Acoustic Highlighting

How can we make the words we say easier for our children with hearing loss to hear, understand, and use themselves?  One technique you can pull out of your toolkit is Acoustic Highlighting.  What is it and why does it work?  How and when do you do it?  Get your highlighters ready, let’s learn!

10/12/2015: Speech Skills Webinar

Join me on Monday 10/12/2015 at 7PM EST for a webinar on developing speech skills through listening.  We’ll discuss articulation development, suggested activities, and special concerns like apraxia and bilingual language learners.  This presentation is appropriate for parents and professionals, and qualifies for 1CE credit from the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language.Continue reading “10/12/2015: Speech Skills Webinar”

Graduation: When Do We Finish with Therapy?

Long ago, many children with hearing loss received “speech therapy” well into their teen years and beyond.  Thanks to newborn hearing screening, early intervention, and great hearing technology, the world is changing!  Now, we find ourselves asking, “When is a child with hearing loss ready to graduate from auditory-verbal therapy?”  More correctly, because therapy is aContinue reading “Graduation: When Do We Finish with Therapy?”

I Do Not Run a Pet Shop: Dogs, Parrots, and Auditory Verbal Therapy

Helping a child with hearing loss learn to listen and talk can be a lot of fun, but when the going gets tough, it’s easy to slip into patterns that we think are helping us but are really pushing us further from our goal.  Parents and professionals can be equally guilty of these bad habits.  WhatContinue reading “I Do Not Run a Pet Shop: Dogs, Parrots, and Auditory Verbal Therapy”

The Auditory Feedback Loop

What is the Auditory Feedback Loop?  Have you ever had a cold and had the experience of not being able to hear your own voice clearly, or been so stuffed up that you couldn’t say certain sounds (“my mom” becomes “by bob”)?  Have you ever caught yourself using a word you didn’t mean to inContinue reading “The Auditory Feedback Loop”

The Catch-Up Game: WEBINAR RECORDING

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. 

WEBINAR 4/30/2015: Beginning with Babies: Hearing Technology, Family Counseling, and Early Language Development

    SPACES ARE LIMITED.  REGISTER TODAY! UPDATE 4/17/2015:  Registration is now full.  Due to the high level of interest in this program, we may be offering an encore of the webinar in May.  Stay tuned!  

UPCOMING EVENTS: Free Webinars for Parents and Professionals

I am excited to be partnering with some great organizations this spring to give two FREE webinars for parents and professionals.  Both events also offer 1CE credit from the AG Bell Academy for Listening and Spoken Language.  See below for more information and links to register for the courses.

Cooking Up Therapy

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,Continue reading “Cooking Up Therapy”

Plateaus, Valleys, Plains and Mountains: Measuring Progress

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?