|
<<
back to HEARING SCREENING topics
If your child is hearing impaired, talk to an audiologist
about what you can do to help your child develop language and communication
skills. Hearing impairments often result in speech and language
delays, so the earlier you start, the better. A speech-language
pathologist can help your child speak and communicate clearly with
others. The speech-language pathologist can also teach you how to
continue the lessons and therapy at home. Doing these exercises
regularly can help your child's hearing and communication skills
improve dramatically.
Avoid comparing your child to other children.
She will learn at her own pace and may need special assistance.
She may become frustrated, so it is important that you create a
comfortable and positive environment in which she can learn.
There are many organizations, resources,
and plenty of other parents who can help you if your child has a
hearing impairment. Here are some web sites that you may find helpful.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
ASHA consists of over 97,000 speech-language pathologists, audiologists,
and speech-language and hearing scientists from around the world.
Their web site can help you find a speech pathologist or audiologist
for your child, look for summer programs and self-help groups, and
can give you more tips on early detection and prevention. You can
also call them at 1-800-638-talk.
www.asha.org
Band-Aids and Blackboards
This web site explains how to handle a chronic illness or other
medical problem at school. This site was designed by Joan Fleitas,
Ed.D., R.N., Associate Professor of Nursing at Fairfield University,
to help parents, children, and teens cope with their disability
at school. It discusses how to handle teasing and lets kids and
parents both share their stories.
http://funrsc.fairfield.edu/~jfleitas/contents.html
Hands & Voices
This non-profit, parent-driven national organization is "dedicated
to supporting families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing."
This link will take you to articles for parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing
children.
http://www.handsandvoices.org/articles/articles_newindex.html
HiP Magazine
Although no longer in publication, HiP Magazine has a great site
for kids who are hearing impaired or different in some way. Through
this site kids can meet others in their same situation and share
stories. http://www.hipmag.org/magazine/index.htm
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders
This web site answers questions about several communication disorders,
ear infections, newborn hearing screening, what to do if your child
has a hearing disorder, and more.
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/index.asp
Sight and Hearing Association
The Sight and Hearing Association is a nonprofit organization "dedicated
to preventing the needless loss of vision and hearing through effective
screening, education, and research." Their web site can answer
a lot of your questions about hearing and vision problems.
www.sightandhearing.org
|
