What are the social affects of impaired hearing in young children?

Question

Honest answers please. I am doing this for a school assignment. Thanks

Answer 1

Depends how much their hearing is impaired.

If they wear hearing aids other children may tease them or avoid them.

If they are unable to use hearing aids (due to severity of hearing loss) then they may misunderstand a lot of the stuff going on in their environment whether through not being able to lip read others correctly or misinterpreting visual clues.

If they only use sign language they may not be able communicate with anybody (including their parents - it's surprising how many hearing parents of deaf chidren do not learn sign language) and as a result be isolated.

Their choice of TV programs is also limited as not a lot of children's programs have someone interpreting what is said in to sign (if they are young they may not be able to read so subtitles are useless to them)

If they learn to speak their accent may cause teasing or cause them to be misunderstood.

They may need someone with them at all times to protect them from dangers which are normally heard before they are seen (at which point it is too late to do anything) or to interpret their language for them.