I have a 6 year old who has moderate to severe hearing loss. Most recently he has been having some behavioral issues. Mostly being hyper, having a hard time staying still, fidgety at times, does best playing on his own (he does have a twin and an older brother). His hyper active moments are not every single day but have been more frequent due to his hearing condition I do not know how to distinguish if his behavior is due to fatigue from over working in school or if there’s something else going on. Drs have been no help so far and the furthest I’ve gotten is being sent a questionnaire from a behaviorist to give to his teacher and meeting again in 6 months if behavior persist. Does anyone have any suggestions or tell me how they figured their child had adhd I’m extremely lost
diag help: I have a 6 year old who has... - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
diag help
Thank you for posting to the group. I hope you find some answers. I am sorry you have not gotten the help you needed. It sounds like he should have an IEP for his moderate to severe hearing loss. Is he getting services in school, like on an IEP? Does he use some type of hearing devices? Also, is there a HAT ( hesring assistive technology) system that is used in his classroom.
Of course I don't know all the details but could you start getting all that set up and working. Has anyone recommended him learning sign language in addition to speech?
Once all that, if it can be dialed in then you can look at any other things that seem to be impacting his educational/home life.
Of course there are all different severity of ADHD. There can even be inactive ADHD. But some classic sign for us were excessive "energy" always fidgeting ( still to this day, our son is 18 years old and on medication) he is unable to sit still even in a movie theater when he is watching a movie is loves. Excessive talking about random things. Hard to sit and focus for more than 5-10 mins without needing a break and this has been since elementary school. I could go on and on.
I know everyone is going to come after me... but this is what our son is like.
Best of luck in finding something that helps
Thank you for responding, he does have an IEP and has had hearing aids since he was 2 that’s when we found out he had the hearing loss and his school also provides fm system In his classroom. They sure don’t make it easy, I feel like I’m expressing my concerns and saying what I see and because of the hearing loss everything just gets dismissed as being fatigue from having to work harder in school. Which I completely get and not disagreeing with at all but as a parent you notice different things and I feel like they just keep going in circles.
Thanks for responding. People don't understand how much harder it is to parent when a child has additional needs. Not sure if you have considered or maybe you already do using sign language to help with communication. Even using 4 or 5 signs might help with communication and decrease frustration. Let me know if you need any resources for this.
As far as ADHD is concerned when you filled out the survey for behavior does it seem like he has some of the symptoms? If so his regular doctor should help you with getting as assessment done.
You could also try and find other parents of children with hearing loss and see if they are having the same frustrations.
I hope you find the support you are looking for best to you!
I spoke with his speech therapist about sign language and she told me that wasn't necessary for him because he’s now able to communicate better (as he also has speech delay). There are behaviors I completely agree with that are on the questionnaire and have also spoken to his teacher previous to questionnaire and she also agrees to seeing some behaviors. He will be seeing his pediatrician next week to see if we can get a referral and hopefully not have an extraordinarily long wait. I live in CT and have waited as long as 2 years to see a behaviorist only to get no where. I appreciate your kind words and hopefully can be pointed in the right direction
Do you think some of his behaviors are related to not hearing/understanding what is asked of him? If you don't mind, could you learn just 3 or 4 very basic signs: Yes, no, more, finished and I love you.
If you start to just use these you can tell if it is helping. If it helps then you could learn more.
This link has more of the ones I listed, but not finished.
asl-kids.com/sign-language-...
Let us know what happens with the doctors appt.
We are always here to support you.
I am a mom of 5 exceptional children who have different diagnoses including ADHD (both inattentive and combined types), Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, and Learning Disabilities. I am also a CODA (child of deaf adult). Both my parents are Deaf. I would definitely make sure you are using sign language to give your child greater communication access. Both my parents did not learn sign language until later (Mom was 13, Dad was 22). Both really felt their world really opened up for them after they could communicate without limitations.
Once that is addressed, I would most definitely listen to your mom instinct. If you feel there is something that needs looking at, talk frankly with your pediatrician. Get a referral for an evaluation with a psychologist. Depending on where you live the wait may be many months. Get the appointment as soon as you can. Preferably with a provider that has experience working with Deaf children. You may have to be the driving force to get it all done.
In my own experience, the school district does very little to help until you have a definitive diagnosis from an outside provider. Once you’ve completed the evaluation, you can request the help you need with less pushback.
I really wish I had been more proactive much earlier with my older children. Early intervention has made a world of difference for my younger ones!
Best wishes!
thank you for responding, I asked his speech therapist about sign language and was told he did not need it. We see his pediatrician next week about this and hopefully can get the ball rolling somewhere because it feels like I’m going in circles and everything is just about a year wait if not longer for appointments. I waited 2 years for a behaviorist appointment just for it to be on a zoom call and be told see you in 6 months. It’s very frustrating because of his hearing condition and his age I simply just can’t figure out what’s what with the behavior and while he does have an IEP I have to go through hoops and get a diagnosis before any adjustments can be made for him. I’m hopeful somewhere some how I can get some answers
Everyone above had great advice, I might add that if you aren’t seeing the behavioral concerns daily or all the time, it might help to make mental notes or write down when you notice them in his day to identify patterns or triggers. Is it at the end of the day? Is it random? Has he recently had an audiology appointment that may have adjusted his hearing devices?
If you are noticing this occurs at the end of the day you may be able to offer a “brain break” and see if he wants to take his devices off for a bit and have some quiet time. The “he plays best on his own” made me think of that. It really is so much more work in school when they have to fight listening fatigue.
Hope you get some answers soon and it’s wonderful you are so proactive in caring for him 
Hi there, I do see more of his behaviors on a daily basis but they’re not every single day. I’ve even thought about recording when he has them so I can just show his Dr rather than spending 10 minutes trying to explain what I’m seeing and experiencing with him. As far as his hearing aids go he doesn’t like to take them off, if we don’t put them on right away he will ask to put them on. And I know the fatigue is a thing because he has to work harder in school which is where I need help to figure out if his behaviors are him being overwhelmed or if there’s something else going on. I’m hoping to get answers soon, I would just really love to know how to better handle his moments and make sure he isn’t overwhelmed. Thank you so much for your kind words
the questionnaire does help with a clinical diagnosis, but be sure to ask for a neuropsychological evaluation too. However… the questionnaire we did was for 3 teachers, the kid and me all doing them… the psychological evaluation will take 3-12 months depending where you are, so get on the list sooner rather than later. My stepkid had one at this age because the school thought he had asd. It’s basically a bunch of games and puzzles for the kid to do. Just make sure the evaluators know of the hearing loss too. (Can he read?)
Schools can’t diagnose, but they can allow the kid an IEP based on symptoms. I recommend requesting one soon too. They will have 60 days I believe from your written request to evaluate. I work as a special education teacher so I know the accommodations you can ask. Feel free to pm if you have more questions on this.
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