There was a group of young Scots doing very complicated reels with changing rhythms without any prompting. The audience commented “they must be getting the vibrations through the floor, they can’t be hearing the music changes - they’re deaf.” The floor was marble.

Children are quick to learn and, compared to many adults who have to start wearing hearing aids later in life, deaf children usually get tremendous benefits from hearing aids quite quickly. Not all babies and toddlers take to them right away however and for some parents getting hearing aids worn regularly can be hard work, but worthwhile, because they know it is in the best interests of their child.

Hearing and being able to listen gives us access to the world of sound. Your deaf child can have that too —not to the same degree or in quite the same way as you but it will mean that they can enjoy the world of sound and learn to talk.

“Russell was eighteen months old when we found out he was deaf and he was given hearing aids. The first time he heard himself laugh, it made him laugh even more, he enjoyed it so much. He’s still laughing.” This is what Russell’s mum said recently to an audience of parents of young deaf children at one of our meetings. Russell is 15 now and doing his GCSEs.

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