Overview

In the United States, late-identified hearing loss continues to be an underdiscussed, inconsistently researched, and underfunded medical issue that is leading children into developmental crises. Parents often face an avalanche of emotions and are confronted with the harsh truth that their child's delays, poor academic performance, or social-emotional challenges could have been prevented with earlier diagnosis and timely access to language, technology, and services. Late to the Party: Extraordinary Stories of Hope After Late-Identified Hearing Loss shares the experiences of sixteen families. Through intimate interviews, parent advocate and author Valerie James Abbott reveals the grueling paths that led each family up to the moment their child's hearing loss was confirmed. Abbott guides readers through the difficult decisions that followed, the unexpected barriers the families encountered while navigating complex systems alone, and the lessons they unearthed along the way. These are not just stories of resilience-they are urgent calls for change. This one-of-a-kind collection bridges the gap between data, research, and lived experience. Each family's journey illustrates what happens when screening safeguards fail, risk factors are overlooked, parent concerns are dismissed, and doctors pass the ball. This book is a call to improve the frequency, quality, and accessibility of early childhood hearing testing so that all children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, regardless of the age of onset, are identified early and can thrive alongside their hearing peers.

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Reviews

""ALL professionals should read this book"" This amazing book sheds light on a long-overlooked issue with children who are late-identified with hearing loss. I became immediately emotional while reading the stories, as it sounds like the many stories that parents have shared with me over the years!!! I think parents would greatly benefit from this book because it validates their own feelings. I strongly believe that ALL professionals should read this book. Johnnie Sexton, AuD. Executive Director/Founder ""Opens the eyes; Mandatory reading"" Late to the Party helps highlight the struggles and triumphs of families facing an unexpected and challenging diagnosis. I would love for every pediatrician, ENT, audiologist, and SLP to have this as mandatory reading, even if it were only one or two stories. It is so critical for professionals to understand the barriers faced by these families! I pray that Late to the Party opens the eyes of those who need to see how critical hearing loss is to the success of children. Robin Bliven, Director of Outreach, The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind ""A must-read for healthcare professionals and families"" This book of parent stories is a must-read for health care professionals and families experiencing the identification of hearing loss in their child. I would hope that health care professionals would realize how important it is to give serious consideration to parent concerns and observations. The book reminds me that both actions, offering a diagnosis of hearing loss or not offering a diagnosis of hearing loss, can have serious consequences. Deborah Culbertson, Clinical Professor of Audiology

Author Information

Valerie James Abbott is an author and pediatric hearing loss parent advocate. Her award-winning children's book, Padapillo, was published in 2021 and launched what became the Late Onset Hearing Loss Awareness Campaign. Drawing from research and lived experience, Valerie speaks at conferences nationwide, calling attention to the risk factors and warning signs of pediatric hearing loss, the critical importance of proactive hearing health monitoring, and the impact of late identification on language, literacy, and social-emotional development.

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