When receiving an early diagnosis of hearing loss for your child, it’s easy and normal to feel overwhelmed. For some, these feelings lead to a paralyzation of sorts, as processing takes time. Others take that diagnosis and begin doing everything possible to understand and take control of the situation. However, there’s a lot you can do early on for your deaf baby.

Acting early on for your deaf baby

While there is no wrong way to react after an unexpected diagnosis, it’s important to begin taking action once you’ve taken the time to process. Of course, it’s sometimes hard to feel like you’re really doing enough when your baby is still so young. But the more you do early on for your deaf baby, the better.

For us, we view taking action now as a way of setting routines and expectations as our son Cooper grows older, especially since he will be receiving cochlear implants when he is around one year old.  

Here are a few of the ways we’ve taken early action:

Speak with your early intervention team

Early intervention practices vary by state, so first and foremost it’s important to research the practices in your own state. Where we live, visits take place at home or daycare and start as soon as possible. Our first visit from early intervention was when Cooper was seven weeks old. Now we speak to or meet with his team a few times each month. Of course, when your child is very young, there’s only so much you can do during early intervention meetings. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t much accomplished during these meetings. But we know that setting up this routine early on is important as we move forward. 

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