YouTubers - Make a Back To School Video With Tips For Hearing At School

So you want to be a YouTube Star. Here's your chance. 

 Not!

Listen to Monrovia share her 3-minute video, then create your own video with your back to school hearing loss tips for the teachers.

  

If you up for the challenge make a video for the kids at school! 

Send me the link and I will post it! 

You'll be on your way to stardom!

Addressing Auditory Access Needs of School Age Children With Hearing Loss

It was rewarding to meet, network and learn from the Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss Conference in Orlando February 16- 18, 2017. The conference attendees came from different locations and backgrounds but all were challenged to become Zebra Experts! This included arriving at the conference wearing zebra shoes, sweaters, scarves, and more which was a great icebreaker and conversation starter.

In the keynote session, Karen L. Anderson, Ph.D., Director of Supporting Success for Children with Hearing Loss told us that, “When you hear hoof beats, they are usually horses and not zebras.” She explained that, 

• Hearing loss is not a disorder, like LD or language disorders 
• Hearing loss is not an attention disorder, like ADHD or ASD 
• Hearing loss is not a cognitive disorder, but academic delays and some functional classroom issues are common 
• Hearing loss can LOOK like every one of these issues.

Hearing Loss is not the same as other Special Education populations. Hearing loss is an ACCESS Issue creating barriers to learning in the typical classroom environment and impacting social interactions. One result is the cumulative learning gaps due to incidental learning/overhearing deficits. This invisible barrier is why it is necessary to consider functional performance in the classroom across situations. 

Karen shared the areas of learning most likely to be impacted by hearing loss: 
• Language processing issues due to fragmented hearing, vocabulary gaps, syntax, listening rate, etc. 
• Social language use (socially awkward due to delays in pragmatic language development) 
• Periodic inattention due to listening fatigue and gaps in understanding 

• Passive or immature skills in responding when they do not understand 
what was said (need for self-advocacy) 
• Understanding group discussions or participating in small group work due to distance/noise 


Karen reviewed many assessments, checklists, and tools available on her website. She reminded us to gather data and then to:

1. Talk about access – it is at the heart of developing zebra ‘issues’ 
2. Be prepared to list specific learning challenges typically caused by hearing loss
3. Be sensitive to effective practices and potential challenges with HL 
4. Be prepared to describe the unique skills you bring to the team
5. Be ready to address the potential result in outcomes if another professional without DHH training is providing needed services 
6. Advocate for the intensity of services needed for the child to close gaps and to prevent further gaps from developing or compounding

Are you a Zebra Expert? Please share your experiences on how you address ACCESS needs of children with HL in and/out of the school realm.

First Day of School with "Harmony Hears A Hoot"

"Harmony Hears A Hoot" is a new book I received thanks to Island Wide Speech's founder and author Fara Augustover, M.A. CCC-SLP. I am excited to share this with my Little Listeners at the beginning of this school year. The story is about Harmony’s 1st day of school and is great for learning self-advocacy skills. The book highlights lessons such as: dealing with questions about devices from peers, FM systems, auditory, speech and language therapy, background noise, batteries, advocating, asking for repetitions, etc.!

"Harmony Hears A Hoot" follows a young owl who has a hearing loss. She already has a diagnosis, listening devices (e.g. hearing aids, cochlear implants, BaHa's, etc.), and now it's time to venture off to school. Children with hearing loss can learn with Harmony as she experiences meeting new people and the questions/situations that arise. This book offers a whimsical account that a children can relate to, and enjoy as they listen to the story and looks at the colorful illustrations, all while personally associating themselves with the main character, Harmony."

You can order a hardcover or ebook at www.harmonyhearsahoot.com or Amazon!

There is also a "Harmony Hears a Hoot" Activity Pack, Book Report Template and even an adorable handmade crocheted Harmony Doll.

I hope your Little Listener enjoys hearing about and learning with Harmony!

All-About-Me WH- Question Game - FREEBIE

Back to School Fun in AVT this week with "Beach Ball Bonanza: An All-About-Me WH- Question game". created by my friend, Kristine an LSLS Cert. Auditory Verbal Therapist.

Click HERE FOR THIS FREEBIE.

Teaching Mainstreamed Students with Hearing Loss Video for Parents, Teachers and Students, Zina Jawadi

                           Essential tips and techniques for teaching mainstreamed students with hearing loss (hard of hearing and deaf) in regular schools.

Researched, scripted, organized, and led by Zina Jawadi

                                                              

Suggestions Before School Starts For Parents of Children With Hearing Loss

Click on the topic links below.

First Steps for SLPs That Have A Child With A Hearing Loss On Their Caseload (Suggestions for the SLP and Hearing Itinerants)

Back to School Guide

Things Parents Need ToDo Before School Starts 

Tips For School

Tips For Teachers 

Hearing in the Classroom and Using FM Technology

Guide to Teacher In-services

Hearing Loss Demonstrations

Teacher and Staff In-Service Meetings

 It is important to get your child involved whenever possible. This can include having your student talk and present with you depending on their age, contribute slides to the PowerPoint, or create a media presentation  to introduce him/herself. 

Playing simulations is a great way for staff and other students to “experience” hearing loss. This link from Karen Anderson contains many resources including simulations of a variety of losses with hearing aids, cochlear implants, and with and without FM. The Unfair Spelling Test for elementary students and adults is interesting are everyone is always surprised at their results.

Student In-Service Meetings

Sometimes it is beneficial for your child to present their hearing loss and needs to his/her classmates. Such projects and presentations can easily be tied to self-advocacy objectives. These presentations can be supported by books or posters made by your family, PowerPoint presentations, or multi media presentations. Inclusion of simulations of hearing loss and model hearing aids and cochlear implants enhance this experience for the other students. 

Important People at School 

Find out who is on your child's team! Be sure you introduce yourself not only to the classroom teacher, but also to the receptionists, administrators, “specials” teachers, cafeteria staff, librarian, school nurse, IT department and anyone else you meet in the hallways!   The more people your child and you know now, the easier it will be when you inevitably need their help later in the year.

Audiological

• Be sure you have recent audiogram, speech perception testing and CI programming 

•  Know who the managing audiologist as well as the FM audiologists are and have their contact information available (for some students this is the same person, for others FM is managed by a separate audiologist).

• Ensure that there are listening and equipment checks scheduled and all amplification is working properly. Identify the person at each school who will be trained to perform listening checks. Set a date for that training!
• Identify where the FM will be stored at each school and who will be responsible for charging it. This is often the student’s job but for young children or students with additional needs, an adult may have to oversee this task.

Share Your Contact Information

Be sure everyone at the school knows how to get in touch with you in case problems arise. Find out how they prefer to be contacted. . Relationships matter and first impressions go a long way, so keep it positive and emphasize the collaborative aspects and mutual benefits of this new relationship

.

Set Up A System For Home School Communication:

This can be informal and as simple as identifying whether people prefer to communicate over email or by phone. Some younger students may also have a communication notebook for staff and parents to write in. Especially in the first few weeks, be sure sure you are included in the relevant communication with staff and check in with them regularly. This helps alleviate stress as parents you are in the loop and know what is happening at school.

Tips For School from www.cochlear.com

This article is available HERE from the http://www.cochlear.com/ website.

(adapted) 

1. Assessment and Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

Each year, your child's progress in each area of skill development must be monitored in order to determine the best approach for continuing momentum or improving the rate of progress. The approach to completing this assessment varies by school district. Information gathered for the yearly assessment provides the foundation for the discussion and goal setting of the Individualized Education Plan.

2. Organize a support team to work with your child

Encourage discussions, set up meetings, and highlight the role of each member in your child's support team. There are many people who should be considered members of your child's support team including:

• Classroom Teacher/Special Teacher
• Auditory Verbal Therapist(s)
• Speech Language Pathologists
• Educational Audiologist
• Someone from cochlear implant center/clinic
• School Principal/Administrator
• Tutor, aid, school nurse, others
• Parents + child + classmates
• Interpreter, notetaker (depending on age and needs of your child)

Each member of the team will play a key role in your child's educational progress, from the teacher who is ensuring your child understands and is on par with academic goals, to the school administrator who provides leadership and allocates funds, to your cochlear implant center communicating your child's changes and progress. As the parent, your job is most important to ensure that you:

• Communicate with all team members
• Monitor equipment, homework and educational progress
• Be a presence at school
• Participate in child's developmental goals
• Ensure a routine for your child
• Provide an auditory learning environment at home
• Encourage your child advocate for himself by talking, asking questions, and engaging with others around him/her

3. Set up an initial meeting with your child's support team

• Show the team your child's audiogram and explain it
• Help the team understand the benefits and limitations of hearing aid and  cochlear implant technology
• Show the team your child's technology and let them handle it
• If your child uses an FM system, explain why the FM is important
• Determine who is in charge of troubleshooting and develop a plan for how that will work

4. Review classroom acoustics and ensure proper classroom seating

There are many factors in a child's classroom that may impact their ability to hear, such as noise, distance and reverberation. Keep in mind the following when choosing a child's classroom seat: Close to front but visually accessible to entire room

• Seat away from noise generators (HVAC fans, hall doors)
• If your child has one cochlear implant, seat them so that the cochlear implant ear is away from noise sources (HVAC fans, projectors) and towards center of room
• Aquariums often generate noise (from the pump operation) and should not be placed in the classrooms of children with hearing loss

5. Review support services for your child

Work with your child's support team to determine what support is best for your child. When needed, consider options such as FM systems , interpreters, itinerant teachers of the deaf and other support services. Provide your teacher with extra batteries and troubleshooting tools to use in the classroom.

6. Provide tips to your child's teacher

Remember, your child's teacher may have never taught a child with hearing loss and feel that the "burden" is falling on them. Provide the teacher with some tips such as:

• Always face forward when talking
• Stay within the child's vision, closer is better
• Don't "bounce" around
• Speak clearly, naturally and directly to the child
• Make sure the child is looking at you when you begin speaking
• Ensure volume is appropriate
• Speak just a little slower—too slow is not natural and will make understanding harder
• Don't ask the child directly "Did you understand that?"
• Learn to recognize "the look" that means the child didn't get it, or use a signal or "secret sign" so she can tell you she missed something
• Repeat once, then paraphrase
• Explain things a different way
• Encourage the child to ask
• Write difficult (key) word(s) on the blackboard
• Provide key new words/concepts to parents or team members in advance
• Use visual tools, concrete materials or natural gestures to illustrate points
• Write assignments and directions on the board
• When someone else is speaking, point to the speaker
• Understand and use additional amplification equipment - repeat classmates' questions thru the FM system
• If you think the child might have missed a comment, rephrase or restate what another child has contributed
• Don't be afraid of the child's cochlear implant equipment

7. Involve classmates

Many children are not aware of cochlear implants. It is important to involve the classmates at the start of the school year to help them understand your child's technology, learn how to interact with your child and talk about how your child is the same as other kids, but with a little extra technology to help them hear. You may also want to assign another child as your child's "hearing buddy" to help keep your child on task and share notes, if they are old enough.

Remember, while you want to address your child's individual needs, you also want to place your child in the "least restrictive environment" to serve their needs. Set appropriate but high expectations. Children with cochlear implants should follow the same learning process as other children.

Parent and teacher resources

For additional resources on assisting your child and their cochlear implants at school, visit the HOPEwebsite.

First Steps for SLPs That Have A Child With A Hearing Loss On Their Caseload

This blogpost was originally posted in February but is back by popular demand.

 Thanks for all your emails and requests.

________________

So, You Have A Child With A Hearing Loss On Your Caseload

First Steps for Speech Language Pathologists

      

The terms deaf or hard of hearing cover a wide range of conditions and all affect a child’s listening ability and interfere with their language, social and educational development. The number of children in neighborhood preschools and auditory-oral private schools is ever increasing. Many of these students will need support from SLPs to succeed in mainstream classrooms. 

Starting Points 

First, below are facts to stimulate your thinking in order to begin by asking the right questions.

Points to Ponder

• 95% of parents of children with hearing loss are hearing themselves

• The trend is that hearing parents are choosing spoken language options such as Auditory-Verbal Therapy for their children with hearing loss

• Auditory based intervention does not use any visual communication systems

• Children with all degrees of hearing loss can learn spoken language through hearing

• Early diagnosis, aggressive audiological management, contemporary hearing technology is essential

• Audiograms no longer predict outcomes

• Hearing loss is not about the ears? – It’s about the brain! We hear with the brain –the ears are just the way in. (www.Carol Flexer.com)

• Children can have sensori-neural, unilateral, fluctuating, and conductive hearing losses. They wear hearing aids, cochlear and baha implants and/or FM systems.

What is Auditory-Verbal Therapy?

Source

According to The Alexander Graham Academy for Listening and Spoken Language,  “Auditory-Verbal Therapy facilitates optimal acquisition of spoken language through listening by newborns, infants, toddlers, and young children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Auditory-Verbal Therapy promotes early diagnosis, one-on-one therapy, and state-of-the-art audiologic management and technology. Parents and caregivers actively participate in therapy. Through guidance, coaching, and demonstration, parents become the primary facilitators of their child’s spoken language development. Ultimately, parents and caregivers gain confidence that their child can have access to a full range of academic, social, and occupational choices. Auditory-Verbal Therapy must be conducted in adherence to the Principles LSLS of Auditory-Verbal Therapy” (AG Bell Academy, 2012).

Who are Listening and Spoken Language Specialists?

Source

The AG Bell Academy governs the certification of Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapists (LSLSCert. AVT) and the LSLS Certified Auditory-Verbal Educators (LSLS Cert. AVEd).The LSLS certification is awarded to qualified professionals who have met rigorous academic, professional, post-graduate education and mentoring requirements, and have passed a certification exam. Typically, LSLS certified practitioners are licensed audiologists, speech-language pathologists, or educators of the deaf who have the required background, training and experience in listening and spoken language theory and practice with children with hearing loss and their families.

What Do I Need to Know?

Helen Keller once said, “Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people...” Without prior experience it is difficult to appreciate the impact hearing has on basic human interaction and daily communication.

Source

If you have the opportunity to see a child who has graduated from AVT or an auditory-oral preschool first and foremost take advantage of theparents’ knowledge. Depend on the audiologist, the AVT’s and the hearing itinerant‘s expertise. In the reference section, there are links to simulations of hearing loss and listening with technology that is insightful. Become familiar with variables that effect hearing such as the impact of noise, distance, room acoustics and equipment malfunctions and ways to manage them. Learn about the child’s listening and learning abilities, social needs, and the IEP accommodations.

Classrooms are auditory – verbal environments where LISTENING serves as the basis for learning. Read this brief children’s story below. Do you recognize it?

Source

You can read the passage but endings are missing and the words are not distinct. It takes time and energy to figure
out the story. This visual simulation is similar to the listening ability of a child with well-fit hearing aids. The small 
font size represents that sound is perceived more quietly than it is for typically hearing
 children. The child may ‘hear’ but not understand what was said because
 pieces are missing. Do you know the story?

Hearing aids and/or cochlear implants do not restore normal hearing. Students who use hearing aids may not be able to hear all of the sounds of speech even when it is quiet and the speaker is close by. A hearing loss is invisible and therefore it is easy to forget the effort required to attend, learn and participate. Children with language delays or additional learning issues make this even more challenging.

Strategies to Facilitate Listening and Spoken Language

Source

There are many specific and purposeful auditory strategies and techniques used to teach a child who is deaf or hard of hearing to learn spoken language through listening. Here are three of the most basic and effective. 

Hearing First!

or

You Will Lose the Opportunity for Listening.

Talk about pictures, objects and events before you show them.

This will focus the child on listening and reduce visual dependence.

After you show the materials, repeat and rephrase the message.

This provides repetition and allows the child to “connect” the

auditory and visual information.

Source

Sit beside the student close to the child’s better ear.

Listening Sandwich

Source

Present information through hearing.

 Add VISUAL cues, as necessary

Then, SAY IT again to promote listening. “Put it back into hearing.”

Wait Time

Source

Pausing and Waiting! 

Allow time for the child to process and attach meaning to what was heard.

Don’t rescue too soon!

In summary, I have included numerous references, important videos, printable handouts and a wealth of resource materials. This will enable you to further investigate opportunities for supporting children with hearing loss and their families.

“I am deaf and I can listen, hear and talk!”

Source

So, you want to learn more?

This first step is to view the TED Talks video, Establishing a Sound Foundation for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Dr. Karl R. White explains the differences in raising children with hearing loss today versus 35 years ago and the key factors for successful language development.

Next, watch a series of short videos of my friend and mentor, Carol Flexer, PhD, CCC-A, LSLS Cert. AVT, as she teaches on auditory brain development, acoustic accessibility, the listening environment, signal to noise ratio and more in her engaging videos. Be sure to scroll down to see Carol!

Read a post from the ASHAsphere blog entitled, “Auditory-Verbal Therapy: Supporting Listening and Spoken Language in Young Children with Hearing Loss & Their Families” Todd Houston, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVT.

Investigate the Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge Center a vast site for children and adults with hearing loss, their families and the professionals who support them.

Spend some time at Success For Kids With Hearing Loss where Karen L. Anderson PhD, an audiologist has a wealth of resources including printable handouts regarding the relationship of types and ranges of hearing loss and the impact on listening and learning, social needs, and the potential school accommodations and therapy needs. Be sure to investigate Learning With a HL - Things For the Teacher To Know and Understand

So if you’re ready to dig in, order your own copy of  101 FAQs about Auditory-Verbal Practice. It is an excellent resource edited by Warren Estabrooks, the President and CEO of WE Listen International. The book takes the reader on a journey through current theory, practice, and evidence-based outcomes. It offers knowledge, guidance, encouragement and hope for future generations of children who are deaf or hard of hearing, their families and professionals.