Hearing .. but not listening
Most of the posts so far have revolved around our son's Autism, as this (coupled with learning delay) affects most of his behaviour. Time to talk about his deafness ... Andrew has Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder. It means that the mechanics of his ears work, but his brain doesn't get the message. The breakdown can lie with the hairs of the cochlea, with the auditory nerve, and/or with the receptive areas of the brain; and in Andrew's case, it looks like the latter. When he was still a baby - and we didn't really understand his hearing loss - it was positively useful that he was deaf. We could clean and hoover the house around him, and it wouldn't wake him from his baby sleep. We could have normal level conversations without having to 'shush' people. He could go to sleep anywhere and everywhere. As he's grown up, it's become increasingly apparent that our son does have some hearing. He finds reassurance in listening to music, and is rarel...