Making decisions for baby Finnley

When eight-week-old Finnley was diagnosed as deaf, parents SarahLouise and Mark had lots of choices to make for him, including whether to apply for Disability Living Allowance and how Finnley would learn to communicate

 

The article begins:

‘Sitting with other parents of deaf children in Belfast, Sarah-Louise and Mark couldn’t believe what a relief it was to be surrounded by those who understood how they felt. They knew they had lots of decisions to make for 11-week-old son Finnley, about technology, communication and their finances, but they now felt supported and knew they could do it.

‘They first suspected something wasn’t right when Finnley failed his newborn hearing screening. “We took him home and as the days went on I realised that something might be wrong,” Sarah-Louise says. “It’s quite noisy here with Finnley’s older two siblings and he wasn’t really reacting to sound.”

‘At eight weeks old, Finnley’s hearing was retested. The audiologist confirmed he was moderately deaf in both ears and that they’d hear from ENT in four weeks to get his hearing aids. “I was shocked,” she says. “The audiologist hadn’t given me any information. I stood in the hospital car park and thought, ‘My eight week old can’t hear me, what am I going to do now?’”...’

Read the article here