Certified Pediatric Nurse Exam Practice 2025 – Complete Study Resource

The behavior that may indicate hearing impairment in a 2-year-old child with chronic otitis media is playing alongside rather than interacting with peers. This behavior often reflects a lack of social engagement, which can stem from difficulties in hearing and processing sounds, leading to challenges in communication and social interaction. Children with hearing impairments may struggle to pick up on social cues or engage in peer conversations, resulting in parallel play instead of interactive play.

Other behaviors like stuttering, using gestures to express desires, or continuous babbling can occur in children for various reasons and are not definitive indicators of hearing impairment. Stuttering can happen due to normal language development stages, while using gestures is a common way for younger children to communicate before they develop verbal skills. Babbling is a normal part of language development and does not itself indicate hearing issues. In contrast, the shift toward solitary play indicates a deeper potential concern with communication and hearing capacity, making it a more telling behavior in the context of chronic otitis media and its associated hearing challenges.