hearing impaired daughter- ANY need for GAC for front row seating or just ask?

[Val]

My DD6 has recently been diagnosed with a mild/moderate hearing loss. We will be trying out the FM units they rent at the parks for the first time, on advice of her speech therapis. Is there ANY need for a GAC for seating, or will the units work if seated anywhere in a show? I have a list of shows that use the devices. She has no REAL problem waiting in line (other than she's six and impatient- but waiting teaches delay of gratification and tolerance, or at least that's what MY mother said!). We don't want to take advantage of something that we don't need and is meant for others with a true need, but want her to be able to hear and see as well as possible. Any othe advice?

 

[tigger2on]

Go to guest services at any park and tell them you need a GAC for the shows and that your daughter is hearing impaired. Therefore she needs to sit closer for the shows . They will give you a card with a stamp on it and all you have to do is show the CM at the shows enterance.
It will be great for Beauty and the Beast @ MGM, Lion King & tarzan @ AK especially. Remember to show a CM as they will let her in the disabled line to be let in first for AK shows.

 

[Talking Hands]

Not really a help for Beauty and the Beast because unless you are at the front anyway there are really no castmembers to let you in first.
Lion King and Tarzan, they will pull you to enter first. Be sure to let them know at Indiana Jones and they will seat you up front.
Also make sure the ALDs work before you get into the parks. Saw a very unhappy guest at IJ when he found his ALD didn't work and he would have to go back to Guest Services for a replacement.

Edited to add: the ALDs are available without cost. You do need to give a fully refundable deposit which will be returned when you return the ALD to Guests Services at the park you got it at. The are lent not rented.

 

[tigger2on]

Actually when you go in to the ampitheatre and show your GAC to the CM they will direct you to the disabled area located at the front on the stage.... the first 3 rows are for A CAPPELLA group called 4 for a dollar do the pre-show except.... Sundays and one other weekday!
But Talking Hands is correct in the fact there is no separate line for disabled.... but they do have CM's manning the disabled spots so you don't have to worry about not getting close enough!

 

[Val]

Thanks so much...I am so new to all of this. My DD has probably had hearing loss since early on, but it was just diagnosed. She's been in speech therapy for 4 years, just had her second set of tubes in the last six months, and now we are going to be trying an FM unit in school....if that doesn't help its hearing aids. She has already repeated kindergarten, but will move to first grade in the fall. My DH and I are just so mad at ourselves for not noticing the hearing sooner- if we had caught it earlier, maybe she would need all this speech and repeating kindergarten. She has been to Disney several times, but we want her to HEAR it this time!

 

[Talking Hands]

Val,
Don't beat yourself up about not realizing it sooner. Kids with mild to moderate loses often are missed because they seem to cope so well. They become experts at speech reading and use visual clues constantly to let them know what is happening plus having ability to hearlouder sounds makes people assume they are hearing and understanding everything when they are not.
Now that you know work with her. Make things visual as much as you can along with speaking. Make sure you have her full attention before speaking.
In school, make sure the teacher knows she CANNOT write on the board and speak at the same time. Big no no. Seated close to the front. Make sure she is looking before speaking. Captioning on any TV or films. Later possibly an oral interpreter, CART or C-print. Also cued speech is something to look into. It is a way that uses hand signals to indicate the sounds that are difficult to hear. It is not sign language. The person speaks but adds these cues to help the hear of hearing person understand the sounds that are easily confused. Only 35% of English is visible on the lips making it the most difficult language to speech read.

 

[SueM in MN]

Originally posted by Val
Thanks so much...I am so new to all of this. My DD has probably had hearing loss since early on, but it was just diagnosed. She's been in speech therapy for 4 years, just had her second set of tubes in the last six months, and now we are going to be trying an FM unit in school....if that doesn't help its hearing aids. She has already repeated kindergarten, but will move to first grade in the fall. My DH and I are just so mad at ourselves for not noticing the hearing sooner- if we had caught it earlier, maybe she would need all this speech and repeating kindergarten. She has been to Disney several times, but we want her to HEAR it this time!

Originally posted by Talking Hands
Don't beat yourself up about not realizing it sooner.

I have very poor vision without correction (lucky we live in the 21st century and not the 19th, or I would not be able to have it corrected to 20/20 without "coke bottle" glasses). The first time they did vision screening at school was the first time I realized that other people didn't see the world the same way as I did. Kids are like that; they assume everyone is the same as they are.
So, don't worry that you didn't know earlier. The main point is that you do know now, so you can get the help she needs.

 

[Val]

Again, thanks for all the great advice! We do know that my daughter is lip reading- we think that is how she has coped so long. We are trying to be more patient with her and remember to face her when speaking...harder for her older siblings to understand, they think she is just ignoring. We also notice some social skills deficits/differences- she interrupts, gets in people's faces and is a little immature. We are working on those, too. She will have a wonderful first grade teacher in the fall, a friend of mine with a teen daughter who has high functioning autism. We have already discussed needs in the classroom. Hopefully, my DH and I will get over the guilt (or my DD can use it against us!). We are both research neuroscientists who study brain function- you'd think we would have picked this up for goodness sakes! Oh well...at least we can make sure she HEARS the shows at WDW this year! Again, thanks for all the support....

 

[noritake1]

Hi I have 4 children 2 are deaf. Iam very glad that you got such a positive response on these boards about the GAG because when I asked about on here I was told it was not neccisary, but it was very helpful for us when we went last year, and we will get one again next year if you have any guestions please emial me Noritake1@aol.com, just wondering you say your child has mild mod hearing loss but they don't want to aid him/her what is your childs decibel level mine are 55 and they wear bil hearing aids and have fm system if i can be of any help to you plase let me know JIll

 

[Terry in NJ]

My 7.5 year old daughter is also hearing impaired, and wears two hearing aides. I have used the GAC for every live performance to sit up close over the last two years. If she can't understand very well (hearing aides enable you to hear sounds better, but not always understand) I want her to be able to see the best!
When you have that card, you can also ask the CM to turn on the closed captioning at any pre-show where there are screens. You may not need that as yet, but Rachel's been reading for at least 3 years, so this truly benefits her.
When your daughter is reading, we can fill you in on the "reflective captioning" and "handheld captioning" devices offered. When you get a GAC ask the CM for the HANDICAPPED PERSON'S GUIDE to each park. That way you can get a head start on what to ask for when your daughter gets older. Plus you can read up on what these assistance devices are for.
In addition, on occasion, I have used the GAC for preferred viewing for parades. Quite frankly, I have mixed feelings about doing this. On one hand, I feel my daughter deserves to have any special accomodations because of her handicap. On the other, I feel the children and adults in wheelchairs deserve the front row "more". HMMMMMM.
Well, I am just happy to be able to do many things to help my daughter enjoy Disney!
(We only found out that Rachel was hearing impaired when she was 3 1/2, moderate in one ear and severe/profound in the other.
We beat ourselves up too, because even though her hearing was tested twice, we were told that she had hearing. Uh, not enough, but her pediatrician didn't question it, so we didn't either. Sheesh. She was so speech delayed and the social skills were quite lacking.... well geez, she couldn't understand what anyone was saying! Your daughter will be FINE !!! They learn so rapidly and you will be helping her so much.)
For two years we visited WDW at least 6 times without any
special services whatsoever, because I did not know any better.
Boy was that a great big DUH on my part.
Sorry to digress, hope we all have helped!

 

[Val]

We just returned from a fantastic trip. Got the GAC card and used the fm unit at SOME of the shows. The shows that Lyssa was afraid of or were "loud" she took off the head phones and said they made her more afraid. BUT- watching her face light up during the Ellen/Jeopardy show was priceless- she actually GOT the show!

I also wrote out a short 3 x 5 card that said "Lyssa is hearing impaired". I would show this to characters (behind Lyssa's back) when a character would greet her- and what a difference it made. The face characters would crouch down and talk directly to her- she didn't get a longer time with characters, but the quality of the interactions was SO improved that it seemed like it. The nonspeaking characters would do more mime with her- and again it made all the difference in the world.

Also went to Universall/IOA and got a similar response. Did a character meal at the Islands at RPR and Popeye and Olive Oil were hysterical with Lyssa (and the other three kids, as well).

On a side note, now that we are learning how to make Lyssa more comfortable and help her hear more, she is blossoming in so many ways. She was so much braver this trip- discovered water slides and some kiddie coasters. Laughed and laughed at Philharmagic. We all relaxed and enjoyed the time- not many places in this world we can take 4 kids ages 6-16, including a hearing impaired kid, and we ALL can have great fun. In many ways, this was the best trip ever. Thanks again for all the suggestions! I might get used to this hearing stuff, yet. Not sure I will get over the guilt, but we are making progress one baby step at at time.

 

[eeyore45]

Your posts brought back memories - I have a son who has a moderate to severe hearing loss, we took him to the pediatrician, the peditrician whispered do you want candy, ds said yes, ped. said he hears just fine - - NOT!! Needless to say, that didnt satisfy his preschool teacher, and we had him tested, we have an awesome school that teaches total communication and speech during class, and now ds is 18 = he often doesnt wear his aides, he wore his FM system during school on and off, when he wore them he got A's, when he took them off, D or F's!!

DH was also diagnoses with the same hearing loss, discovered when dh sat with ds during audio tests!! We're going to WDW and I was so excited to see they have these captioning devices!! Cant wait to try them!!

BTW my son still hates very loud noises, he knows to protect what hearing he has and that loud noises slowly (yes very slowly) can deteroate hearing (as in loud music with headphones on)

I cant stress enough READ READ READ to your chilc, I am always amazed at what vocabulary my son STILL misunderstands!! We made it a priority to read every night - literature, and fun stuff, and always questioning son on what something might mean...

For instance, a shawl (not used much now adays) or "the shoulder of the road" Kids are very literal... and try so very hard to fit in they often dont want to admit they dont get something (esp idioms!!)

 

[SueM in MN]

Your posts brought back memories - I have a son who has a moderate to severe hearing loss, we took him to the pediatrician, the peditrician whispered do you want candy, ds said yes, ped. said he hears just fine - - NOT!!

That brought back memories to me too. At one point in life, I was a Public Health Nurse and did hearing screenings in schools and preschools. We used an audiometer and had some other equipment. The kids who didn't pass were re-screened by us once more on another day. If they still didn't pass, the parents were given a referral letter with our results and a request for feedback from the doctor. Over the years I was doing it, we got several forms back where the doctor did the "whisper behind the ear" test and said our testing (WITH AN AUDIMOMETER) was in error. In each case, we retested (audiometer, not whispering), found the child still did not pass our screen and referred the parent to a specialist for follow-up with their child.....

Anyway, besides the parks, the Guidebooks for Guests with Disabilities are also available on line.
I also wanted to mantion that the Guest Assistance Card is not meant to (and usually won't) shorten or eliminate a wait in line. It is meant to alert CMs to a need for assistance (like in the case of hearing disabilities, turning some equipment on or helping you get to the front).

 

[eeyore45]

I have to also thank you for explaining the GAC - I wouldnt have even bothered with this as its for my dh (an adult) and we are planning on renting/reserving/??? the hand held captioning devices at each park so he can enjoy the shows we have PS for w/ DD - but I just had a *duh moment when I read your reasoning for getting one!!

Thank you for taking the time to post!!

PS as for your testing - the mild to moderate hearing loss kids are often able to pass these screenings I've been told, my 2nd born DS has a mild to moderate loss, and did indeed pass a school screening, but because of ds#1 we automatically get our kids screened at the special ed office audiologist... The lady that does the screening likes to test DS#2 to fine tune her skills knowing where his loss is (and he passed her test in Kind !!)

I have learned SO much on the Dis Websites - THank you ALL so very much!!