NAERUM, DENMARK — The Ida Institute recently introduced a renamed and updated Growing Up with Hearing Loss tool that features a new chapter on the youngest people with hearing loss, newborns through age 3.
The renamed tool is an update of the Ida Institute’s popular Transitions Management tool that focuses on significant times of change in the life of a child with hearing loss.
The Growing Up with Hearing Loss tool provides insight into new environments, social needs and the new skills needed in age groups ranging from the just-added 0-3 years to 3-6 years, 6-9 years, 9-12 years, 12-18 years and 18+ years. Each chapter is based on a developmental stage so that hearing care practitioners can easily recommend the most relevant content to their clients.
Babies and Toddlers with Hearing Loss
Growing Up with Hearing Loss 0-3 deals with the first three years of a child’s life. From ages 0-3, babies and toddlers become increasingly aware of their environment and acquire the building blocks to develop language, emotions, social skills and learning abilities. At the same time, new parents are learning what their child needs to thrive.
The new chapter is a useful resource to help parents recognize the changes and challenges of their baby or toddler and provides suggestions to help parents and other caregivers support the child’s development.
Inspiration, Readiness and Skill Development
The tool, developed by an international team of audiologists and educators, is broken into three sections for each developmental stage.
Eileen Rall, audiologist and clinical coordinator at the Center for Childhood Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, helped to develop the tool and explains:
“In Be Inspired by Others, parents can view short videos from veteran families sharing their experiences. Am I Ready? prompts parents to think about what they know and how they feel and offers suggestions for what could be discussed with their hearing care providers. Finally, the Develop New Skills section includes a number of ideas that audiologists or other team members can provide for families to promote healthy development.”
Growing Up with Hearing Loss, like all tools on the Ida website, is available for free. For more information, insights and advice from Growing Up with Hearing Loss, visit the tool on the Ida Institute website.
Source: Ida Institute
