[sak9645]

What an interesting topic.

My daughter's Chinese medical was extremely scanty, when I received her referral in 1997. Hearing was listed as normal.

When I met her, she was 18.5 months old. While she was so shut down emotionally with grief and shock that she sometimes gave no indication of hearing a person, this passed within three days.

After that point, it became clear that she could hear well and process what she heard. As an example, she said her first words IN ENGLISH after just a few more days.

Children go through a brief medical exam in Guangzhou as part of the issuance of their visas to enter the U.S. Becca's hearing test consisted of a snap of the fingers, which she heard. The doctor also looked into her ears with an otoscope, but did not comment on the fact that she had infections in both ears.

When Becca came home, she visited the pediatrician within about 15 hours of our arrival. At that time, her minor bugs were diagnosed and treated.

Subsequently, she received a more thorough exam, blood testing, etc., and was started on immunizations. Everything appeared normal, including hearing and vision. She never developed any further ear infections. She was rapidly picking up English, and spoke more clearly than many children of her age.

Becca's preschool had routine audiology testing done annually, and Becca always did fine. Exams by her pediatrician also showed no problems. Language development was normal to advanced, and she had no problem processing information.

When Becca was four, she started kindergarten at a bilingual Hebrew/English school. She had no problems with hearing, following directions, etc. She quickly showed that she had a good ear for language, and by second grade, her Hebrew teacher said that she sounded like an Israeli when speaking Hebrew!

Becca is now in fifth grade at the school. She is an outstanding student in every way, in both her English and Hebrew classes. She is also a warm and empathic child who is very popular, totally healthy and balanced, and so on.

Like any ten year old, Becca will sometimes fail to hear or ignore what I say, especially if she is engrossed in a book, computer game, etc. But she will also hear all sorts of things that she isn't supposed to hear, such as my discussions with other adults! So I have no worry at all about her ears.

Sharon