It has been such a long time since many of us have been at school that we sometimes can forget how noisy classrooms can be. On top fo this, the trend for open plan classrooms, often built with hard furnishings means that the most important voice, that being the teacher’s, has to sometimes travel great distances before it gets to your child’s ear. And if your child is suffering from a slight drop in hearing from a cold or ear infection, things can become detrimental to their learning pretty quickly.
“Mild hearing losses are often picked up by school teachers as inattention or distracting behaviours in children,” says Nick Modrovich – Audiologist of 20 years.
“Teachers are becoming increasingly aware of requesting hearing tests for kids when they start noticing learning difficulties to rule out ear infections”
“This is great news for parents. We want to get on top of any potential drop in hearing to support the child.”
“Ear infections can last 6-8 weeks on average. That is almost a full term’s learning that a child could be struggling with which may put them behind for the year.”
Getting a hearing test is a first step. Schools and teachers can also support the child by looking at how the classroom is set up and making sure to reduce the distance their voice has to travel to the child needing support.
Make sure you get the attention of the child before speaking. You can also help by clarifying that he/she has understood the task and know what is required. Minimizing distraction and noise of other children can also be useful in the learning environment.
Ability Hearing and Balance is an independent, Tasmanian owned hearing clinic located across Tasmania. We provide comprehensive hearing assessments for children from 5 years of age. We are the Tasmanian experts in Central Auditory Processing testing for kids. Contact us on 1300 EAR PRO (1300 327 776) for more information.
