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Impaired Hearing/Deafness
Source of Information: Beginnings: For Parents of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Inc.; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
What Is It?
Hearing loss or inability to hear.
What Causes It?
- Congenital causes
- Maternal diabetes
- Prematurity
- Repeated ear infections
- Some diseases
What Are the Symptoms/Risks?
- Inability to hear
- Delayed speech
- Developmental delays
Is it Hereditary?
It can be.
Diagnosable at Birth or Latent?
Congenital hearing loss can be identified in children younger than 3 months old. Newborns are routinely tested in many states.
What Else Do I Need to Know?
The statistics for hearing loss in infants is…
- 1 of every 1,000 infants is born deaf
- 6 of every 1,000 infants are born with some degree of hearing loss
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a hearing screening for every baby shortly after birth. Currently, 38 states plus the District of Columbia perform universal infant screening at birthing centers, 4 states have voluntary screening, and 8 states have no legislation requiring newborn hearing screening.
What’s the Bottom Line?
Early intervention is key. If hearing loss is identified early, much can be done to prevent developmental delays in speech.
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Impaired Sight/Blindness
Source of Information: Unite for Sight
What Is It?
Impaired ability or inability to see.
What Causes It?
- Corneal scarring from vitamin A deficiency
- Congenital cataracts
- Prematurity
- Refractive errors
- Measles
What Are the Symptoms/Risks?
Limited ability or inability to see
Is it Hereditary?
It can be.
Diagnosable at Birth or Latent?
Can be diagnosed at birth or can be latent.
What Else Do I Need to Know?
Almost 50% of all blindness in children is preventable.
Children under 5 have the highest incidence of blindness, and early surgery is required to restore sight.
What’s the Bottom Line?
There are many resources available to assist a child with blindness or reduced vision. For more information on vision therapy, read Vision Therapy on the Parenting Special Kids blog.
Faith, this is a great series. Wish I’d had this the first time I had to fill out the go/no go sheet.
One of the boys had a ‘lazy eye’. It is a different type of problem, and can lead to lasting problems if the error is great enough. Eye people seem quite good as spotting the problem. It is correctable.
That picture is a great visual!
John
Thanks for the feedback!! I had concerns about running a series like this because I feared it might get tedious to read. It’s not as “fun” as some other topics. However, I decided to move forward because, like you, I wished that I had access to all of this information in one place when I went through the adoption process.
Do you have a link to a favorite website about lazy eye? If so, feel free to post it in the comments. That way, readers will have ready access to that information as well.
I’ll pass along the compliment about the picture to my friend, Lynda Bernhardt. She is a photographer who provides all of my pictures. (I have the “writer’s gene” but not the “visual gene.” LOL)
Take care,
- Faith
Faith, a good site is http://www.lazyeye.org. There are actually two conditions, one where the eye is constantly crossed, and the other where it is intermittent. The second condition is easier to spot, when the eye turns in, or goes back to normal, it gets your attention. John
Thanks, John!! This will be a helpful link for anyone considering adopting a child with lazy eye.
Have a good weekend.
- Faith