{"id":31168,"date":"2022-06-24T17:36:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T21:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elevateaudiology.com\/?p=31168"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:08:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T18:08:28","slug":"has-your-childs-hearing-loss-been-misdiagnosed-as-a-learning-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elevateaudiology.com\/has-your-childs-hearing-loss-been-misdiagnosed-as-a-learning-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Your Child\u2019s Hearing Loss Been Misdiagnosed as a Learning Disability?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CDC<\/a> reports that approximately 15% of school-aged children ages 6 to 19 have a hearing loss of at least 16 dB in one or both ears.<\/p>

With the right interventions, children with hearing loss can be just as successful in school as their peers who have normal hearing. However, left undiagnosed and untreated, hearing impairment can have major effects that can mimic a learning disability.<\/p>

Because the symptoms of untreated hearing loss and learning disabilities so closely imitate each other, it can be easy for a child to be misdiagnosed. Below we review how hearing and learning are connected and how to help a student with hearing loss in the classroom.<\/p>

How Hearing & Learning Are Connected<\/h2>
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In very young children, untreated hearing loss<\/a> leads to speech and language delays, which later translates to learning problems and poor school performance in older school-age children.<\/p>

Even a very mild hearing loss can cause difficulty keeping up, as a child may be able to hear but not understand. Additionally, a mild hearing loss may not be noticeable and end up going untreated for longer.<\/p>

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)<\/a> reports that children who have mild to moderate untreated hearing loss are likely to be behind their peers by one to four grade levels. In addition, those with more severe untreated hearing loss usually do not progress beyond third-grade level.<\/p>

How to Help Students with Hearing Loss<\/h2>

It\u2019s certainly not the case that students with hearing loss are less intelligent than their peers with normal hearing; unfortunately, it is often the case that classrooms are not set up to accommodate students with hearing loss, and teachers are not always trained to teach in a way that is accommodating to this type of disability.<\/p>

If you\u2019re a teacher in Pickens County Schools<\/a> and have students with suspected hearing loss, you can look out for signs such as:<\/p>