The children will also grieve the loss, although it may take them longer to reach this period. Often this period of grief is reached as they approach adolescence. At this age, interaction with hearing children often becomes very difficult, and the deaf children may face choices between friends and school activities. The period of disillusionment, despair and anxiousness after finding out that a child is deaf must end as soon as possible. A parent must realize that deaf children will still develop like normal children in most every way.
Parents often feel guilt about their deaf children.
The mother sometimes fears that she did something during her pregnancy to cause harm to her unborn child and that, therefore, she is responsible for the deafness. Parents can experience extreme guilt for punishing children before they realized the deafness was present. A father may experience guilt, especially if the deaf child is a boy. He may feel that he has fathered a child who will be unable to deal with the complex responsibilities of an adult. Parents who have just discovered their child is deaf are extremely vulnerable to people who offer help, whether it is appropriate or not.