![]() Family-centered early intervention services promoting the use of listening and spoken language should start no later than 6 months of age. This type of therapy will help your child learn how to hear and speak. Although your child is hearing sound, he or she still needs to learn to understand the sounds by learning to listen and then to translate that sound into spoken language. ![]() The most important step after providing your child with access to sound through hearing aids, cochlear implants or both is to begin listening and spoken language therapy. If your child receives little to no benefit from hearing aids, has a severe-to-profound hearing loss and is at least 12 months old, he or she may be a candidate for a cochlear implant. Cochlear implants provide enhanced sound detection and a greater potential for understanding speech. A cochlear implant works in a similar manner – when surgically implanted behind the ear and in the cochlea, the electronic device is able to bypass damaged hearing cells and stimulate the auditory nerve to restore partial hearing. When hearing is functioning normally, the inner ear converts sound waves into electrical impulses, which are sent to the brain and recognized as sound. Cochlear ImplantsĬochlear implants were developed in the 1970s to help individuals who are profoundly deaf and gain little or no benefit from hearing aids. Regular sessions with an auditory-verbal practitioner will help your child distinguish these sounds. Hearing aids amplify all sounds, so individual sounds may be somewhat distorted and it may be difficult for your child to distinguish and understand your voice from background noise in loud environments. It is important to note that hearing aids do not correct hearing the same way that glasses correct vision. Hearing aids can also be programmed to fit the needs of individual hearing patterns, such as boosting intensity level for high frequency sounds that your child may not hear at all and less for low frequency sounds that your child may hear better. Hearing aids work by boosting the intensity (or loudness) level of sounds at different frequencies (or pitches). Infants as young 2 weeks old can be fitted with hearing aids.ĭepending on the degree of your child’s hearing loss, hearing aids will enable your baby to hear many sounds, including environmental sounds (a dog barking or a rattle shaking) and the sound of speech. Regardless of the range of hearing loss, fitting your baby with hearing aids right away improves your child’s access to sound and maximizes the window of opportunity to acquire language. One of the first steps is to fit your child with hearing aids. Regardless of what device your family chooses, the goal will always be to teach the child how to make the best possible use of hearing and to “learn to listen.” Hearing Aids It is very important that you speak to your audiologist about the options available to your child and what technology may best suit his or her needs. The type of hearing assistive device used for auditory stimulation will depend on your child’s age and the severity of the hearing loss. Infants need appropriate amplification no later than 3 months of age. The first step is to make sure your child receives consistent access to sound, especially speech. Auditory Stimulation and Hearing Assistive Devices AVT.) These professionals support and coach parents and caregivers in your role as your child’s most important teacher of language. AVEd) or LSLS Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapists (LSLS Cert. Professionals who are certified in supporting families and children to develop listening and spoken language are known as Listening and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLSTM) and are designated as either LSLS Certified Auditory-Verbal Educators (LSLS Cert. Professional Supportįamilies who choose a listening and spoken language outcome for their child should seek out a teacher of the deaf, speech-language pathologist or audiologist who is specially trained to help you help your child develop listening and spoken language. Whether you are working with a professional who follows the auditory-verbal approach (A-V) or the auditory-oral approach (A-O), the goal of Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) is the same: to combine early identification and intervention with appropriate hearing technology to enable a child with hearing loss to develop language skills comparable to their hearing peers by the time they enter first grade. Professional Resource and Research Archives. ![]()
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