Is My Baby Deaf?

Any child in a home where two or more languages are spoken
will speak later than children who are in homes where only one language is spoken. Sometime after 3 or 4, they will speak both languages
competently. But also try those various hearing tests the other moms have suggested.
About January 12, 2011 . . . . . it's only a few weeks away.
Really.

My daughter is 21 months she is 6 months speech delayed I had no idea that she would been diagnosed with a hearing problem she can only hear %50 in both ears she hasn't passed any of her earing tests as we have had many now 6 she is making improvement in her ability to communitcate with us she is saying words able to understand what she has is a conductive hearing loss she needs ear tubes she only has 2 documneted ear infections as the others or may not of had but has contast fluid being built up in both ears.It is diffucult for a child to speak and hear different languages.
1)Does he respond to his name all the time not just half the time
2)How does he respond to NO?
3)Does he play with other children?
4)How is his eye contact?
5)Is he developmentally behind in any other areas?
6)Is the Dr.concerned with his development?
My child has differnet pitches all the time regardless of how well she hears she can respond to her name & to when called so giving me the impression she isn't deaf or has a hearing problem.

Being deaf and having a speech problem are two different issues. Most children will begin speaking later if they are learning two languages at the same time, boys speak later then girls.

As for being deaf, does he answer or come to you when his name is called? If there is a noise does his head turn in the direction?

He may have a hearing problem, but I think if he were completely deaf you would know.

Helen Keller didn't make sounds because she was deaf and mute. Deaf babies and people still have vocal chords and can still create vocal sounds. You have some good suggestions below on how to test his hearing.

On another note, I am half-Thai and used to be pretty fluent in Thai. I know that the sounds of the Thai language are completely different than English sounds, they are almost guttural. I am wondering if he is still mimicking Thai language and your family here thinks it sounds odd.(assuming they are not Thai-speaking)

if the house is quiet stand a few feet behind him and bang a pot or pan. it should startle him. if he does not respond maybe he does have some hearing impairment.

I'm not sure if the baby was born in a U.S. hospital, but newborns here are given hearing screenings at birth. Did your baby get this? Are they really concerned he is deaf, or concerned that he is not speaking in words? I would guess that if you don't instinctively think he's deaf, then he's not...especially after 18 months of being his father. I'm not sure if making sounds equates to hearing. I would take him to a dr. just to be sure, and I'm surprised that you can't get a sooner appointment. I would try again for a sooner appointment. Does he turn his head towards sounds? If you drop something on the floor & it makes a loud noise, does he turn towards it? Does he turn towards you when you call his name? If he does all this, I'd guess he's fine. If he doesn't do these things though, then you have reason to be concerned.

hey my son is hard of hearing but not deaf my niece is deaf. you are accurate profoundly deaf babies dont babble. now the way you tell if they are hard of hearing not neccessarily deaf is do they follow commands mine tries but cant comply. second to they react to loud noises such as you clapping? mine doesnt. the not talking may be due to learning 2 languages. if you were to sound off a loud beeper would your son react to it. hard of hearing kids cant locate loud pitches. they think its coming from where its not coming from my son looks up. does he talk at all? mine says less than 30 words and only about 4 are clear. if he screams all of the time he might be hard of hearing. mine doesnt talk in a normal tone he hollars everything. so having said that dont panic till you get his hearing tested.

now if he is hard of hearing there are 4 possibilities. he has fluid in his ears and tubes will fix that and it is a temporary hard of hearing. my son already has tubes. second something with the bone in his ear could be wrong surgery fixes it sometimes. third. if his covering of his ear drum isnt there cant remeber what its called surgery can sometimes fix that. or he will be profoundly deaf. I honestly think my son is only hard of hearing not profoundly deaf. I am clearing up insurance issues right now so I can get a audiologist to check him. slam something down behind him see if he looks for it. if not they may be right. why do they think he is deaf? there has to be a reason other than they said so. deafness runs in my sos family so I have been more watchful for it. what is their reasons? pm me if you want to.

mine cannot hear you call his name from behind. but if he is facing you he can. also he can hear his dad who has a deeper pitch than me he reacts to me rarely. but his dad more often. mine can i think hear music we think its only the bass because he will dance to music. I think mine is pitch deaf. if he is just ignoring you he will follow a command at least 70% of the time if he is hard of hearing he will do it less. mine does about 20% of the time and eci thinks he memorized what the commands were. but he tries to comply about another 20% of the time and has a hard time doing it. call eci and have them come out wether he is deaf , hard of hearing or just speech delayed. they are through your school system call any school they can put you in contact with them. hang in there mamas gut is usually right. my gut said mine was hard of hearing and I was right now wether its temporary or permanant I dont know yet.

Stand where he can not see you and make a big noise. If he turns his head towards you he can here you, but I would still get his hearing checked out to be sure it is 100%.

Stand behind him when he is busy and doesn't know you are there. Will he turn if you say his name or speak in a conversational tone of voice? What about speaking loudly? What about a loud noise like hitting 2 pot lids together? If you can't tell or suspect a hearing problem then have the doctor check his hearing.

He very well could be just tuning you out.
When he's not looking, bang a metal pot with a spoon and see if he turns to look in the direction of the noise. It's a simple experiment.
Good luck at his appointment!

Does he flinch when he hears loud noises? What about blink if you snap your fingers near his ear? Does he turn his head toward sound? If you can answer "yes" to atleast one of these then he's not deaf. Have a hearing issue? Maybe. But I don't think there's cause for concern just yet.

If he NEVER responds to you... nor to his name, nor to any sudden loud noises.... ???? Or does he?

He is also being raised multi-lingual.... so, talking/speech is entirely DIFFERENT from 'hearing impairment.'

My kids are bi-lingual and my Daughter also learns other languages in school. They are fine. My son though was delayed in speech. No biggie. He is now the most talkative one in our family and very articulate and had very GOOD comprehension of both languages AND the other languages he picks up.... he can count in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese, for example. And he knows/speaks words in all those languages too. My daughter as well.
Since BIRTH, my kids were spoken to in different languages. It is fine. They are now 4 and 8 years old. No problems. And they respond to people, no matter what language they are spoken to in.

Why does everyone think he is deaf? Does he ever turn his head toward you.... in response to calling his name? Or you asking him something? Or you making loud noises???? Or does he startle in reaction to LOUD or scary sounds???? Does he react to music???

He is already 18 months old... he MUST have had, well-baby check-ups by now... not only now. To me, a Doctor would have mentioned or noticed it if he were 'deaf' or had hearing problems... or you would have mentioned it to the Doctor, a long time ago at each of his well-baby visits and annual physical exams.
Babies, see the Doctor every 3 months, then at 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, and 24 months. So... did he? This is the usual check-up schedules.... for a baby.....

I think deaf babies make sounds, just not the same babbling as hearing children. Does he or did he babble? does his voice pitch ever change as if his babbling is sometimes a question? Does he startle at sudden noises? does he turn his head to music or a toy that makes noise? My son (heard two languages)was 6 month speech delayed but he loved music and was very scared by loud noises so I was sure he could hear. A six month speech delay is nothing at age 4 1/2 but is a big deal at age 18 months! Try teaching him fun noises not words, like saying beep beep and BAM! and making animal noises for him to imitate, more fun, less stress and no language confusion.

Really, you won't know until you get a hearing test done! So you might just as well relax.
Being exposed to multiple languages can slow down the perceived pace of language development when it come to acquiring vocabulary, but it should not delay the onset of speaking or the general pace of language acquisition.

For example multilingual kids may seem to have a smaller vocabulary: for example instead of 50 words they may only have 25 words, but in each language. This is normal and should not be a concern.
BUT no matter if one or two or even more languages, they should reach language milestones at the expected age (first words, two word sentences ...).

Apart from hearing difficulties there could be a plethora of things that lead to language delays. Bilingualism is NOT one of them. That has been scientifically proven!

So start with a hearing test and if you have concerns about his language development go from there.
Good luck!

Bind deaf and mute are 2 very different issues. Helen Keller was Blind, deaf, and mute.

My grandson was deaf and the foster parents took him to an Eye, Ears, Nose and Throat doc who decided to put tubes in his ears to see if it helped. During surgery he discovered debris from previous ear infections that had not been treated by the antibiotics he had taken. He cleared out the ear canals and the little guy could hear for the first time since who knows when.

Make an appointment with a doc that specializes in ears. A pediatrician can sometimes just brush over stuff due to time limits and they really don't know everything.

I believe that there are different docs because we need some to be very knowledgeable about the issues the treat. For instance you would not want a Cardiologist to do brain surgery on you. You'd want a neurosurgeon.

If he is deaf or even hard of hearing then he can be started on the treatments to help him hear or even start learning sign language so you can talk to him and others can too. He can still be able to speak, dance, and even sing if he is deaf.

Children who are speech/language delayed yell/scream quite frequently because they are frustrated. If he does not even do that then it might be his personality or a hidden handicap of Sensory Processing Disorder or somewhere on the spectrum of Autism. He needs to be seen by a pediatric audiologist and then a speech/language pathologist who will suggest one language only until he gets that one down. He should be evaluated by an occupational therapist well versed in SPD because in order for language to come, the body has to move and the vestibular system must be stimulated.

My daughter can't talk not much