Scout, we went through the same thing with my dcb. When he was 10 months old, I told his mom that I thought he was having hearing problems. She ignored me, which I expected. But, by the time he was 15 months old, we all knew there was a problem. He had no words and he always seemed to be in a fog. There was just no spark.

He had a basic hearing test which indicated moderate to severe hearing loss. The next step was an Auditory Brainstem Response test, done while he was under anesthesia. It showed perfect hearing. I don't think anything has ever shocked me as much as that.

Turns out that he has Sensory Processing disorder. What we thought was hearing trouble is a disconnect between his ear hearing and his brain knowing he was hearing. They explain it that everything sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. He doesn't realize he is hearing words, or even what words are. It's just noise. After 4 months, he will sometimes respond to "No". We are using representative objects, and he knows that when he sees the spoon, we are going to eat, the keys mean the car, the ball means go outside, etc. It's a start, but, he has a spark now.

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