When some people think about auditory-verbal therapy, they envision people walking around talking with their hands covering their mouths, at all times. This is not the case. The purpose of auditory verbal therapy is to work on enhancing listening skills so that the child becomes reliant on the auditory information…
Social Communication Skills and the Child with Hearing Loss
When we think about language, we often think about the ability to speak clearly and put words together to create a thought. However, communication is not just the ability to string words together. It is so much more than that. Communication is a two-way street and to be competent requires…
My Child is Being Mainstreamed….What Services Should I Expect?
Every child is different so there is no “one size fits all” for services and accommodations needed for the child with hearing loss in the mainstream. What each child requires is dependent on so many different things. We need to consider at what age the child’s hearing loss occurred. Was…
I Can’t Understand My Child’s Speech—What Sounds are Expected at Different Ages?
Speech sound production is a complex task that takes time to develop. Children born with typical hearing, only use reflexive vocalizations (i.e. crying, grunting, coughing and sneezing) for the first few months of life. Next, cooing begins, followed by some vocal play/repetitive babbling. True babbling doesn’t even begin until 6-10…
I Don’t Have an Experienced SLP Working with My Child. What Can I Do?
Having an experienced speech-language pathologist (SLP) who understands hearing loss and the auditory brain working with your newly implanted (or aided) child is essential for optimal progress. The experienced SLP understands the early stages of implantation, the hierarchy of auditory skills, and methods for working on speech and language through…