“Some people responded with how sorry they were to hear it and some of them were slightly taken aback by our response, which is always, but she’s only deaf!” A referral for her daughter to the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program was eventually obtained and it was discovered that Darcy had profound bilateral hearing loss. When Emma’s daughter Darcy was born, she had absolutely no risk factors for deafness. Her joyful personality only draws people toward her, and everyone who meets Grace loves her.” She continually amazes me with her progress and her beautiful happy nature. “Now, I feel more confident that Grace will be okay. ‘What would the future hold for Grace, how would she cope, how would people treat her?’” ‘What if I’d done this?’ I found myself asking. All these strange and irrational thoughts constantly popped into my head. We felt sadness for Grace, and I felt a sense of guilt – feeling that I was to blame. But more overwhelmingly, we felt great sadness, guilt, and fear. “It’s hard to explain, but there was a slight feeling of relief, to have our suspicions confirmed that there was a problem. For Stacey, receiving her daughter’s diagnosis came with a lot of mixed emotions. “However, parental instinct is a strong thing – and after pushing and pushing, our daughter was given a hearing test.”įollowing her hearing test, Grace was diagnosed at Mater Audiology with moderate to severe hearing loss bilaterally.
A lot of people that we raised our concerns with, including friends, family and medical professionals, seemed to think we were being over reactive and overly sensitive.” Grace was not talking, making noises, or interacting with anyone – she was generally living in her own little world. “At 2 years we noticed something was wrong. Her daughter Grace is a twin, and one of three children. Stacey is a Parent Mentor for Deaf Children Australia. “He is now thriving, well engaged, and tenacious – he knows exactly what he wants and how he is going to make it happen.”
“I consider ourselves incredibly blessed that Ollie has had these opportunities, as I do not believe he would be where he is now without them,” Karla said. “I found the programme invaluable not only to Ollie’s development, but also a massive positive influence on mine.”Īttending these playgroups helped Karla to discover a group of people with similar stories to her own, and now – Karla and Ollie have found a circle of people that they can connect with, giving Ollie a sense of belonging. “I had no idea what to expect or what the future held but I knew I had to give it a go,” Karla said. However, for Karla and her family, attending an Early Childhood Development Program helped them to discover the stories of other families with deaf and hard of hearing children. It was such a bombardment of information – I just found it far too much to deal with all at once.”
Ear, Nose and Throat Specialists, Audiologists, Paediatricians. I found juggling the seemingly never-ending list of appointments exhausting. “This is where it got quite overwhelming for me especially as I was also still requiring ongoing medical care myself. “We of course then became caught up in the whirlwind of appointments,” Karla said. He first failed his Newborn Screen at 4 days old while at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, and was later diagnosed with Moderate and Moderate-Severe Bilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss. 60 Williamsons Rd, South Morang VIC Southġ0 Riddell Rd, Wantirna South VIC son Ollie is her only child and was born in December of 2012.