Mother of boy diagnosed with moderate hearing loss at three says Peppa Pig storyline is ‘bang on’ similar to her family

A Lincolnshire woman has described how a hearing loss diagnosis changed the life of her four-year-old son, and praised a new Peppa Pig storyline that left her crying her “eyes out” because of its “important” deaf representation.

Leah Till, 33, an occupational therapist from Louth, said her son Ralph was born in May 2021 after a pregnancy with gestational diabetes and a “tricky birth”, which resulted in a brain injury and two holes in his heart that led doctors to question if he would “ever walk or talk”.

Immediately after his birth, Leah said doctors attempted a newborn hearing test but he was “quite congested” so it was hard to get an accurate result, meaning it wasn’t until Ralph was three that an audiologist diagnosed him with moderate hearing loss.

Leah said hearing aids transformed Ralph from a non-verbal child who would “bite and hit”, because he was “really frustrated” not to have a proper way to communicate, to a “lovely little boy” who “loves other children and plays really nicely”.

Now Leah said they’re thrilled to see their family represented in a new Peppa Pig storyline airing this week that features the cartoon character’s younger brother George receiving a moderate hearing loss diagnosis.

Leah said: “When Ralph first had his hearing aids fitted and they turned them on, he was laughing. Then when we watched the Peppa Pig episode and George had his hearing aids turned on, George laughed his head off too.

“My partner Shaun and I were quite choked up. I was bawling that actually it is exactly the same as Ralph’s reaction.

“The audiologist explained at the time that Ralph hadn’t heard his own voice before. And that was hilarious to him. It was lovely,” she said.

Leah said Ralph’s brain injury affected his motor skills from birth so he started physio from eight weeks old, four times a day. She said the two holes in his heart were identified from a routine scan but have since “healed up now and he’s not needed any further intervention”.

As for his hearing, Leah said she noticed Ralph wasn’t responding to noises around him as a newborn, and he was later turning his head to try to catch sounds.

Leah said: “In the park, we would try to call his name and get absolutely no response. So there were often times where we’re like, ‘just listen!’, but obviously we didn’t know that he couldn’t hear us.

“It was challenging as a parent because you think you’ve got a naughty kid,” she said.

By Ralph’s third birthday, Leah said “children his age should be speaking a little bit and putting sentences together” but that “just wasn’t happening” for him so he was referred to an audiologist, who confirmed he had moderate hearing loss.

Leah said she felt “partly relieved” to finally have a diagnosis, but there was a lot of “frustration” too.

“Three years is a long time,” Leah said. “He came across as an angry little man (before his diagnosis), but he was just so sad because he couldn’t communicate.

“Once you know what information you’re presented with, you can deal with that accordingly and get the support that you need.”

Leah said Ralph’s ear moulds were taken “straight away” at the initial audiologist appointment in April 2024, and his hearing aids were fitted in June, which is when he laughed as soon as they were turned on.

After the family left the doctor’s office, Leah remembered: “It was absolutely chucking it down with rain and when we got in the car, I sat in the back with Ralph. That’s when I noticed that he kept ducking.

“He thought something was hitting the car. To us, rain is normal, but actually, to Ralph, that was quite a loud noise that he’d never heard before and he didn’t know what to do about it,” she said.

Leah said the early days of wearing the hearing aids were “rough to say the least”, as Ralph kept taking them off and chewing them, flushing them down the toilet, or putting them in the bin. Within a week, she was struggling to get him settled into the transition, so she found a hearing loss support group at her local library.

“I went to the support group and I just sobbed,” Leah said. “I just cried. And was like, ‘He won’t put them in. I don’t know how to get them in. I don’t know anything about them.’

“They brought me a cup of tea, and were like, ‘This is why we’re here.’ We ended up making some lovely friends there.”

Within eight weeks of getting his hearing aids fitted, Leah said Ralph’s development came on “very, very quickly”, including his speech.

This is reflected in the new Peppa Pig storyline airing on Channel 5’s Milkshake from 6am on Monday March 9, where the family go to the doctor to get a hearing test for Peppa’s new baby sister, Evie, but it turns out George has moderate hearing loss.

Leah and her family were given preview screenings of two of the new episodes, which she said were “bang on” accurate to Ralph’s diagnosis: “So the episode goes through a hearing test… and they have to put a block in a bucket when they hear a sound. So when it came on the screen, Ralph just kept signing (in British Sign Language), ‘Like me!’

“They did the mould the same too. And Ralph said, ‘Is that the goo?’ Because apparently it feels like jelly in your ear. We said, ‘Yeah, George is having the goo too’. Even the colour of George’s hearing aids are the same as Ralph’s – blue.

“They’ve absolutely hit the nail on the head. It’s such a realistic representation of the hearing test, but also of the reaction for some children. Watching it was really emotional.

“I think just having that representation is so important for children and for adults as well, just to know that it’s fine and it’s normal,” she said.

The night after the family watched the Peppa Pig episodes, Leah said Ralph was taking his hearing aids off before he went to sleep and asked his mother: “Does George take his off before bed too?”

Today, Ralph has a huge support system around him, including physiotherapists, a local holistic centre called Naomi’s Garden, an “amazing” mainstream school, an organisation called Teacher of the Deaf which helped create a more inclusive learning environment, and a “fantastic” teacher who Leah said reminds her of Miss Honey from Matilda.

Leah also commended the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), including a helpline she used for support and introductory British Sign Language lessons the charity organised for the family. The NDCS also worked with Peppa Pig producers to help inform George’s hearing loss storyline.

On her son’s future, Leah said: “Ralph has no barriers to anything. He does everything that any other child would do.

“He is absolutely fearless and I just want him to be the best version of himself that he can be. I think getting that diagnosis can be very isolating, but if sharing Ralph’s story helps just one other person – job done. I’m happy.

“I would hate for anybody to feel that isolation and that sadness so I just want them to know that it is all right,” she said.

For resources on supporting deaf children and exploring Peppa Pig’s new storyline, visit ndcs.org.uk/georgepig