Hearing Center - Preparing Your Child for a Visit

Does your child need an appointment at the local hearing center? Do you have some concerns about his or her ability to hear? If so, you want to go ahead and schedule a screening as soon as possible. This is not something that you want to delay as children that struggle to hear and understand their surroundings can struggle in other areas of their lives as well. They may feel frustrated and they may be missing out on important information and interactions.

Talk About Where You Are Going

This is not something that you want to wait until the last minute to tell your child about. Being at a hearing center will be new and it may make your child a little anxious. Begin by explaining where you are going. If you already know where it is, you can talk about that. If you know what it looks like inside, explain this to your child. The more he or she knows upfront, the better.

Make sure that as you explain it, you are only pointing out the positives. You don't need to mention that he or she may be scared. Just explain it as best as you can. Some parents treat this as an adventure and let their children know they are going to go somewhere together to learn something new.

Talk About the Assessment

In order to participate in the assessment at the hearing center, your child will go into a room that is to some extent separate from the rest of the space. You can stay with your child through the assessment if you want to although parents of older children wait outside the room to avoid being a distraction.

Explain what will happen. The audiologist will also explain the test to your child and give him or her directions to follow. It helps to hear about it from you and another person in order to help your child be comfortable in the situation. Again, remain positive when you speak about the hearing center. Also, if you have a feeling that your child is going to struggle with the experience, ask the audiologist if you can go first while your child watches. He or she will see you doing it and realize that there is no pain or any type of uncomfortable feeling attached to the assessment.

Answer Any Questions

Depending on your child's age, he or she may have some questions about the hearing center or the experience in general. Do your best to answer honestly and if you don't know the answer, consider going online with your child to find the answers. As the parent, you can be an influencing factor in making this a pleasant and comfortable experience for your child.