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!

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.