Choosing the future for a child with a severe hearing‐impairment

Abstract This study explores the choices made by parents of children who are severely hearing‐impaired or deaf. It also gives ideas how to support these children at school. In a six‐year longitudinal study, eleven families completed the study questionnaire four times. Questions were related to choice of hearing aid, methods of communication and educational settings, as well as the everyday experiences of life with a hearing‐impaired child. Analysis of the results was informed by the work of Bourdieu. The findings indicate that while other ways of communicating were also used, parents preferred to communicate with their child within their own hearing field — that is, by means of speech — and choosing a cochlear implant made this possible. While the preferred educational setting was a regular school, special settings were also chosen, especially for children with multiple disabilities. Parents’ choices commonly entailed hesitation, disagreement and a tendency to move towards hearing culture; in some cases, these choices changed during the study period. The article discusses parents’ choices and their descriptions of daily life with their child who is severely hearing‐impaired or deaf, ranging from wholly ordinary to something quite distinct or different