Cross Disablilty: Hearing Impairments and Autism

Understanding how hearing loss can impact your loved one with Autism is vital to their overall well being. The Center for Hearing and Communication estimates that approximately twelve percent of the US population or 38 million American's suffer from some degree of hearing loss. We discussed different types of visual impairments in my blog, Cross Disability: Visual Impairments and Autism, this blog will cover the link or possible links between hearing loss in Autism and what you can do to help.

How do we hear?

First, every child diagnosed with Autism should have their vision and hearing checked by a physician. A study published in the Disability and Health Journal found that six percent of children with hearing loss and seven percent with visual impairment have Autism, compared to one percent of their typical peers. Interestingly a link was also found between cerebral palsy and Autism in this study. The researchers found a correlation between hearing loss and Autism may also lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. This is not to insinuate that both cannot exist separately in one person, in fact it can. It is important to know this information and ask your child be tested for cerebral palsy if in fact they have been diagnosed with Autism and hearing impairment (HI). 

A diagnosis of HI does not just come from Autism. If your child, Autistic or not is language delayed, hearing may be the culprit. Children with hearing impairment could demonstrate some common signs of Autism such as poor eye contact, "ignoring" their name, and temper tantrums. If you are observing these signs it is a good idea to speak to your psychologist or pediatrician to rule out ASD and HI. Gallaudet University has taken interest in researching Autism and deafness. An article found in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, is based on five years of information gathered from the Gallaudet Research Institute. This research found that one in 59 children with hearing loss was also being treated for Autism. According to Gallaudet this is nearly twice the rate of otherwise healthy Autistic children at the rate of one out of 110, in 2010. If this research is accurate, I believe this would be considered a normal rate of diagnosis since the CDC now recognizes that one in 68 children is on the spectrum. 

Does this mean that we should disregard Gallaudet's research? Absolutely not, this article points an important fact. ASD is being more readily identified in the HI community. Without realizing it Gallaudet unveiled the "true" statistic of Autism four years before the rest of our community caught up. Why? I think it’s simply because society understands hearing loss better than Autism. A lot of parents do not know what Autism looks like or what signs to look out for. Society knows what to look for with hearing loss and doctors are constantly checking for hearing loss during pediatric checkups. That is because approximately 15% of children 6-19 have measurable hearing loss in at least one ear, according to the CHC. Therefore, through natural progression, hearing impaired Autistic individuals are being discovered sooner since they are more exposed to specialists for their hearing loss. 

New research into Auditory Processing Disorders is being reported by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. I was very excited to read their article about Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) and learned a few things. Children who have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, following directions, and differentiating between similar speech sounds, may in fact be suffering from some type of APD. Children may also suffer in school with spelling, reading, or verbal instruction.  I further learned that APD simply means that the Central Nervous System maybe misusing auditory information, which would make worlds of sense based on the newest brain structure research done on Autistic individuals. I have discussed before how ADD and ADHD are misunderstood by society as a broad diagnosis for a child who is "bad" or "unruly", this maybe another link to that puzzle. Aiden has a diagnosis of ASD and ADHD, truly understanding what maybe contributing to the ADHD diagnosis has been liberating for me. 

How do you help your loved one with hearing loss or impairment? Autism is difficult alone for us to understand, hearing loss makes it even harder for our loved ones to understand us. Try to be patient. Get a Speech and Language Pathologist involved with your loved one's care team. In the mean time make sure you have the person's attention before you speak. When you speak do so clearly, you do not necessarily need to slow down or shout while talking. If your speech is not understood, try a different way of saying the same thing and use plain language. If the degree HI is severe you may want to consider learning and teaching yourself and loved one sign language. This is much easier than you might think. Start with simple words and off you go. It is important to understand that there are different versions of sign language, just like spoken language. If you live in the UK you would want to learn British Sign Language (BSL) as opposed to American Sign Language (ASL). Here are some great beginner videos:

ASL for beginners
BSL for beginners
Spanish Sign Language (SSL)
Russian Sign Language (RSL)
German Sign Language (GSL)

Here are more helpful links to understanding Hearing Impairments and Autism:
ASD
Autism Spectrum Disorders and Hearing Impairments
The Autism Network for Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Autism and Sight or Hearing Loss
American Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc.

To learn more about Hearing Impairment please see these links:
Center for Hearing and Communication Fact Sheet
Nemours Teens Health- Hearing Impairment
Hearing Disorders and Deafness

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Good luck and remember if you have a topic you'd like us to cover, please comment below.