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Deafness in children

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Revis Wed 03-Aug-11 21:12:45

DiL is getting very distressed because both her 21 month old twins have been diagnosed with glue ear and she has been told to make a decision by September whether to have grommets inserted under general anaesthetic (which may only last 3 months and then need to be redone) or have them both fitted with hearing aids. Noone is giving her help on how to make the decision. One of the twins was diagnosed as congenitally profoundly deaf at 6 months but that has changed and he now seems to hear and has started speaking pretty well. So who does she believe?
We are all very confused and I just wondered if any Gran out there could offer any words of wisdom for us.
Thanks for reading

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jackyann Wed 03-Aug-11 21:42:04

Is she in the UK? I recently retired as a health visitor, and although treatments do change, this sounds a rather strange choice to me.
If she is, I suggest that she speaks to her GP and says that she need help in making this choice.
If she had a definite diagnosis of profound deafness then she must have seen a consultant and she can ask the GP to go through the records with her.
She can ask for an appointment about the children (separate ones for each) and say that she wishes to discuss them, but without them present (so difficult to concentrate).
I suggest that she arranges childcare and takes dad or someone else with her for another perspective.

There is information on NHS Choices about decision-making, but this sounds very individual.

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Revis Thu 04-Aug-11 10:06:05

Thanks for the advice Jacky - it's good to hear from a professional. Will pass the info on to DiL and take it from there. One difficulty is that she has 3 children under 3 so it's difficult to have a proper conversation with her about the details. I may find out more next week as we are away on holiday with them for a few days. Thanks again

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