Week of Acheivements!

This has been a great week of achievements with my clients and their families. I work closely with all of my families in regards to training them how to develop the auditory, speech and language of their child. One of my families in particular, is Spanish speaking and I utilize an interpreter for all of the sessions. (infact I have 6 families whose children are CI users and Spanish is the primary language in the home).
It was quite a challenge in the beginning to have them buy into "immersing" their child in spoken language all the time and making them, the parents, the ones who were responsible for developing their child's auditory/speech/Lang skills.
Some of my families quickly jumped on board, others, well, it took some time and lots of letting them experience in sessions, that they were the natural language models....they had to be told and experience not to be afraid to talk to their child.
I found myself having to explain many times how we hear, what the course of treatment was, how children learn to speak etc.
I had to clarify...yes, your child has a hearing loss, but the CI allows them to hear....but it is not as simple as getting a CI and BING, your child can hear! We, and I stress "WE" (parents, speech therapist, audiologist, teachers and other individuals in that child's life), work as a team....we each do our job, as tough and tedious as it may be at times, to help develop those skills.....ok I got off track.
One of the members of one my Spanish speaking families was experiencing some difficulty with letting go of some "inhibitions" with talking/singing/participating with his child. No matter what I did, showed him, involved him, he resisted. His wife, was very much involved...which was great, but I wanted dad to take ownership of this process. Well, just last week, he was the only one who came into the session alone.
I was expecting him to participate but only with my prompting.
He totally surprised the interpreter and I. He was singing to his child and fully participated with no push from me. I was floored and I wondered why now?, why today?
The session ended and as I was closing up for the night, the interpreter pulled me aside and said the father told her he was embarrassed to sing and talk to his child that way in front of his wife. He was raised that it was the woman's job to sing to their child and so on. He knows it is important, but he is unable to bring himself to "carry on" in a silly manner with his wife present.
Hmmmmm, I thought. I will need to explore this further. More when I see this family next week!

Parents and AV Therapy

Over the years as an educator and speech therapist working with the Deaf/HH, one of the most troubling factors I have experienced is the lack of parental involvement in the educational process, specifically; the speech and language development of their child. I have had the opportunity to work with many parents who are invested in helping their child reach their maximum potential, but there were still many who did not seem to care...even now, with my own practice, I am amazed at how some of the parents of my clients do not feel that they have to do anything.

I wonder why?

I have thought about this for years and I use to question my abilities as a teacher/therapist. Was I doing something wrong? Why did it appear they didn't care? Was I not clear in my delivery of instruction or parent workshops? What was it?

I realized after reflecting upon this question many times, that it wasn't me specifically or the parents...it was both of us. They had to buy into what I was doing or else it was just like Simser said in her article from an unknown author:

Tell me and I will forget
Show me and I may remember
Involve me and I will understand.

If you want to continue to this discussion, please do so.

Auditory-Verbal Intervention: Infants and Toddlers

I am in the middle of my certification process for becoming an Auditory Verbal Therapist. During this time I have been reading many articles that are required readings, one by Judith Simser, who discusses the how and why parents participate in the AV approach as well as the components of the therapy sessions. These therapy sessions are outlined and the techniques are escribed for to help develop listening skills, language , and speech production ( all which is really communication) in infants adn toddlers.
Though this article is dated, 1993, the discussion of AV programs and its practice with children with hearing impairments still holds many theories and practices that are used today to help develop the skills of children with and without hearing losses. What I like about this article is that it stresses the importance of parental involvment, by teaching them how to create an audtiory learning environment for their child to develop spoken language, by non other using listening situations during nateral and meaningful communication.
The author stresses that parents need to be involved...(Involve me and I will understand) instead of the tell me and I will forget approach. Are there any therapist out there that would like to share thier personal experiences with parents being involved or not?

Auditory Verbal Certification

Anybody out there trying to become certified as an Auditory Verbal Therapist? I am in the process of becoming certified.....any hints? Peace

My answer to what is Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Ok...so I have no takers out there willing to take a shot. Here I go.....

So what is the difference between being deaf and or being hard of hearing? Throughout my career as an educator of the Deaf/HH and a speech therapist, I have been asked that question many times by parents and other professionals. What is it? I can give you my definition of what they are and what they aren’t, however, there are many layers to discuss to help answer that question, but the ultimate definition of being deaf or hard of hearing is not as simple as it would appear. Let me take a shot at this and feel free to tell me what you think.

Medically, the definition depends on how many decibels of hearing loss you have. A loss that is less than profound is generally considered hard of hearing.

Some people who view deafness by the functional definition think that if a person is deaf but uses hearing aids, they function in society like a person who is hard of hearing.

According to the cultural definition and people in the Deaf Culture, being deaf or hard of hearing has nothing to do with how much you can hear! It has to do with how you identify yourself to society. Do you identify more closely with hearing people or with deaf people? Some medically hard of hearing people that I taught in the public school system or currently work with in my clinic consider themselves culturally Deaf. Others consider themselves Hard of Hearing.

According to a site I read and forgive me I am unable to remember where I got this from but according to the site they posed the question: “ Are people with cochlear implants whose hearing losses are reduced to as little as 20 db hard of hearing or deaf? In my opinion, the answer is, "both." The author of that site says both because “when a person has the implant on and can hear that well, they are hard of hearing. When the implant is off and they can-not hear anything, they are deaf.” I agree with this for the most part, but the ultimate decision is the individual themselves who possesses the hearing loss and how they view themselves in our society based upon their personal experiences.

What is the definition of Deaf and Hard of Hearing?

Can anyone really answer that question without getting into a heated discussion? Anyone want to take a shot? I will add what I feel it means soon. Until then, peace.

Introduction

Hi, I am speech therapist in Las Vegas, Nevada who works with children and adults with hearing losses. Most, if not all of my clients who possess a hearing loss, are implanted with a cochlear device. I incorporate the use of the Auditory Verbal Approach to help faciliate growth of auditory and speech skills. I utilize a team approach by working closely with my parents, caregivers and other professionals to help develop my client's auditory, speech and language skills. I also treat clients with swallowing disorders, aphasia, phonological delays and apraxia.
This blog is to facilite an open dialogue with fellow speech therapist, parents and loved ones and documenting my journey in helping my clients reach their maximum potential. Please feel free to share your stories, treatment ideas or ask a question.
Peace.