Hearing and Kids

There is a great deal of research which shows that children who use technology 10 or more hours/day develop better language and learning skills than children who use technology less than 10 hours/day. Audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and teachers need to help families understand why it is critical to keep technology on full time. In addition, families need to help grandparents,

There have been a lot of questions about how to present the LMH sounds. I want to try and clarify things. The question people are asking is how to present the /m/ and /n/ sounds. For those interested, here are the presentation instructions:  1) Present all sounds with the same length of presentation so that there are no clues to

Unfortunately, many school districts do not employ an educational audiologist on staff. This glaring absence means no one working there thoroughly understands hearing loss and its impacts on learning. Without audiologists, schools lack professionals who can properly monitor students’ hearing devices, advise on classroom acoustics, oversee remote mic usage that assists hearing impaired kids, and empower those students to self-advocate.

I had a phone call last week from the mom of a 10th grader whose hearing loss I had identified at 5 weeks of age. He has what we called a “mild” hearing loss. (How I hate that word mild when referring to hearing loss; topic for another blog.) This young man, who we will call Jake, has decided not

The listening bubble refers to the area around a hearing impaired child where speech is sufficiently clear for comprehension. Its size depends primarily on degree of hearing loss and whether hearing technology adequately compensates to access normal acoustic environments. When parents speak from inside this bubble, children can hear, absorb language and learn effectively. But falling outside it prevents adequate

I just returned from the EDHI (Early Detection of Hearing Impairment) Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the first EDHI meeting I attended so I was unsure what to expect. The meeting is attended  by representatives of state early intervention programs and by professionals who work with early intervention. The professionals include speech-language pathologists, auditory-verbal practitioners, audiologists, teachers of the

What should we be looking for in the new year? Just a reminder about what we need to be monitoring for children with hearing loss. Monitor technology You cannot assume because a child has technology on that it is doing what it should do. NEVER ASSUME. Technology needs to be checked daily. Do a listening check with the right technology

Mild hearing loss is a misnomer. I do not know what word to substitute but mild hearing losses are not a mild problem. The data is clear. Children with mild hearing loss are at risk for academic, speech-language, and social-emotional difficulties. Newborn hearing screening does not always pick up mild hearing loss so babies with mild hearing loss may not

It is not enough that we send children to mainstream schools. It is important that children with hearing loss succeed in school. The first thing we need to do is to monitor performance. It is not just okay to look at grades. We need to really evaluate what a child is hearing because what they are hearing will determine what

Behavior issues can be complicated. All children have temper tantrums and all children refuse to follow parental rules at one time or another. Children with disabilities, including hearing loss,  have similar behavior issues as children with typical hearing but families may not treat them the same way. Many families feel that they cannot discipline their children with hearing loss because