My son age 9 is almost deaf in his right ear- 70 dB. 85 dB is "helen keller," really deaf. We didn't find out until age 6. Kids who are deaf/hearing impaired in one ear are ten times more likely to fail a grade and have lower verbal/reading scores.
Definitely get a hearing aid in the ear that can work for. Consider a cochlear implant too for the other ear, if that would work.
I would try to avoid schools that cater to the deaf, if possible, since I think (IMHO) their academic standards are so much lower. We have an IEP and my son gets an FM system, where the teacher wears a microphone which transmits her voice wirelessly to the hearing aid across the room.
My son has done really, really well with his hearing aid. He wears it all of the time. His speech is excellent and he had gotten a 145 at age 6 on the verbal part of the WISC. He rocked the OLSAT this year, again with a 99th% on verbal and overall.
It will be okay! Get a hearing aid if you can. We had a party for the hearing aid when he got it at age 6, with a cake!
There is something called a BAHA, where you shunt the sound from the totally deaf ear into the ear with the hearing aid.
Last edited by jack'smom; 04/04/12 10:54 AM.
