In Part One of this series, I introduced the concept of Theory of Mind (ToM) and why children with hearing loss are at risk to struggle with this particular aspect of cognitive development. Now, let’s dive in to what we can do to help build ToM abilities in children who are deaf or hard of hearing. We’ll start with my favorite thing to do in Auditory Verbal Therapy — read a book! Continue reading →
When I coach other professionals, I tell them to work smarter, not harder! I like to pick just one book and make it work for ALL of the children I see in a week. My schedule is filled with listeners of all different ages, developmental levels, and needs, but with some creative thinking, you can take a classic story like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and find a gold mine of goals inside. Here are THIRTY ways to make the Three Bears work for (nearly) everyone on your caseload.
See below for a recording of my November 2015 presentation for Cochlear and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children/Renwick Centre “Beyond Books: Bringing Literacy to Life in Therapy and at Home.” [CC]
Join me for a webinar sponsored by Cochlear and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children – Renwick Centre entitled “Beyond Books: Bringing Literacy to Life in Therapy and At Home” at 8PM Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday November 24th, 2015. The course is free and you can attend online from home, wherever you live. Attendees can earn one unit of continuing education (1CE) from the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language. REGISTER HERE.
Enjoy this recording of my 3/25/2015 webinar for the Cochlear HOPE series, “The Catch-Up Game: Working with Children Who Receive Cochlear Implants Late.” Click CC in the lower right corner for captions.
Cooking is a great thing to do in therapy for many reasons. It’s a hands-on, multi-sensory experience that most children really enjoy. Making food is part of any child’s everyday routine, it’s engaging, and you get to eat the fruits of your labor! What’s not to like? If you’re stuck in a therapy rut, or just looking for something new to do, why not move your lesson into the kitchen (or bring the kitchen into your therapy room) and cook up some great speech, language, and listening fun?
We know that getting a cochlear implant is not an instant fix. Speech, language, and listening skills do not magically appear after activation, and progress is on everyone’s minds. How does progress happen? How much is enough? How fast? What should we do if things aren’t working out as planned?
Testing and evaluations bring up many emotions in parents and children alike. Used well, a comprehensive evaluation provides a measure of the child’s progress and a road map for the way forward. But how are you supposed to untangle the web of jargon and questions surrounding your child’s testing? Let’s discuss…
A lot of attention in the AVT world is focused on infants and toddlers — detecting hearing loss at birth, fitting them hearing technology ASAP, and getting their families off to a running start with listening and spoken language early intervention. When all goes well, many of these children can be fully mainstreamed from preschool and have no need for further therapy. That’s the ideal. It happens for many children, but not all. What about children who are identified as toddlers, or implanted late, or have other complicating factors that lead to slower than expected speech and language progress? What happens when little kids become big kids who still need intervention?
