Falling on deaf ears I WAS TOLD MY SON WAS MAKING IT UP

The doting mum knew there was more to gentle Josh’s disruptive behaviour

- Cloe Willetts

This month, for the first time in years, Kāpit Coast primary schooler Joshua Robinson will be able to hear birds chirping outside and the sound of rain on the roof. Unbeknown to his parents, the seven-year-old has spent most of his life lip-reading, which came to light in October when he was diagnosed as moderately deaf.

“My husband Pete and I always thought it was strange Josh never ran into our room like his older brother when there was a storm,” recalls Jess Robinson, 33, also mum to Jack, 11. “It turns out he couldn’t hear it or many other things around him and was lip-reading to survive in a world of hearing.”

For Jess, an office manager, learning her son was hearing impaired wasn’t entirely unexpected given he often turned the TV up to full volume. But she hadn’t anticipated being told his hearing loss was just below severe, which is fully deaf.

When she received the devastating news at Wellington Hospital, Pete, 34, a construction foreman, wasn’t by her side because of Covid restrictions.

“It was really hard not having my husband there, but I sucked it up and got the kids to the car, and then burst into tears,” Jess tells. “My boys asked what was wrong and I said I hadn’t had very good news about Josh’s hearing. Josh didn’t fully comprehend what was going on and said he was sorry! That made me bawl more because he’s such a sweetheart.”