How can a person tell if a child is blind, deaf or has a speech defect

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   aoiffe379posted 14 years ago

   My question is basically: How can an individual identify characteristics of a blind ,deaf or speech defective child? A child who favours the left hand will most likely be a southpaw. When a child can drive his/her walker at breakneck speeds, he/she is most likely ready to walk- if allowed to crawl and hold on prior to walking.A child who wants a book all the time to read or write in demonstrates an interest in reading and writing.
   
   Thus, how can an individual tell when a child needs attention to vision,hearing or speech? I am not talking about physical checkup.Doctors told one mother her child would not walk until age 5; and she was walking before age 2!

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   Dale Nelsonposted 14 years ago

   Don't know if this helps, but I grew up near a deaf school and saw them testing babies by standing out of the peripheral vision and clapping behind the babies head to see if they blinked or not.The sudden clap if heard usually causes a blink or a head turn if they hear it.The same for sight, bring an out of sight object or toy from the back of the childs head towards its forehead and they usually look up if it comes into vision.

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   E. Nicolsonposted 14 years ago

   My grandson is deaf, and the one thing that stands out to me when he was a baby was the way in which he vocalized. All babies squeal, but his squealing was much greater in volume and in duration. When my son and daughter-in-law told me the doctors wanted him tested, and that these tests revealed almost complete deafness, I wasn't surprised.

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   Alessia Amnesiaposted 14 years ago

   Blindness - Shine a light into the child's eyes and see if their pupils dilate. Other signs that a child may be blind is if they do not respond to visual comforts, like a silent mobile or a stuffed animal being held in front of their face.
   
   Deafness - As the first reply said, a good way to test a child's hearing is by standing in an out of sight area and clapping your hands. If the child does not respond, the child is most likely deaf. Other signs that a child may be deaf include no response to the mother's voice or music.
   
   Speech Impediments - Speech impediments are much harder to diagnose since children who are first learning to speak will almost always mispronounce words. However, stuttering and lisps are quite easily detected.

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   wychicposted 14 years ago

   Unfortunately, so far I haven't noticed anything that's really foolproof to be able to tell. There are two kids in my life right now that have made me see where some of the other forms of detection can still not catch anything.
   
   The first was born three months early, had to be born in a children's hospital where he lived for the first couple of months and had heart surgery right after he was born. There was always a suspicion that he would be developmentally disabled because of this rough start, and because of his mother's heart condition (that wasn't discovered until later) that deprived him of much-needed oxygen during development. He was only a little behind developmentally so no one really worried until recently. Now he is five years old, they finally found out that he's hard-of-hearing and has some issues with his speech that they're now trying to pin down for certain.
   
   The other was born 2 1/2 months early, but with a 9 APGAR and spent two weeks in NICU before she went home. She has developed normally, responded when things were dropped on the floor or when people walked up behind her. No one really worried when she didn't respond to clapping behind her...she was early, and she has an older sister so there was always a bit of noise around the house. Now, at two years old when she wasn't even starting to talk yet, they took her in for another test and discovered that she is profoundly deaf. She has always responded to her mother's voice, but we now know it was because her mom was holding her and she felt the vibrations in her chest.
   
   The best I can deduce is that you can pay close attention to your kids, try everything you can to identify any possible issues or special needs...and then just keep up on their developmental screenings and hope you see everything. Even a blind child can often see bright lights and react to them, and legally blind children will still be able to see motion around them...they may just appear a little clumsy as they might run into the occasional wall (that's how my own vision loss was discovered when I was two...not blind, but very close), but what infant or toddler isn't clumsy?

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      aoiffe379posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Can  a blind or legally blind child ride a tricyle on a sidewalk or pavement without running off it or colliding with another cyclist?Are they 'psychic'? For example, would they know whether your hair is combed or well-groomed? Would they be able to 'see' a bump/lump on the back of a person's neck,one that you would have to move the collar to see?

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   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   I found it was Really Easy with my Brother:
   
   I figured that he was blind when he kept tripping over my foot each time I put it out in front of him.
   
   And
   I figured that he was deaf when he never flinched each time I yelled "BOO!" whenever he came near me.
   
   But:
   I Knew he had a Speech Impediment.. when he swore at me Backwards!

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      prettydarkhorseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      LOL, good day PD
      
      as early as two months you can know if they are deaf, if something fell down, they should turn their head when they hear something or follow the sound direction of it,
      
      
      
      but at the hospital they have screening test for hearing  for as early as you give birth, the next day

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         wychicposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         If something falls down even the profoundly deaf may react because of the vibrations.
         
         For the hearing tests, my mom and I were just discussing those...she's not certain, but she thinks that what they're testing is if the membrane is vibrating or not. If this is so, then kids with malformations or fusions in the inner ear wouldn't be caught until later. We got into this discussion because she is a sign language interpreter, and a very large percentage of the kids she's worked with over the last 15 years passed the hearing tests when they were little, yet had little or no hearing from day one. They're not the majority, but enough to know that screenings won't always catch losses.

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            prettydarkhorseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            thanks for the information wychic

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   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   Hi Maita.... How are you?

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      prettydarkhorseposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am alright PD< hows Bumble Bee and of course you?

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   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   Good... Just enjoying Strawberries and Ice Cream.. Kiwi Summer... Envious?

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