Can You Please Test My 3 Year-Old with AABR?

In my heart, I was like, "WHAT?!"

An aunty innocently asked me to do so recently. It was quite funny, really.

A baby was referred for hearing screening from an external hospital. The baby was brought in wide awake, so I advised the mother to put her to sleep. While waiting, I ushered the other family members who towed along to the lounge area. They were the maternal grandparents and 3 year-old nephew. As we were walking I noticed the boy vocalizing jargons. I began asking the grandmother questions. She reported that he's still not speaking a word yet. I told her she (and the child's working parents!) should be concerned with his speech development. So I went on and on about children development and the appropriate assessments needed. I even advised for a hearing test to be done, but granny wanted to talk it over with the child's parents first, which was fairly expected.

Back to the baby girl. Wow, she was really curious with the place. She looked so obviously sleepy but was still looking around the room. At one time, we thought she had fallen asleep, but she woke up at the slightest touch! The mother decided to take her out of the room and settle her down. As I wanted to leave the testing room, suddenly the granny rushed in carrying her sleeping grandson. She wanted me to test her boy with AABR that instant! I was shocked for a second, then quickly recovered by explaining to the granny that the test is designed for babies. Briefly I told her that her grandson needs to be assessed with a behavioral test, and if that is not successful, then only we test with a diagnostic sleeping test. She looked kind of disappointed with my explanation but accepted it anyways.

The baby later on slept and passed the AABR test. The family went back, happy with the result. Hopefully I'll hear from the granny about her grandson soon!

Funny start for the new year.

Happy 2011 y'all! :)