Celebrating Hearing Birthdays
Hearing is an incredible gift, and one that people with hearing loss and their families do not take for granted. Here are some ideas for how to make your “Hearing Birthday” (the anniversary of your/your child’s CI activation or the day you/your child received HAs or Baha) special.
Conquer the Cafeteria
I’ve written before about difficult listening situations: large group presentations, meetings at work, crowded restaurants, but one that comes up most frequently for students with hearing loss is the dreaded cafeteria. The room is often an acoustic nightmare, but time spent socializing with friends on a break between classes cannot be replaced. What’s a student to do? Here are some tips to conquer the cafeteria.
Frequently Asked Questions About Speech and Articulation
Here are some of the most common questions I hear about speech, articulation, and people with hearing loss.
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Cochlear Implants, Residual Hearing, and Hybrid CIs
“When you get a cochlear implant, all of your natural hearing is destroyed.”
This used to be the common wisdom: get a cochlear implant, forgo any residual hearing (hearing that you have without the use of hearing devices). Today, however, less traumatic surgical techniques and improved electrode arrays have proven this to be untrue. What is the most current information?
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FAQs about Hearing Loss, Hearing Technology, and Auditory Verbal Therapy
When you meet someone new, one of the first questions we tend to ask is, “What do you do?” When I tell people that I teach children with hearing loss to listen and speak, it’s a real conversation starter. Here are some of my most frequently asked questions about hearing loss, hearing technology, and Auditory Verbal Therapy. What are yours?
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Busting the Myth of “Cochlear Implants Don’t Work”
Opponents of cochlear implants, or CI skeptics, or even those who are neutral but uninformed often parrot the lines that “Some people just don’t do well with cochlear implants.” They say, “Not everyone gets the same results.” I’ll agree with them on those statements — they’re right. Unfortunately, we do still see large variability in the speech, language, and listening outcomes of users of cochlear implants. Where the critics have it wrong, however, is that they portray these differences in outcome as largely due to chance — unexplainable phenomena that no one can predict or prevent. Myths continue to persist that the outcomes of cochlear implantation are “uncertain,” “risky,” or “a gamble.”
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Culturally Sensitive Therapy
One of my favorite parts of my job is the fact that I get to spend time with so many amazing, interesting, terrific families of children with hearing loss. Thanks to teletherapy, “my” families now come not only from around my city, but also from around the world. Each one brings their own unique perspective to the table. As a therapist, how can I best meet their needs?
Potty Training for Children with Hearing Loss
Learning to use the toilet is a big developmental milestone for toddlers, and a big challenge for parents! How can parents successfully navigate this age and stage, especially when you add hearing loss to the mix? Here are some important things to keep in mind:
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Is This a “Hearing Loss Thing” or a “Kid Thing”?
One of the most common questions I hear from parents is, “My child does XYZ. Is this due to the hearing loss?” I’ve heard all kinds of things — from the obvious (having difficulty hearing in noise) to the off-the-wall (preferring a certain food) — attributed to the child’s hearing loss. What drives this, and how can we help parents figure out if it’s a “kid thing” or a “hearing loss thing”?
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Elizabeth A. Rosenzweig 