Our audiology wish list

Audiology appointments can be quite hard work for my little boy, and sometimes the pressure to perform well brings out big emotions. Sometimes it goes very smoothly, and other times it just doesn’t!

We don’t do anything radical, but there are some small things we do to support him and make appointments go a little smoother. There are also some things I’d love to see audiology departments do that would go a long way to supporting deaf children and families.

5 things we do

• Try to relieve the pressure my son feels. This means chatting through our expectations of the appointment in advance, explaining it's just to check things rather than a test. (I didn’t always understand the purpose or process of testing, so asking audiology about the tests is really helpful.)
• Talk about appointments with other families of deaf children, normalising the experience.
• Take a snack! Breaks might be necessary, and a fun snack can bring back energy to fatigued little ones.
• Take a game for the waiting room. We like Dobble!
• Debrief after the appointment. We'll ask what he thought of it and talk it through, acknowledging the hard work he put in during testing.

5 things I’d change about audiology visits

• British Sign Language (BSL) in audiology. I wish there were BSL videos and images around, and staff using BSL would be brilliant. It would be such an encouragement to families trying to learn.
• Waiting room fun! This is better in some areas and worse in others. Magic Hands videos or something similar that’s accessible and fun to watch, something that doesn’t require much energy from a child who might be stressed or tired already before the appointment.
• Positive language around deafness (especially at the point of diagnosis). Talk of failed tests and a sympathetic 'sorry' leaves everyone feeling deflated. It's no wonder children feel pressure at testing appointments when that negative language is so often used. While wanting to avoid toxic positivity, embracing deafness, the culture and how deaf children can absolutely thrive would be such an encouragement.
• Deaf role models. Our paediatric audiology department isn’t close to the adult one, so we don’t see Deaf adults in audiology. Some pictures of Deaf adults thriving would be great for children to see and also an encouragement to families new to the journey.
• Explanations of the testing being carried out would be helpful, and making the testing fun would engage the child more. We've had feedback that our child doesn't always engage with testing. While sometimes that's because of his mood, sometimes it just isn’t a very engaging session! Having toys in sight but not allowing the child to play with them can be too much temptation in a long, tiring testing session.