We have come to realize that our infant daughter may be hearing impaired. Besides getting her hearing tested, does anyone have any advice for me?
by 
kimberly muscarella
ANSWERS: 3
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Of course, seeking out competent medical advice and diagnostics are the first thing. You and your spouse may wish to consider learning American Sign Language. American Sign Language (ASL) is a complex visual-spatial language that is used by the Deaf community in the United States and English-speaking parts of Canada. It is a linguistically complete, natural language. It is the native language of many Deaf men and women, as well as some hearing children born into Deaf families. Once you gain some comfort with ASL, you can begin teaching it to your child, just as you would teach your child to speak - through everyday communication. Instead of pointing at a dog and saying "dog," you would point at the dog and then make the sign for "dog". Good luck!
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Yes, as the previous answer suggested, learning American Sign Language, I believe, is an excellent idea. It's extremely important that she has a language basis - any language basis - as she grows, as this will help her in learning, reading, and writing other languages in the future. I am not an expert on children's education, however, I have learned a LOT since taking classes on Deaf culture and sign language. My suggestion is for you to become educated about this, as well, as it is quite likely that ASL will be your daughter's natural and most comfortable language if she turns out to be hearing impaired - not definitely, but quite likely. I hope this helps.
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The first 6 years of a childs life are extremely important in language development in a hearing child or not. If she is in fact hard of hearing the sooner she is equipped with amplification the easier language aquisition will be. Other then hearing aids that an Audiologist would mention there are a few options. ASL was mentioned. But also I wanted to throw out there the system SEE. Signed Exact English. Although not accepted that well in the Deaf Community SEE is easy to learn (convienent for parents) because it follows the English word order and syntax. SEE and ASL use similar signs so cross communication is possible but the biggest plus, at least for me, is that the child can read and write standard English and could learn to speech read (lip read) so communication with non-signers is possible. I could go on and on but the take home message is get her tested ASAP so language wont be hindered.
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