Hearing and Kids

I have had some conversations recently with people who expressed concern about when to move to a cochlear implant. Some were parents who were concerned about surgery. Some were parents who felt that the child should make the decision and did not want to make the decision for the child. Some were therapists who felt that if the child could

It is the start of the school year and families should know what they need to watch out for. Hopefully, every child with hearing loss has an IEP  or 504 plan that meets his needs. For children who have a disability but do not need a lot of services a 504 plan is sufficient but, I hear too often from

We all know that the younger children are the easier it is to increase brain development. We also have known that the earlier children receive cochlear implants (or hearing aids) the better their language. Well, it will be no surprise that we know have data that confirms this. A study from the Children’s Hospital of Chicago has confirmed that infants

I had the honor of presenting several presentations at the first AGBell International Conference in Madrid. Carol Flexer and I were asked to present the final Keynote (What Jane and Carol Know). It was a wonderful honor and our colleagues in the audience were terrific. We talked about how critical audition is to build the auditory brain. And how we

Today’s blog is written by Jessica Chaikof. Jessica  was born profoundly deaf and received her first cochlear implant in May of 1996 at fifteen months. At the time, she was the youngest child in the country to receive a cochlear implant. In May of 2004, Jessica went bilateral and was diagnosed with Usher syndrome type 1F about two years later.

I had the honor a few weeks ago of attending an international conference in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia as a representative of the Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss. I have had the honor of working with the Global Foundation several times in Vietnam but this was the first time I have gone with them to Mongolia. The government of Mongolia

Everyone with hearing loss complains about the ability to hear and understand in the presence of competing noise. Unfortunately, audiologists do not test in noise often, and pediatric audiologists test even less often.   Why doesn’t speech in  noise get tested?   Audiologists do the work we do to help people and we really do not want to upset them

Today’s blog is a review of books I have received from authors, and parents about hearing loss in children. We are always looking for books to read to kids with hearing loss so that they know they are not alone. some of these might be helpful.   A Deaf Child’s Journey to Hearing Published by CICS, UK, a charity run

The Michigan Department of Education has put together a matrix for estimating the educational impact of hearing loss. It is very useful in helping families and educators think about their students with hearing loss. Points are assigned for different factors. A limited description of the matrix is below.   Audiological factors   The first factor is degree of hearing loss

Books are critical parts of learning. When babies are born I always give books – even if I am giving other presents. And I include a note with the books telling baby to ask parents to read at least 10 books a day. A hit to the parents to read every day. Parents can also make books about the child’s