hardofhearingchildren.com by PAM Candlish MLS
"What did you say?" "Eh?" "WHAT did you say?" "MM?" "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" oh "PARDON ME!"

Swimming and the hard of hearing child.

Ventilation Tubes

A child who has ventilation tubes through the ear drums must not get water in the outer ear because it goes through the ear drum to the middle ear. If the child is going to swim, you should get swim plugs for the ear which are as high tech and expensive as the earmolds, and are outgrown just as quickly. You can also get little soft wax plugs from the drug store which may or may not work, but which are much cheaper.

Regularly Check for Swimmer's Ear

A child who wears hearing aids must make sure the ear canals are dry before putting the hearing aids back in. Also the ear canal is home sweet home to Swimmer's Ear so check out those ear canals carefully, and don't let them be damp.

Fear of Water after Tubes

Swimming is an important skill for everyone. By the time four year old Reid had patent ( no holes) ear drums, he had developed fear of water, and fear of getting his head wet, so he was about as relaxed for a swim lesson, as a cat having a bath, spitting, hanging on to innocent adults who ventured close enough, screaming and pleading with the life guard for immediate saving, and fully blaming his parents for his misery. Of course, all that tension made him plummet to the bottom of the pool, or lake.

Every so often you Win!

We took the kids swimming every Sunday afternoon for years. At one public pool, there is a smaller pool for handicapped children which was heated to body temp, and very pleasant. Reid was having a great time when he announced he had to go to the bathroom, so we picked him up and started to carry him to the closest bathroom, clearly signed "for handicapped children" The lifeguard zoomed over, and barred the way in.
    "Sorry this is only for handicapped children." 
    Snarkily I responded "Well, he's deaf, how handicapped does he have to be to go through that door?" 
    "Ah,um eh.sorry". Deafness is truly invisible.

Loud Screams

We had a past pools list which had life guards who felt Reid's antics indicated too much fear, or made too much noise, and we were trying to get him to enjoy swimming but he yelled and carried on. Spending time at the cottage mandated swimming for survival, and group swimming lessons would be a waste of money because he would not hear much most of the time.

Private Swim Class

Eventually one of daughter's friends qualified as a life guard and swim teacher. We hired her for the summer to teach Reid to swim, every day, gently but firmly. We also allowed her to give swim lessons to other kids on the lake, so Reid did not feel too singled out. It was a very successful strategy. The only problem was that we wrote such a great reference for her abilities  patiently teaching Reid to swim, that she was hired by many parents, and too busy for us. 

Reid stayed a shallow water swimmer for a long time, then when we were staying in the Sheraton Washington, he had to pass a swim test to go into the pool which was very beautiful, and so was the life guard...Reid finally learned to be responsible for his body in water, and since then has turned into a fish. I am not going to say how much that swim cost, per minute, but it was worth it.

Air or Water extraordinary Sensory Experience

There used to be some folklore about deaf people getting  more sensory stimulation from water or wind and would therefore really enjoy skinny dipping, but I have not seen a reference to this anywhere lately. If you have any stories along these lines, send them in and I'll put them in the web.

-PAM Candlish  4 July 2002