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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1958)
Hear (Continued) obedient. During recess, Dick stands alone at the edge of the playground. His playmates are frank: "Dick never wants to do anything. Besides, he's strange. When you talk to him sometimes, he doesn't even answer." Nobody suspects that Dick and Jane behave as they do because they are hard of hearing. "Jane is just more preoccupied than most children her age," her teacher explains. Dick's mother says, "He caught '"measles, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, one right after the other, when he was in first grade. He had to stay in bed for months and never seemed to catch up in school. I know he's a little difficult to manage at times, but he'll outgrow it." Among the 38 million youngsters in classrooms across the nation there are many Janes and Dicks who suffer moderate, hard-to-detect hearing losses. The American Public Health Association estimates the total to be at least 5 percent of all school children between 5 and 17; that would mean some two million victims. Many won't receive the attention they need, though, because no one recognizes their trouble. The real tragedy is that the youngster with a moderate hearing loss often could lead a normal, healthy life. Modern medical science has a number of ways it can help the hard-of-hearing victim, especial ly the young one. But the trouble must be discovered first! What often prevents detection is that the youngster seems to get along all right most of the time. Actually, Jane, Dick, and the thou sands of other children with the same hearing handicap are like swimmers trapped in water that's too deep. They try desperately to grasp a foothold of meaning in the sea of words that engulfs them. Occasionally they hear, but more often they don't. They discover little tricks like reading lips, guessing at words they don't he.ar, watching others who may be listening with them but these dodges often fail. Meanwhile, other children around them hear readily, effortlessly. The handicapped child, imprisoned in his half-world of fragmentary sound, becomes angry at them and at him self, or he becomes confused and frightened. So he becomes rebellious like Dick, or apathetic like Jane. "Some parents don't want to find out that their child has a hearing loss," says one specialist with years of case work behind him. "A young , couple came to me not long ago with their four-year-old son; their family doctor had insisted that they consult a specialist. I tested the boy on a device called the audiometer and found he had a severe loss in both ears. When I showed the father the results of the tests, he refused to believe them. He said the boy's ability to hear the tones emitted by the audiometer and his inability to hear normal convei-sation were com pletely unrelated. Fortunately, the father changed his attitude later, and his son's hearing is now much improved." In the majority of cases, reports this specialist, parents don't have the youngster's hearing tested because they can't see anything unusual in his behavior. "This is understand able," he adds. "It's certainly not unusual to find that Johnny doesn't hear when you call him to dinner, especially if he's watching television. Often it takes an expert to differ entiate between a child who's having ear trouble and one who isn't." A few years ago, Chicago's Board of Education began giving hearing tests regularly to all grade-school children. Among the first 250,000 youngsters checked, 5,000 were found to have losses sufficient to require medical atten tion. The parents weren't aware of the existing deficiency in 54 percent of these cases. Unfortunately, only about a third of our schools are giving such tests. If your child's hearing is not being checked in school, consult your family doctor or pediatrician. After examining your youngster, he'll know whether a test is needed; he'll also know where testing facili ties are available in your community. It is good practice to check a youngster's hearing at least every !,1 spray before you VOL! 03(1 00 8 these styling tricks. tali, i . &JimAJmmkmtmi. Mk ,nj. "' L-- - - .jZzt'....J:-M Spray before you comb ... not after! Adorn works differently. Its unique Self Styling Action lets you style your hair as you comb. It's not a sticky set . . . not a stiff, sprayed-on net. Spray first, then style. You can push in a wave ! Put waves exactly where they look best . . . just like professional stylists do. The waves you comb in Adorn keeps in ... all day long! You can flip a curl ! With the flick of your comb, you can actually fashion a smart, sleek, "finished" hairstyle. Sound exciting? Try Adorn ! You'll see ! Toni has a new kind of hair spray! three years. The initial test should be given no later than the child's fourth birthday, and earlier if pos sible. Today, there are tests which can detect hearing losses in infants only six months old. In addition to these periodic tests, hearing should usually be checked after the child has recovered from such sicknesses as scarlet fever, measles, chicken pox, pneumonia, -or flu; for in each case the ears can be damaged. A hearing test and a good long talk with the doctor are particularly important if your child frequently has colds, a running nose, or infected ears. Any one of these conditions, if allowed, to continue, may cause serious loss of hearing. Today, a number of antibiotics are available that can do much to fight such in fections, but to be effective they must be administered in time. Even moderate hearing losses are not always curable, of course; some times the sound-transmission mech anism within the ear has been per manently damaged. There are a number of ways the child can com pensate for this disability, however. He can be fitted with a hearing aid, for example, and there are classes where he can learn to make maxi mum use of the hearing ability he does possess. Just as important, through this training he will meet others his own age who can't hear well. In many communities, besides attending classes, these groups meet regularly for picnics, dances, baseball, and other recreation. Through this social contact, each youngster loses the feeling of aloneness that so often makes him miserable. But here again treatment does most for the youngster whose hear ing loss is discovered early. "It is estimated that more than one-half of all adult hearing impairments could have been prevented by early and adequate treatment in child hood," reports the American Public Health Association. That grim in dictment of past negligence tells better than anything else why hear ing tests are so vital to the present and future of every child! (If you would like more informa tion on detection of hearing losses in children, write to the American Hearing Society, 1800 H Si, N.W., Washington 6, D.C.) a n tfWGBi,;. with An Ann the first self-styling hair spray ! Just you your comb and ADORN and you can do all the styling tricks on this page. It's the first spray with Self-Styling Action. Works invisibly without flak ing or dulling! New tall, slim atomizer holds V3 more spray. You'll adore ADORN try it! Muss up? Freshen up, without re-spraying! Flaking and dulling? Never! A damp comb renews Adorn's Self-Styling Action. Not with Adorn! Look at that comb ...not a Even hours later . . . your waves bounce back . . . flake! Adorn's Self-Styling Action works invisibly alive! What better proof that Adorn holds twice without gummy stiff eners'. 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