Madison began speech therapy sessions at The Center for Hearing and
Communications, which is conveniently located about a mile from our
apartment, in early August. As mentioned earlier, these services are
through the DIP program. When Madison's services began we had
sessions with the Director, Lois Heymann, until being assigned a
permanent therapist once the school year began. After Labor Day,
Madison was assigned a speech therapist, Jessica. Madison's sessions
are 1 hour long and take place every Tuesday and Thursday. Initially,
Madison was sleeping through most of her sessions. This gave me an
opportunity to ask questions to Jessica. What can Madison hear with
her HAs? Since Madison's hearing loss is so severe - she will not hear
sounds of speech when she wears hearing aids. Sound she may hear
consist mainly of environmental noises: airplanes, baby screaming,
doorbell ringing, whistle blowing, jackhammer to name a few. What
types of responses should we expect from Madison when she is wearing
her hearing aids? An infant with normal hearing would not be turning
their head to sounds yet... Signs at this stage in development include
things such as eye brows raising, stop sucking a pacifier, startling.
At this age, it is very difficult to detect. Once Madison is a little
older (4-5 months) she will be put in a sound booth to see if she
reacts to any of these types noises. How should we interact with our
daughter? One of the most important things is to treat her as a child
with normal hearing. Sing to her, talk to her, dance with her... do
all of the things you would do as if she had no hearing loss. They
stressed the importance of constantly engaging Madison. Any noise she
makes - we repeat back to her. If we are playing with a toy that
makes a noise (i.e. rattle), once the noise stops... we wait for her
to make a sound, than continue the movement (i.e. shaking). Madison
has been making so many noises, will they eventually stop? All babies,
regardless of hearing loss go through a routine with "talking". First
they begin to coo, than they begin to babble, than jargin and
eventually begin speaking real words. In babies with hearing loss,
they follow the first two steps... but eventually they stop. That is
because they are getting no feedback to continue (ie hearing someone
talk back to them and have a "conversation"). Because of this, it is
extremely important to react anytime she makes a noise... hoping that
she will not stop making the noises. The past 5 sessions, Madison has
been awake! She seems to really enjoy therapy and love Jessica! The
session usually begins with Jessica testing out her HAs to make sure
they sound normal. She connects the mold of the HA to a long tube and
inserts the other end into her hear. She makes sounds testing their
functionality "Ahhh, Eeee, Oooou, ChhChh, Ssss Ssss, Railroad,
Hotdog". The vowels/constants and those exact two words include all
of the frequencies in the audiogram for speech sounds! This usually
takes a few minutes than it is time to play! Madison spends most of
the time giggling, cooing, laughing and enjoying herself. We have
played with a drum, cow bell, bells, bubbles and building blocks.
Madison's favorite toys seem to be the shiny bells. Madison will
continue going to therapy twice a month.
Communications, which is conveniently located about a mile from our
apartment, in early August. As mentioned earlier, these services are
through the DIP program. When Madison's services began we had
sessions with the Director, Lois Heymann, until being assigned a
permanent therapist once the school year began. After Labor Day,
Madison was assigned a speech therapist, Jessica. Madison's sessions
are 1 hour long and take place every Tuesday and Thursday. Initially,
Madison was sleeping through most of her sessions. This gave me an
opportunity to ask questions to Jessica. What can Madison hear with
her HAs? Since Madison's hearing loss is so severe - she will not hear
sounds of speech when she wears hearing aids. Sound she may hear
consist mainly of environmental noises: airplanes, baby screaming,
doorbell ringing, whistle blowing, jackhammer to name a few. What
types of responses should we expect from Madison when she is wearing
her hearing aids? An infant with normal hearing would not be turning
their head to sounds yet... Signs at this stage in development include
things such as eye brows raising, stop sucking a pacifier, startling.
At this age, it is very difficult to detect. Once Madison is a little
older (4-5 months) she will be put in a sound booth to see if she
reacts to any of these types noises. How should we interact with our
daughter? One of the most important things is to treat her as a child
with normal hearing. Sing to her, talk to her, dance with her... do
all of the things you would do as if she had no hearing loss. They
stressed the importance of constantly engaging Madison. Any noise she
makes - we repeat back to her. If we are playing with a toy that
makes a noise (i.e. rattle), once the noise stops... we wait for her
to make a sound, than continue the movement (i.e. shaking). Madison
has been making so many noises, will they eventually stop? All babies,
regardless of hearing loss go through a routine with "talking". First
they begin to coo, than they begin to babble, than jargin and
eventually begin speaking real words. In babies with hearing loss,
they follow the first two steps... but eventually they stop. That is
because they are getting no feedback to continue (ie hearing someone
talk back to them and have a "conversation"). Because of this, it is
extremely important to react anytime she makes a noise... hoping that
she will not stop making the noises. The past 5 sessions, Madison has
been awake! She seems to really enjoy therapy and love Jessica! The
session usually begins with Jessica testing out her HAs to make sure
they sound normal. She connects the mold of the HA to a long tube and
inserts the other end into her hear. She makes sounds testing their
functionality "Ahhh, Eeee, Oooou, ChhChh, Ssss Ssss, Railroad,
Hotdog". The vowels/constants and those exact two words include all
of the frequencies in the audiogram for speech sounds! This usually
takes a few minutes than it is time to play! Madison spends most of
the time giggling, cooing, laughing and enjoying herself. We have
played with a drum, cow bell, bells, bubbles and building blocks.
Madison's favorite toys seem to be the shiny bells. Madison will
continue going to therapy twice a month.
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