WHEN Jason Warman's mum was told he would never hear a single word she said to him, she was devastated.

In the first months of Jason's life, mum Michelle Bell had suspicions something was not right with his hearing. Then, just before his first birthday, her worst fears were confirmed.

She wanted the diagnosis to be wrong and would hit saucepans behind her son's back, hoping for a reaction.

Jason, now 10, attends the Hearing Impaired Unit at Tilbury Primary School in Hull, and is one of around 25 profoundly deaf children in the Humber region.

Along with his family, he has been through many trials and tribulations along the way.

Jason would not sleep with the door shut or the lights off; calling him involved physically finding him, while getting him to interact with other children was a near impossibility owing to communication problems and a lack of confidence.

Jason started learning sign language when he was just 15 months old, while Michelle travelled from their home in Grimsby to Hull to begin what has been a seven-year learning process to pick up the skill.

Living south of the river presented itself with another problem, as there were no suitable schools for Jason to attend.

"We lived in Grimsby so when Jason started school, he had to be escorted in a taxi to Tilbury," said Michelle.

"There were lots of people that went with him that could not sign, so on a 40-minute journey, he would have nobody to speak to.

"He used to cry when he had to go in the taxi, it was awful for him.

"This was one of the reasons I moved across. I wanted to be a normal mum and take my son to school so, in 2003, we moved to live to Hull."

Jason now lives on Westfield Rise in Hessle with mum Michelle, step-dad Martin and 13-year-old sister Amy.

While Jason has learnt to cope with his deafness, there was still something missing from his life, said Michelle.

"We had been looking for a rescue dog just to give Jason a pet, but then my work colleague told me about the scheme by Hearing Dogs For Deaf People and we applied," she said.

Jason is one of only 12 children in the UK to be given a hearing dog by the charity as part of a two-year pilot.

The family received two-year-old Violet, a Labrador cross, in September and, four months later, Jason became only the second child to pass his assessment.

Mum Michelle has since adopted Violet, who has changed Jason's life dramatically.

"Before Violet came along, it was a case of turning the upstairs light on and off to get his attention or go to end of the garden to get him, but now Violet does all that so Jason feels less crowded.

"She is his life. When we first got him, he said 'I was very lonely and sad but I love her and she is my best friend'.

"Jason is a lot more confident and feels more safe and can now sleep with the door closed and the light off."

Hearing Dogs For Deaf People, a national charity which was set up in 1982, started the pilot scheme in April to improve a deaf child's confidence, independence and social interaction – just as it has done for the 900 adults with hearing dogs around the UK.

Violet wears a bright red jacket with 'hearing dog' written on it, which helps to break down the barriers and isolation many deaf children face due to their invisible disability.

Jenny Moir, from the charity, said: "They have an extremely strong bond and when you watch them, it's like two kids playing in the park."