hearing aids in place. Some options, such as clips, may not secure the aid in the ear but will at prevent the aid from getting lost if it comes out of the ear.
Positive Reinforcement
You may need to turn to positive reinforcement strategies to motivate your child to keep the hearing aids in. A sticker reward chart is one strategy. Give the child a sticker during each time frame they kept the hearing aid in. Time frames should start smaller for younger children. (For example, from wake up time to morning snack, then from snack to lunch, etc). After a certain amount of stickers are collected, the child can receive a small reward.
Visit websites like http://www.HearDenver.org for more information about hearing aids.
Share25 February 2015
I knew that my hearing wasn’t as good as it had once been, but I was still upset when my doctor told me that I had a significant hearing loss in both ears, and that I was going to need hearing aids if I wanted to participate more fully in my day to day life. But then I started researching hearing aids. I was thrilled to find out that there were small, barely visible aids that could help me hear without marking me as hearing impaired on first glance. Even better, the hearing aids were much more advanced than I’d thought. The ones that I chose can actually help cancel out environmental noise, like the clatter of a loud restaurant, so that I can focus on conversation with the waitress or the person across the table. My hearing aids have really improved my life.
