Caring For Your Child’s Hearing Health At Home
Since we have all been home more over the past year and you and your child still may not be receiving regular in-person visits from your hearing and speech professionals, children with hearing loss may need additional help. We at Listen and Talk would like to offer some guidance to parents to help us get through this difficult time.
Make sure your child wears their listening device(s) as much as possible!
- The more exposure to language the better! It takes children upwards of 20,000 hours of listening before their brains are ready to learn to read. More exposure also allows the child to participate in more interactions around the home.
Practice good communication habits and encourage the others in your family to do the same!
- Make sure you are in the same room as your child before you start talking to them.
- Encourage only one person family member to talk at a time. Also to limit the amount of background noise whenever possible.
- Set aside time for regular face-to-face activities such as a board game or mealtime!
Prioritize regular care and maintenance.
- Complete your daily listening checks and Ling 6 sound checks.
- Add hearing aid batteries to your emergency kit. If they are already in your kit make sure they have not expired.
- Once you are able to, schedule an appointment with your child’s audiologist for their routine hearing test and a hearing aid check.
By following these steps you will hopefully keep your child at a good pace with the development of their listening skills!
