Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Transcription

LISTENINGANDSPOKENL ANGUAGE .ORG
VOLUME 21
ISSUE 2
MAR/APR 2014
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ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
MAR/APR 2014 // VOLUME 21 // ISSUE 2
14
18
small size
big performance
colors, advanced ear-to-ear technologies, and the industry’s first wireless and bimodal streaming
1 4Learning Disabilities and Hearing Loss: Where Does One End
and the Other Begin?
Read about learning disabilities in children who are deaf and hard of hearing
and becoming aware of “red flags” that may indicate a learning difficulty. by krystyann krywko, ed.d.
1 8Reading Aloud: Benefits Beyond Bedtime
The benefits of reading aloud reach far beyond settling your child down
for the night. by kristine k. ratliff, m.ed., lsls cert. aved
2 0Cultivating Listening and Spoken Language with Dialogic Reading
Dialogic reading changes passive, adult-directed reading into a shared
interactive conversation with the toddler as a partner. by adrienne russell , m.dehs, lsls cert. aved
2 4Honoring Individuals, Celebrating Visions: AG Bell Award Recipients
Read about three remarkable individuals whose visions have changed our
community for the better!
28
The chic, lightweight design of the world’s newest, most advanced behind-the-ear sound processor
makes it perfect for younger cochlear implant recipients. Naída CI Q70 features fun, fashionable
FEATURES
2 8 Health Care Reform and Health Insurance Coverage for Hearing Services
Read about key health care insurance reforms mandated by the Affordable
Care Act and their implications for individuals with hearing loss. by theresa morgan
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MAR
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DEPARTMENTS
2Want to Write for Volta Voices?
7Voices from AG BellLearning to Listen, Learning to Read
1 1
9Editor’s NoteReach for Success, Ignite Your Inspiration!
Voices Contributors
1 2Sound Bites
3 2What’s New in the Family Needs Assessment Survey Data
Knowledge Center
3 8 Directory of Services
3 4 Tips for ParentsFinding Language Inside Life
4 6List of Advertisers
1. Hehrmann P, Fredelake S, Hamacher V, Dyballa K-H, Büchner A. Improved Speech Intelligibility with Cochlear Implants Using State-of-the-Art Noise Reduction
Algorithms. Speech Communication; Proceedings of the 10th ITG Symposium, 09/2012.
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3 6 Hear Our VoicesUsing My Voice: From Public Speaking to Law School
4 8Up Front on the Shehzaad Zaman, D.O.
interview by anna karkovska mcglew, m.a.
Back Page ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
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Want to Write for Volta Voices?
Advancing Listening and Spoken Language
for Individuals Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Adopted by the Alexander Graham Bell Association
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Board of Directors, July 2013
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF
AND HARD OF HEARING
3417 Volta Place, N.W., Washington, DC 20007
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org
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Donald M. Goldberg, Ph.D.,
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Kathleen S. Treni (NJ)
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Submissions to Volta Voices
Volta Voices welcomes submissions from
both AG Bell members and nonmembers. The
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audience consists of individuals who are deaf
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are deaf and hard of hearing, and professionals
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For submission guidelines and to submit
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education, and accessibility.
• Health—audiology issues relating to
children or adults with hearing loss and/or
their families and friends.
• Action—stories about people with hearing
loss who use spoken language as their
primary mode of communication; deafness
need not be the focal point of the article.
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The periodicals department reserves the
right to edit material to fit the style and
tone of Volta Voices and the space available.
Articles are selected on a space-available
and relevancy basis; submission of materials
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the time a manuscript is written, statutory
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to transfer copyright of their articles to AG
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be transferred only by written agreement.
Without copyright ownership, the Alexander
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and libraries, or authorize indexing and
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VOLTA VOICES Volume 21, Issue 2, March/April (ISSN 1074-8016) is published 6 times per year in J/F, M/A, M/J, J/A, S/O, and N/D
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VOICES FROM AG BELL
UTMED12142011261
Learning to Listen,
Learning to Read
As a graduate of the Deaf Education and Hearing Science (DEHS) Program, Lindsay
makes lives better each day as an itinerant teacher in Austin, Texas. She currently teaches
16 children. Over the course of her career she has the opportunity to impact over 400
children’s lives.
Lindsay is not alone. Graduates of the DEHS Program will touch over 8,000 lives during
their careers and the number is still growing.
A premier listening and spoken language teacher preparation program for children with hearing loss
Deaf Education & Hearing Science at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio
For more information, please visit UTDeafEd.com.
Phone: (210) 450-0716
This issue focuses
on reading and
literacy, a critical
concern for both
parents of children
who are deaf and
hard of hearing
as well as the
professionals that
support them. The importance of emergent
literacy for children who are deaf and hard
of hearing is reflected in its inclusion as one
of the nine domains of knowledge for the
Listening and Spoken Language Specialist
(LSLS®) certification. The development of
literacy skills is a focus for LSLS professionals who partner with parents to support
the development of listening and spoken
language skills that are the foundation for
literacy skills and later school success.
Auditory-verbal practice helps children
learn the many dimensions of spoken
language by preparing their parents to interact with them by using meaningful language
in real-life situations, all of which prepares
children for reading. A LSLS guides parents
in doing this by intentionally using their
own language facility. They support parents
in helping their children to develop sounds,
words and spoken language for everyday
living according to Lyn Robertson in 101
FAQs About Auditory-Verbal Practice (2012).
Young children are constantly learning
words from parents, LSLS and other adult
role models, and they use these words to
expand their vocabulary and build concepts
about the function of words—and the world
around them. A LSLS uses a wide range
of strategies, techniques and procedures
to help children build the foundation for
reading. Through the use of songs, poems
and word play, a LSLS assists parents in
helping their children learn the rhythms,
rhymes, intonations and phonemic bases of
reading. The practitioners and parents also
VO LTA VO I CE S M A R /A P R 2014
build memory for language structures by
helping the child talk in conversations so
that the child learns the conventional word
order for sentences, how to turn statements
into questions or exclamations as well as a
wide range of other skills (Robertson, 2012).
This issue highlights the importance of
listening to stories read aloud and pretend
play and experiences in helping children
to develop vocabulary for objects, actions,
relationships and ideas. Long before they
are able to label them, children who use
spoken language acquire the language
parts of speech and understand where to
put them in sentences. They learn the ways
that stories unfold when they are told, the
pragmatic uses of language, and how to use
words and talk in a variety of conversational
settings (Robertson, 2012).
A goal of listening and spoken language
teaching is to build a foundation for literacy.
Every auditory-verbal session adds to this
foundation for learning to read by helping
the child learn about the relationships
between written and spoken language.
Children learn to recognize words on the
page and retrieve them from memory to
write them. Children also learn to listen to
and monitor their own speech, and to use
spoken language to think and connect with
written language (Robertson, 2012).
To facilitate this process, it is critical for
children with hearing loss to use appropriate
hearing technology as soon as possible and
for parents and practitioners to facilitate
spoken language development right from
the start (Robertson, 2012). Lack of access
to sound and spoken language can have
detrimental effects for children with—and
without—hearing loss. The research shows
that when children with typical hearing
lack exposure to rich language experiences,
they can rapidly lose ground in learning and
the gap between them and peers with rich
language experiences can widen substantially.
The gap between children in language-rich
and language-poor environments can amount
to as much as 30 million words by the time
children enter kindergarten, according to a
study by Hart and Risley (1995).
Reading to children daily is one of the
most important foundations for literacy. The
American Academy of Pediatrics strongly
recommends reading to a child starting the
day after they are born. Reading stimulates
the development of the brain, language and
a closer emotional relationship with the
child. The importance of getting children
off to an early, successful start in reading
cannot be overstated. Children who read
well are likely to read more, setting an
upward spiral of positive effects into motion
that leads to better academic achievement
(Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998).
Parents and professionals alike will
find a wealth of strategies and techniques
that facilitate and enhance the interrelated connection between listening, spoken
language and literacy development within
these pages—and gain a perspective on
red flags that indicate reading and learning challenges. Additional information on
building reading and literacy skills can be
found on the Listening and Spoken Language
Knowledge Center. My hope is that all
professionals, parents and children will pick
up their favorite book tonight. One of the
greatest gifts that we can give to our children
is a passion for reading.
Sincerely,
Donald M. Goldberg
Ph.D., CCC-SLP/A, FAAA, LSLS Cert. AVT
President
[email protected]
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS?
Write to us:
AG Bell
3417 Volta Place, N.W.
Washington, DC
20007
Or email us:
[email protected]
Or online:
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org
7
2014 AG Bell Convention
EDITOR’S NOTE
June 26-30, 2014
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin
Orlando, Florida
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/2014Convention
More value for everyone in 2014
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Backbypopulardemand!Up to two badges for just one registration fee
(appliestofamiliesofchildrenwithhearinglossandadultswithhearingloss)
10 pre-convention workshops and 48 concurrent sessionsforfamilies,
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Over70 exhibitorsintheareasofhearingtechnology,educationandmaterials
Magicalvenue:Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort—
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Earnupto22.5 hours of continuing education
Reach for Success, Ignite
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Early Bird ends
April 16
Greetings! The
articles in this issue
of Volta Voices focus
broadly on learning,
reading and literacy
for children who
are deaf and hard of
hearing. We further
provide you with
information on AG Bell’s ground-breaking
Family Needs Assessment survey and on
the implications of the Affordable Care Act
on health insurance coverage for hearing
services. We also honor three remarkable
individuals who are recent recipients of
AG Bell’s prestigious awards.
Our opening article “Learning Disabilities
and Hearing Loss: Where Does One End and
the Other Begin?” by Krystyann Krywko,
Ed.D., sheds light on how to differentiate
between learning difficulties that might
be due to a child’s hearing loss, which is
considered a perception problem, and difficulties that might be the result of a learning
disability, which is considered a processing
problem. Krywko helps both parents and
professionals understand the difference and
work to appropriately identify and assess
learning difficulties which are not the result
of hearing loss, so that intervention is both
appropriate and helpful.
In “Reading Aloud: Benefits Beyond
Bedtime,” Kristine K. Ratliff, M.Ed.,
LSLS Cert. AVEd, reminds us of one of
the most effective strategies to promote
the development of listening and spoken
language for children who are deaf and
hard of hearing regardless of age—reading
aloud. She provides parents with advice on
how to choose books for reading aloud and
with strategies to promote listening and
language development.
Adrienne Russell, M.DEHS, LSLS Cert.
AVEd, writes about dialogic reading, an
innovative and creative technique which
Jillian Tweet, author of this issue’s “Tips
for Parents” column, shares her experience
and advice on finding language inside life
in anything that she does and anywhere
she goes. She coaxes readers to shift their
perspective and stop asking “Am I doing
enough?” and concentrate on finding
ways to combine learning with fun and
fun with learning.
Kate Georgen, author of this issue’s “Hear
Our Voices” column, writes about falling
in love with public speaking, engaging in
meaningful conversations and employing her
penchant for communication and persuasive
argument in new and impactful ways to
bring about positive community change.
Our “Up Front on the Back Page” column
features Shehzaad Zaman, D.O., a physician
and bilateral cochlear implant user, who
loves the challenge of trying to solve an
illness and being given the opportunity
to transform a patient’s worst fears into
strength and hope.
As you may have noticed, Volta Voices has
gotten a facelift and it feels like a makeover!
We hope you enjoy the refreshed look
and feel of the magazine, which includes
a restructured and more intuitive table
of contents, a new color palette, readerfriendly typefaces and other details that
reenergize the publication to make it more
inviting, engaging and personal to you—our
valued readers.
Thank you, as always, for reading. We
hope that the following pages will provide
you with new knowledge, tools and approaches, ignite your inspiration and creativity,
and motivate you to reach for success! We
welcome your comments, suggestions or
story ideas! Please email [email protected].
changes passive, adult-directed reading
into an active, dynamic and interactional
framework with the toddler as a partner.
Turning reading into a shared interactive conversation cultivates listening
and spoken language for the child with
hearing loss and builds a foundation for
the toddler to eventually become a storyteller, underscoring the power of learning
through listening.
The AG Bell board of directors recently
selected the recipients of the prestigious
AG Bell awards. In “Honoring Individuals,
Celebrating Visions,” we announce these
three remarkable individuals—Jeanine
Gleba, Jacob Landis and John Stanton,
Esq.—united by their perseverance,
enthusiasm and magnanimity in the face
of obstacles to bring about positive change
for all individuals with hearing loss who
use listening and spoken language.
Key health care insurance reforms
mandated by the Affordable Care Act
(“ACA”), signed into law by President
Obama on March 23, 2010, went into effect
at the start of this year. These reforms
enable individuals, including individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, to
compare and purchase state and federally regulated health insurance products.
Theresa Morgan provides a useful overview
of these reforms and their implications.
AG Bell recently conducted a groundbreaking Family Needs Assessment
survey in an effort to gain insight on the
Kind regards,
perceptions of families with children who
are deaf and hard of hearing about the
quality and availability of services received,
from both private and public providers.
Anna Karkovska McGlew, M.A.
Results from the survey are now available
Editor, Volta Voices
on the Listening and Spoken Language
Knowledge Center. Our “What’s New in the [email protected]
Knowledge Center” column provides an
overview of the survey data and guides you
through the information on our website.
9
VOICES CONTRIBUTORS
VOICES CONTRIBUTORS
Frequently Asked Questions
About Auditory-Verbal Practice
New from the AG Bell Bookstore!
do you have questions about auditory-verbal therapy and
education? Find the answers 101 frequently asked questions
from more than 100 listening and spoken language
specialists. this book will help you:
• learn about the history, philosophy, principles
and outcomes of auditory-verbal practice
• gain an understanding of contemporary issues
and current trends in field
• Build strong parent-professional partnerships that
foster the development of listening, spoken language and literacy
• Find hope, support and encouragement
s
Available in print and e-book format for all major e-readers
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/101FAQs
10
LI S TE N I N GA N DS P O K E N L A N G UAG E .O RG
listeningandspokenlanguage.org
Kate Georgen, author of
this issue’s “Hear Our
Voices” column, was born
with a moderate-severe
bilateral hearing loss and
uses a digital bi-cross
system to communicate.
She grew up in Plymouth, Ind., where she
was active in sports and was a drum major for
the Plymouth High School Marching Band.
She also competed in speech and debate,
winning both state and national titles in
original oratory. Georgen attended Rutgers
University for college and rowed on the
Division I women’s crew team all four years.
After graduating, she served as an AmeriCorp
volunteer before accepting a position as a
disability rights advocate in Nashville, Tenn.
She and her husband currently live in Ithaca,
N.Y., where she is finishing her third year at
Cornell Law School.
Krystyann Krywko, Ed.D.,
author of “Learning
Disabilities and Hearing
Loss: Where Does One End
and the Other Begin?,” is a
writer and education
researcher who specializes
in hearing loss and the impact it has on
children and families. Both she and her
young son were diagnosed with hearing loss
one year apart. She is the author of the
e-book, “What to Do When Your Child Is
Diagnosed with Late Onset Hearing Loss: A
Parent’s Perspective,” available on Amazon.
She also authors the blog, “After the
Diagnosis: Helping Families with Hearing
Loss.” She can be contacted through her
website www.lateonsethearingloss.org.
Theresa Morgan, author of
“Health Care Reform and
Health Insurance
Coverage for Hearing
Services,” is legislative
director at Powers, Pyles,
Sutter and Verville in
Washington, D.C. She conducts research and
analysis on legislative and regulatory issues
for health care and education clients and has
primary responsibility for the Washington
Wire, the firm’s weekly newsletter on health
care policy issues. Morgan also helps
manage the ITEM Coalition, a group of 75
disability-related organizations with the
mission of improving access to assistive
devices for people with disabilities. She also
staffs the Habilitation Benefits (HAB)
Coalition, which coordinates national
advocacy to advance coverage for habilitation benefits, and the Coalition to Preserve
Rehabilitation (CPR), a coalition of 25
organizations interested in maintaining and
improving coverage and access to rehabilitation services. Morgan was recently elected to
sit on the board of the Consortium for
Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and
appointed as the Maryland volunteer for the
National Patient Advocate Foundation’s elite
President’s Council.
Education and Hearing Science program at
the University of Texas Health Science
Center – San Antonio. She has presented
“AVT on a Shoestring,” “S.T.A.R.R.: 5 Points
to Success,” and “Sound Beginnings:
Coaching Families with LENA Feedback.”
Kristine K. Ratliff, M.Ed.,
LSLS Cert. AVEd, author
of “Reading Aloud: Benefits
Beyond Bedtime,” is the
hearing impaired specialist
for Dublin City Schools in
Dublin, Ohio. She provides
itinerant services to a caseload of students,
preschool through 12th grade. Ratliff has
been teaching students with hearing loss for
15 years, and loves the variety, challenges,
collaboration and learning opportunities
that her current position provides. Ratliff
serves on the board for the Ohio chapter of
AG Bell. She lives with her husband and
three children, and enjoys reading and travel.
Shehzaad Zaman, D.O.,
was born in Long Island,
N.Y., played tennis and
squash at Haverford
College, studied medicine
at the University of New
England, and trained at
University of Massachusetts Medical Center,
University of California Davis Medical
Center and Long Beach Medical Center. He
is active in the community and while in
medical school, he advocated on Capitol Hill
for patient’s rights, served as a disability
coordinator for the American Medical
Student Association, and was appointed to a
U.S. Surgeon General committee on
improving patient care. He now resides in
Manhattan and enjoys tennis, skiing,
working out, traveling and rooting for his
New York teams including the Yankees,
Knicks and NY Giants.
Adrienne Russell,
M.DEHS, LSLS Cert.
AVEd, author of
“Cultivating Listening and
Spoken Language with
Dialogic Reading,” is a
parent-infant advisor and
mentor at the Sunshine Cottage School
Parent-Infant Program in San Antonio,
Texas, where she has provided auditoryverbal services since 2001. Russell
co-teaches “Best Practices in LSL Early
Intervention” for the Master’s in Deaf
Jillian Tweet, author of
this issue’s “Tips for
Parents” column, is an
innovator in the changing
world of information
literacy for all ages. Her
passion to find words in
the world around her emerged through her
youngest son’s journey to listening and
spoken language. Tweet is a Clarke School
parent and advocate, helping to guide other
families through the world of listening and
spoken language.
11
SOUNDBITES
COMPILED BY: ANNA KARKOVSKA MCGLEW, M.A.
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NEWS BITES
CHAPTERS
In Memoriam: Jacqueline St. Clair-Stokes
On Christmas Eve 2013, the field of listening and spoken language lost Jacqueline St. ClairStokes, a pioneer of auditory-verbal practice who tirelessly worked in the 1980s to help
listening and spoken language professionals and the services they offer gain recognition in
England and abroad. As a founder of Auditory Verbal UK, her work has had a lasting influence
on thousands of children and their families, providing them with the support that they needed
in order to learn to listen, talk and thrive in the mainstream. “When she worked with babies and
parents, she was incredibly energetic, insightful and joyfully creative in helping them solve the
problems posed by learning to listen and talk in the course of playing and interacting. She will
be sorely missed by many,” said Elizabeth B. Cole, Ed.D., director at CREC Soundbridge.
m
ing loss . co
kids wit hh ear
12
Hearing Aids Coverage for Children
with Hearing Loss in Georgia
The recently released 2015
Fiscal Year Budget Report
for Georgia announced
updates to the State Health
Benefit Plan, which include
an $853,980 increase in
funds to provide coverage
for hearing aids for children
effective January 1, 2015.
This coverage will apply to
more than 650,000 state
employees in Georgia and
will positively impact children who are hard of hearing
in Georgia. Let Georgia Hear, the parent-led coalition
advocating for a hearing aid insurance mandate in the state,
is grateful to Chairman Richard Smith, chair of the House
Insurance Committee, and Representative Edward Lindsey
for their support. Coverage for children’s hearing aids by the
State of Georgia will pave the way for individual insurance
carriers and self-insured plans to follow suit and greatly
increases the coalition’s chances of eventually passing
legislation which will require insurance coverage for all
privately insured children.
success for
New Amtrak “Txt-a-Tip” Service
Amtrak has launched a new method for reporting suspicious
activity, crime or emergencies by introducing APD11 “Txta-Tip,” a program that allows contacting the Amtrak Police
Department’s (APD) National Communications Center via
SMS text messaging. Passengers can report suspected
criminal or suspicious activity by sending a text to APD11
from a smart phone or to 27311 from a standard cell phone.
Txt-a-Tip will especially benefit Amtrak passengers and
station visitors who are deaf and hard of hearing by providing
an easy and efficient method of communicating emergency
information to the APD. Amtrak has also released a video
on YouTube about the new service, which can be found by
searching for “safety is in your hands too.”
Michigan Chapter Professional Fall Conference Recap
The Michigan chapter of AG Bell had its largest ever turnout for its professional
fall conference last October with 165 professionals, parents, individuals of all ages
who are deaf and hard of hearing, and exhibitors from all around the states of
Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
Karen Anderson, Ph.D., author of Building Skills for Success in the Fast-Paced
Classroom and creator of www.successforkidswithhearingloss.com, led a whole-day
workshop focused on promoting positive self-concept, cultivating self-advocacy and
parent advocacy skills, generating appropriate goals for students with hearing loss,
and teaching social communication strategies.
The conference also highlighted two Macomb County students with hearing loss
and their inspiring stories of self-advocacy in the classroom. Brianna Franco, a high
school junior, reflected on how difficult it was at first to let her teachers know what
she needed in the classroom. She explained that it wasn’t until she became older
that she realized that in order to be the best student she could be, she had to forget
about how others may perceive her, and instead focus on what was best for her.
Lila Hodgin, a 4th grader, wrote an essay based on her experiences in using the FM
system at school. She highlighted her advocacy skills by discussing how she enlisted
a volunteer student peer—whom she called an FM manager—to carry the FM system
to class for her and make sure it was plugged in. By bringing her peers into her
world and helping them understand her needs as a student with a hearing loss, her
classmates feel like they are contributing to her success in the classroom.
13
Understanding Hearing Loss
and Learning Disabilities:
What Is the Relationship?
Where Does One End and the Other Begin?
Children who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) are
What happens when a child has an appropriate
not immune to the specific learning disabilities (LD)
language model and the appropriate supports are in
that children with typical hearing experience and these
place but still has difficulties learning? Parents and
learning disabilities can have a profound impact on
professionals are often aware of the unique challenges
their academic achievement, behavior and social skills
that a child who is DHH faces in the classroom, and
(Edwards & Crocker, 2008). Universal newborn hearing
the fact that hearing loss by itself can often create
screening, appropriate hearing technology and early
learning difficulties. However, delayed academic
intervention combine to provide children who are DHH
progress is frequently attributed solely to the child’s
Perceiving vs. Processing
with the opportunity to develop a strong language
hearing loss, and the possibility of specific additional
foundation along with cognitive and communication
learning disabilities is not always considered (Edwards
skills. “Having a strong language foundation is central
& Crocker, 2008). Through an understanding of the
to learning,” says Elizabeth Adams, Ph.D., clinical
subtleties in the process of identifying additional
psychologist at The River School in Washington, D.C.
learning disabilities in children who are DHH, parents,
Hearing loss and learning disabilities both
affect a child’s learning; however, they do
so in different ways. Soukup & Feinstein
(2007) stress the importance of determining whether the learning difficulties
are the result of a perception problem
(hearing loss) or a processing problem
(learning disabilities).
When a sensory function, such as
hearing, is impaired, then there can
be difficulties in identifying, receiving
and interpreting information. Either
the student is not hearing key parts of a
teacher’s lesson, or there is unfamiliarity
with part of the lesson, such as vocabulary,
so the student is not interpreting the
lesson correctly.
Learning disabilities are a group of
varying disorders that have a negative
impact on learning. They may affect one’s
ability to speak, listen, think, read, write,
“Without this strong foundation there can be some
academic gaps; but if a child has a language model
educators and other professionals can be aware of “red
flags” that may indicate a learning difficulty.
they can access, they should be able to learn.”
SCHOOL
BY KRYSTYANN KRYWKO, ED.D.
14
It is difficult to pinpoint the frequency of
learning disabilities among children who
are DHH. Recent research suggests that
there is a greater incidence of learning
disabilities in children who are DHH than
children with typical hearing (Marschark
& Hauser, 2012). The Gallaudet Research
Institute (2011) estimates that roughly
eight percent of DHH students have a
learning disability, yet some surveys have
suggested the incidence could be as high
as 23 percent (Marschark, 2007).
The suggestion of a greater incidence
of learning disabilities amongst children
who are DHH (Marschark & Hauser,
2012; Marschark, 2007) may be due to the
fact that most of the primary causes of
hearing loss are also the primary causes of
neurological dysfunction, which can lead
to learning disabilities such as premature
birth, meningitis, anoxia, maternal use
of teratogenic medication and certain
genetic syndromes (Morgan & Vernon,
1994; Marschark, 2007). It is important to
approach these etiologies with caution as
each condition is simply associated with
learning disabilities and in no way predicts
the eventual development of a learning
disability (Mauk & Mauk, 1998).
spell or compute (NCLD, 2013). Some of
the more commonly diagnosed learning
disabilities include dyslexia, dyspraxia and
auditory processing disorder.
When it comes to the issue of identifying learning disabilities, Stewart and
Kluwin (2001) believe that they are a result
of a processing problem, where the student
receives the information they are reading
in a textbook or working on in class, but
the brain is unable to organize incoming
information adequately. Examples of these
types of processing problems are when a
child can identify numbers but struggles
with memorizing and organizing these
numbers (dyscalculia) or if the child
listens to a story, but then does not have
the ability to retell it (dysphasia).
Diagnosing Learning Disabilities
in Children Who Are Deaf and
Hard of Hearing
The diagnosis of a learning disability in a
child who is DHH is difficult to navigate.
In the past, children who were DHH were
automatically assumed to have a learning
disability due to the presence of a hearing
loss or the lack of spoken language. As a
result, PL 94-142 (reauthorized in 2004
and better known as the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act or IDEA) states
the classification of a learning disability,
…does not include children who
have learning problems which
are primarily the result of visual,
hearing, or motor handicaps;
mental retardation; emotional
disturbance; or environmental,
cultural, or economic disadvantage (U.S. Department of
Education, 2006).
It is understandable why there was a
need to reduce the over-classification of
learning disabilities in children who are
DHH. According to Calderon (1998) using
the two-year discrepancy between IQ
and academic achievement would have
resulted in classifying the majority of
children who are DHH by the time they
reached 3rd or 4th grade with a learning
disability. “Thankfully the cognitiveacademic split is no longer used as an
absolute indicator of a learning disability
(i.e., if children had it, LD was present;
if not, there was assumed to be no LD
present),” says Adams. “While a cognitiveacademic split would still be interesting,
the current approach to testing is geared
more towards pattern analysis across a
number of different measures that assess
various domains of functioning. It is
through careful analysis of these patterns
that strengths, weaknesses, functioning
and diagnoses are identified.”
This so-called IDEA “exclusion clause”
serves as both a blessing and a curse
when it comes to educating children who
are DHH. On the one hand, it prevents
the automatic assumption of a learning
disability thereby focusing attention on
the specific accommodations and needs
related to hearing loss. However, the
exclusion clause has also been interpreted
by many states to mean that the learning
difficulties of children who are DHH can
only be the result of hearing loss and not
a neurological dysfunction (Soukup &
Feinstein, 2007).
“It’s important to realize that my son’s
learning disabilities would exist even if he
heard perfectly,” says Christina, a mother,
whose 16-year-old son is a bilateral
cochlear implant user. “After a couple of
false starts we were finally able to find
a psychologist who was able to take his
hearing loss into account while diagnosing
his learning difficulties. That attention
made all the difference in the world.”
If you suspect your child might have
an additional learning disability, it is
critical to work with someone who has
experience working with children who
are DHH. “Children who are DHH are
such a heterogeneous population,” says
Lois Heymann, director of the Steven and
Shelley Einhorn Communication Center in
New York City, “that any evaluator needs
to know the variables that are involved
in hearing loss, such as: How serious is
the loss? When was the child diagnosed?
At what age were they aided? What about
residual hearing? All these facets need to
be taken into account as all that impacts
what kind of therapy a child might need.”
15
Assessing Learning
Disabilities in Children
with Hearing Loss
Achievement Test, Kaufman Test
of Educational Achievement,
Peabody Individual Achievement
Test, or the Woodcock-Johnson
Morgan & Vernon (1994) state that
Psycho-Educational Battery
assessment for learning disabilities of
a child who is DHH should include at 5.Results from neuropsychological
screening instruments to evaluate
least eight different areas of data:
visual-motor integration skills such
1. A case history of the type and
as the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt
degree of hearing loss, age at
Test and the Developmental Test of
onset, cause of hearing loss, birth
Visual-Motor Integration
and medical history, age at which
6.Results from assessment of
developmental milestones were
adaptive behavior functioning
achieved, family history, and any
or classroom behavior with
other disabilities
instruments such as the Vineland
2.An educational history
Adaptive Behavior Scale, the
3.Results from two measures
AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale or
of intellectual functioning (i.e.,
Connor’s Rating Scales
Test of Nonverbal Intelligence
7.An audiologic evaluation and
and the Wechsler Intelligence
vision screening
Scale for Children)
8.An assessment of the
4.Results from educational
student’s communication
achievement such as Stanford
and language skills
While this list serves as a great starting
point in collecting data and information about your child, it is important to
remember that each child has individual
circumstances and additional measures
and sources of information might be
needed. “I would also want to know a lot of
information about the early intervention,
language choices, language and education
environments at home and school, and a
really in-depth analysis of current speech
and/or language functioning,” says Adams.
Rising to the Challenge: What
Parents & Educators Need to Know
Although it is challenging to diagnose a child
who is DHH with a learning disability, this
diagnosis is essential to ensure that a plan
can be implemented to help him/her develop
academically and emotionally. The frustration of having a child’s learning difficulties
misdiagnosed is that interventions put in
place will be neither appropriate nor helpful.
“Years of academic frustration and
failure can not only hinder a child’s
Online Professional Education
for educators, parents and professionals who wish to
expand their knowledge on topics related to children
who are deaf and hard of hearing.
• Online Seminars
• Study Groups
• Workshops
• Education Materials
Visit the Professional
Education page on
BoysTownHospital.org.
Consultant
uditory
Resource
A
Network
®
Boys Town National Research Hospital
16
ability to develop skills that will lead to
independence and mastery,” says Soukup,
“but can also hinder the development of
healthy self-esteem.”
The combination of hearing loss and
learning disabilities presents a complex
challenge to parents and professionals. However, none of the challenges
are insurmountable as long as there is
awareness and understanding on the part
of parents, teachers and professionals
that hearing loss and learning disabilities
can coexist. As every child has unique
needs, it is difficult to suggest a standardized approach to dealing with learning
disabilities. It might take time, but it is
important to find professionals who have
experiences working with children with
hearing loss to make sure appropriate
strategies are put into place.
REFERENCES
Calderon, R. (Winter 1998). “Learning disability,
neuropsychology, and deaf youth: Theory, research, and
practice.” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 3(1), 1-3.
Edwards, L., & Crocker, S. (2008). Psychological
Processes in Deaf Children with Complex Needs: An
Evidence-Based Practical Guide. London, United Kingdom:
Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Gallaudet Research Institute (2011). Annual Survey of Deaf &
Hard of Hearing Youth. Retrieved from http://www.gallaudet.
edu/gallaudet_research_institute/demographics.html
Marschark, M. (2007). Raising and Educating a Deaf Child.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Marschark, M., & Hauser, P. (2012). How Deaf Children Learn.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Mauk, G., & Mauk, P. (Winter 1998). “Considerations,
conceptualizations, and challenges in the study of
concomitant learning disabilities among children and
adolescents who are deaf or hard of hearing.” Journal of Deaf
Studies and Deaf Education, 3(1), 15-34.
Morgan, A., & Vernon, M. (1994). “A guide to the diagnosis
of learning disabilities in deaf and hard of hearing children
and adults.” American Annals of the Deaf, 139(3), 358-369.
NCLD, Editorial Team (2013). What Are Learning
Disabilities? Retrieved from http://www.ncld.org/typeslearning-disabilities/what-is-ld/what-are-learning-disabilities
Pollack, B. (1997). Educating Children Who Are Deaf or
Hard of Hearing: Additional Learning Problems. Reston, VA:
ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education.
Document Reproduction Service No. ED#414666
Stewart, D., & Kluwin, T. (2001). “Classroom management
and learning disabilities.” In D. Stewart and T. Kluwin,
Teaching Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students: Content,
Strategies, and Curriculum (pp. 289-313). Needham Heights,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Soukup, M., & Feinstein, S. (Spring 2007). “Identification,
assessment, and intervention strategies for deaf and hard of
hearing students with learning disabilities.” American Annals
of the Deaf, 152(1), 56-62.
United States Department of Education (2006).
Identification of Specific Learning Disabilities. Retrieved
September 2013 from http://idea.ed.gov/explore/
view/p/,root,dynamic,TopicalBrief,23
Tips for Parents
A key component of moving towards the identification of a learning disability is awareness and keeping track of patterns
over time. The following are some suggestions to help parents and educators ensure that children who are DHH receive
the academic supports they need.
• A child who is DHH should follow typical patterns of growth
and achievement. Hearing loss is usually not accompanied
by characteristics of the processing problems of learning
disabilities such as visual-perceptual problems, attention
deficits, perceptual-motor difficulties, severe inability to learn
vocabulary, consistent retention and memory problems, or
consistent distractive behavior and emotional factors. If any of
these behaviors are present on a consistent basis in your child,
then it is important to seek more information as to why these
issues are occurring (Pollack, 1997).
• Learning disabilities do not appear overnight. “There will
likely be red flags along the way that a child will have been
lagging behind from the start,” Heymann said. Parents
should collect data about their child’s academic performance
(assignments s/he has completed, struggles they have
observed while helping her/him with homework, consistent
difficulties highlighted on school reports) and then visit with
their child’s teacher and share concerns. The teacher may try
to implement strategies to address areas of concern. Other
possibilities include the implementation of a response to
intervention plan (RTI). RTI differs from the previous “abilityachievement discrepancy” that was used to identify children
for special education. The idea is that education decisions will
instead be based on the outcomes from targeted classroom
interventions. One issue that arises from this approach is that
school districts may keep a child in RTI and delay classification
for special education services. As a parent you have the right
to request an evaluation of your child at any time.
• Some teachers are good at picking up subtleties in a child’s
learning. Be careful not to dismiss a teacher’s concerns by
immediately thinking that they don’t understand children
who are DHH. Instead, work together with the teacher in
looking for evidence as to what exact difficulties your child
might have.
• Pinpointing behaviors that might indicate a learning
disability can be difficult in children who are DHH, but the
following are signs to look for, according to Soukup. These
challenges might include: difficulties processing visual
information, extreme difficulty in learning and retaining
vocabulary (reading and spelling), reading difficulties,
challenges with handwriting, disorders in attention,
problems with organization, and inappropriate social skills.
• Children with learning difficulties demonstrate difficulties that
are consistent and do not resolve over time. For example,
“vocabulary will not grow the same way in a child who is
DHH,” says Heymann, “but this is not a learning disability.”
Similarly, Adams suggests that “if a child has a two-year
language delay, of course there would be some difficulties in
an academic setting, but that doesn’t mean there is a learning
disability.”
• Increased demands can unmask learning difficulties. “Some
kids are really good at compensating in their environment,”
says Adams, “and develop strategies that can get them by
for awhile.” The amount of struggle a child has will impact
whether they are identified with a learning disability and
qualify for services. Sometimes there is not enough of a
learning discrepancy to meet qualification standards.
17
Choosing Books for Reading Aloud
BENEFITS BEYOND BEDTIME
BY KRISTINE K. RATLIFF, M.ED., LSLS CERT. AVED
One of the most effective strategies to promote the
and thinking skills (Trelease, 2006; Koralek, 2003).
development of listening and spoken language for
For a child with a hearing loss, reading aloud is especially
children who are deaf and hard of hearing regardless of
important because it provides a purposeful opportunity
age is something many parents have done for years as
to reinforce these concepts, which may be, or have been,
part of a bedtime routine—reading aloud.
missed incidentally. In addition, it stimulates conversation
The benefits of reading aloud reach far beyond settling
between parents and children and reinforces reading as
your child down for the night. Reading aloud to your
a pleasurable activity. Reading aloud to your child should
child regardless of hearing ability creates background
begin in infancy and extend beyond when the child can
knowledge, builds vocabulary, introduces descriptive and
read on his/her own.
grammatically correct language, fosters imagination,
and helps with the development of essential literacy
18
Choose books you like or liked as a child.
Since you have a good memory associated
with these books, it is important to share
that with your child because it creates a new
connection between you and your child.
Take a trip to the library and explore
books. Libraries often display award
winners. Librarians can make recommendations for high-interest books, and your
child can peruse and make choices as well.
Don’t forget to include widely known
classic fairytales such as Goldilocks and the
Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood to your
reading aloud repertoire. These stories are
referenced in other books, movies and TV
shows, and knowledge of these fairytales is
assumed in popular culture.
Be sure to read a variety of texts,
including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc.
Different literature offers different benefits.
Fictional books promote imagination,
giving children the chance to explore
places otherwise unknown, and allow
readers to know the thoughts of characters, including animals. This insight can
promote Theory of Mind, the ability to
understand the emotions, thoughts, beliefs
and intentions of others (Sapolsky, 2013).
Theory of Mind is essential for successful
social interaction. Fiction can also allow
your child to develop an appreciation for
a popular character, or characters, who
appear in multiple books, such as Clifford
in the Norman Bridwell books or Piggie
and Gerald in the Mo Willems books.
Non-fiction books promote vocabulary,
background knowledge and critical thinking
skills (Polette, 2004). Non-fiction can introduce a child to actual places, time periods
and individuals. It can be used to foster or
reinforce an interest, such as dinosaurs or
China. Reading non-fiction also exposes your
child to text features specific to non-fiction,
such as photographs, captions and graphs.
Reading poetry with your child exposes
him or her to rich and unique uses of
language. Humorous poetry, such as Shel
Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky, is highly
engaging. Poetry with alliteration and
repetition like Dr. Seuss can promote
phonemic awareness, an early literacy skill
distinguishing sounds in words and moving
them to create new ones (Duursma,
Augustyn, & Zuckerman, 2008). More
reading. Reinforce new vocabulary by
incorporating it into your daily conversation. For example, if you read the word
Strategies to Promote Listening “pristine” in a book, look for opportunities
When reading to your child, be sure s/he
to use it; for instance, “Dad just cleaned
is wearing functioning and appropriate
the car, and it looks pristine!”
amplification. You want to ensure your
Pose open-ended questions to your child
child has adequate access to sound to
such as, “What would YOU do if…,” and
hear you reading the book.
involve them in the story. Ask questions to
Sit with your child on your lap or beside promote Theory of Mind like, “Why might
you. If hearing is better on one side, be
he not tell his mom about the bully?”
sure to sit on that side.
Encourage your child to make predicSit in a comfortable spot with soft but
tions by asking “What do you think will
adequate lighting. This reinforces reading
happen next?”
as a pleasurable activity.
Make connections, relating the story
Read at a volume you would typically
to experiences or other books, “This
use for conversation; however your rate, or reminds me of…”
speed, should be slower than your typical
If the story lends itself well, plan a
rate of conversational speech. Be sure to
follow-up, related activity such as a craft
model natural fluency (smooth reading)
activity or day trip (Buehler, 2012; Keene &
and intonation. Read with expression and
Zimmermann, 1997).
don’t be afraid to take on the voices of
Lastly, reread, reread, reread. As adults,
characters—this engages your listener.
we read books once and move on. Children,
Use acoustic highlighting to emphasize however, love to hear their favorite stories
important words or phrases. Pause before
again and again. Rereading books reinor after a key word and give it stress,
forces exposure to concepts and vocabulary.
making it more salient than the words
“The single most important activity for
around it. This draws a child’s attention to
building knowledge for [children’s] eventual
a word that is important to know.
success in reading is reading aloud to chilUse auditory closure and “expectant
dren” (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson,
lean” strategies. Begin a predictable
1985). Establishing a daily or nightly routine
sentence, then pause and expectantly
of reading aloud to your child is a bonding
lean towards your child as if waiting for a
experience with lifelong benefits. Curl up
response. This allows your child to “jump
with a good book and enjoy!
in” to complete the phrase. This works
especially well with rhyming books, filling REFERENCES
Anderson, R., Hiebert, H., Scott, J., & Wilkinson, I.
(1985). Becoming a Nation of Readers. Washington, DC:
in a rhyme, or repetitive books, such as
U.S. Department of Education, The National Institute of
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin.
Education.
Buehler, V. (2012). Read to Me, Mama and
Consider reading a page first, without
Daddy. Retrieved 9/21/12 from http://www.
always showing the pictures. This allows
listeningandspokenlanguage.org/uploadedFiles/
Connect/Meetings/2012_Convention/Handouts/FCP1_
your child to create his/her own scenes in
ReadtomeMamaandDaddy_Presentation.pdf
his/her imagination.
Duursma, E., Augustyn, M., & Zuckerman, B. (2008).
“Reading aloud to children: The evidence.” Archives of
If reading a novel with an older child,
Disease in Childhood, 93(7), 554-557.
get two copies—one for you and one for
Keene, E., & Zimmermann, S. (1997). Mosaic of
Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop.
your child. Have your child visually track,
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
or follow along with the text, as you read.
Koralek, D. (2003). Reading Aloud with Children of All
Ages. Retrieved 9/21/2012 from http://journal.naeyc.org/
Tracking can promote word recognition,
btj/200303/readingaloud.pdf
joint attention and practice with listening.
Polette, K. (2004). Read & Write Out Loud: Guided Oral
traditional forms of poetry may be read to
expose rich language use on endless topics.
Strategies to Promote Language
After you have finished reading, encourage
your child to retell the story (Buehler, 2012).
Discuss key vocabulary words or
figures of speech found in the context.
This can be done prior, during or after
Literacy Strategies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Sapolsky, R. (2013). “Another use for literature.” Los
Angeles Times, 29 December 2013. Retrieved 1/11/2014
from http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/
la-oe-sapolsky-theory-of-mind-20131229,0,2431766.
story#axzz2qffOMrRu
Trelease, J. (2006). The Read-Aloud Handbook (6th ed.).
New York: Penguin Books.
19
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s a parent, grandparent and parent-infant advisor at the Sunshine Cottage School
in San Antonio, Texas, I have seen firsthand the importance of interactive dialogic
reading to toddlers with hearing loss to encourage vocabulary growth and plant the
seeds of future academic success.
How children behave during book sharing with their parents, caregivers and
listening and spoken language professionals depends on their experience with books
in general. One toddler can sit through interactive readings of multiple books, often
requesting a favorite book over and over again, while another toddler squirms and
runs away and seems to exhibit no interest in the book sharing experience.
The importance of reading aloud during the first three years of a child’s life cannot
be overstated. During this time, parents are their child’s first and most important
teachers providing the sound code or phonology for language development. Parents
imprint their baby’s brain with the sound code of language using a technique called
motherese/parentese to capture their child’s attention during the shared daily
routines of life. Help and support from the adults in a child’s life build vocabulary
skills (Mol, Bus, De Jong, & Smeets, 2008).
20
ts
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How Reading Becomes Dialogic
By using motherese/parentese when
reading a book to their child, parents
effectively capture the toddler’s attention and cultivate his/her future desire
for reading, learning and exploring. In
addition, by using props such as toys and
recycled (or easily obtained) materials
from around the house, parents and
caregivers can make reading an inexpensive and highly rewarding stay-and-play
activity with their toddler with hearing
loss. Dialogic reading is a shared interactive conversation between a toddler and
his/her parent/caregiver/listening and
spoken language professional that should
be fun (Lonigan, 2011).
This technique changes passive,
adult-directed reading into an active,
dynamic and interactional framework
with the toddler as a partner. When
adults share books with toddlers, the
child may be focused on looking at the
book and not necessarily listening to the
story. Dialogic reading builds a listening
foundation for the toddler to eventually
become a storyteller (Whitehurst,
1992) through gestures, single words,
two-word combinations and phrases.
This underscores the power of learning
through listening, especially for children
with hearing loss.
The PEER Sequence
Families coached with the use of the PEER
sequence when sharing books with their
child are often pleased by the toddler’s
increased attention span with the book.
The increased attention span helps the
toddler to absorb the language through
listening. The reading technique using the
PEER sequence encourages the adult to:
• Prompt the child to vocalize or gesture
(use wait time 8-10 seconds)
• Evaluate the toddler’s response
• Expand the toddler’s response with
rephrasing using parentese/motherese
• Repeat the prompt
Books with props help the toddler and
adult stay and play in a meaningful and fun
listening interaction. The behavior change
modeled by the parent (Mol et al., 2008)
complements a behavior change in the
toddler as they participate together in the
shared book reading.
21
The Humpty Dumpty Routine:
Dialogic Reading in Action
Pairing props with actions is an effective way to cultivate
listening and language development. I created the “Humpty
Dumpty” kit, which consisted of a hard-boiled egg, Play-Doh,
feathers, building bricks, markers and a tiny book.
I use it in listening and spoken language sessions to teach
parents dialogic reading techniques by facilitating turntaking strategies with the family to keep everyone engaged
with creating Humpty Dumpty out of the hard-boiled egg
and the other materials. The experience takes parents
through the dialogic process by acoustically highlighting the
selected language targets. It is important that professionals pace the activity according to the needs of the toddler.
Below is an example of one of these sessions:
Professional: “Uh-oh, Humpty has no eyes…let’s draw some eyes on Humpty.”
Parent: “Where are your ears? (looking at the toddler) Where are Humpty’s ears?”
Professional: “Uh-oh, Humpty has no legs. Let’s make Humpty legs. Roll the Play-Doh.”
Parent: “Where are your arms? (talking to the toddler) Where are Humpty’s arms?
He has no arms. Let’s roll the Play-Doh. Put one arm here. Where’s the other arm?”
Professional: “Humpty needs a hat. Let’s make a hat. Put the hat on Humpty’s head.”
Parent: “Humpty needs a feather for his hat.”
Once Humpty Dumpty is complete, professionals can proceed with the story by rocking Humpty Dumpty back and forth
with their finger behind his hat as they sing the story while the
parent turns the pages of the story.
The professional can then hand over Humpty Dumpty—
already cracked from his first fall—to the parent for another
round of the song.
Finally, the toddler can have his/her turn controlling
Humpty and letting him fall and crack.
Collectively creating Humpty during an auditory-verbal
session is part of the rich language process before sharing
the book and song. Playing with props captures the toddler’s
attention and turns the book reading into many shared conversational turns (dialogic reading). It engages the toddler into a
storytelling role by asking him to repeat the story after having
heard it from both the professional and the parent.
This is a strategy for expanding auditory memory from one
critical item to two and beyond. For example, I always ended
the reading dramatically with a different twist, by saying,
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great
faaaaaaall, uh-oh, he’s cracked….so we ate him!”
Humpty Dumpty kit:
a pen, a hard-boiled
egg, blocks, a
feather, some playdough and the book.
Run, Mouse, Run!
The board book, Run, Mouse, Run! by Petr Horacek is great for
exposing toddlers to actions and prepositions.
The story required the following materials: a mouse toy, a
chair, a table, a cup, a shoe, a cat toy and a tissue box. Sitting
at the kitchen table, the professional, the mother and then the
child take turns acting out the story with the props, page by
page, making the mouse run over the chair, across the table, up
and into a cup, down the table leg and into the tissue box. Next,
the mouse runs out of the box and into the shoe and, finally,
into a hole provided by the book away from the cat. The turntaking strategy allows the toddler to listen and see each phrase
twice before it is his/her turn.
This format provides an early interactional framework
encompassing joint attention, turn-taking techniques and communicative intent. An added benefit of this technique is helping
the toddler to learn self-regulation by waiting his/her turn.
Depending on the toddler’s age and language development,
his/her speech may vary from matching syllables with vocalizations all the way to matching the words of the professional and
the parent or caregiver. Some pre-verbal toddlers may only
match the movements before coupling their vocalizations with
the action. Be patient and repeat the experience.
If toddlers are older, an added activity is to allow them to
find the props for a story. Finding each prop is an opportunity
to engage the toddler in a meaningful way, spark his/her interest
and invest them in reading.
For example, while I was
playing with my grandchildren
ages 28 months and 3 ½ years,
they brought me a book to read.
I opened the book and asked
Run, Mouse, Run book with
them to go find a frog toy in their
the mouse and box prop.
room that matched the one in the
credit : adrienne russell
story. Off they ran to search for a
frog and a minute later returned
with one. Now they needed to find a mouse, so off they
ran back to the bedroom to hunt for a mouse. This activity
continued for every page of the story until we accumulated
the full cast of characters. Such activities extend the time
for book reading through play and make toddlers eager to
participate in the actual reading of the book.
Reading aloud to toddlers with hearing loss improves
their ability to listen and imitate the sound code of spoken
language. Remember, listening comes before talking. Dialogic
reading promotes language development and helps with
literacy development preparing toddlers for the wonderful
world of reading. In order for this time to be meaningful to
the toddler, it must be fun!
credit : adrienne russell
dialogic
monstrating
.
ch a video de
logicReading
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oken
To access th
eningandSp
tion visit List
reading in ac
BUTTERFLY
Resources for Parents and Professionals to
Encourage Dialogic Reading
Cole, E. B., & Flexer C. (2011). Children with Hearing
Loss Developing Listening and Talking. San Diego, CA:
Plural Publishing.
Cullinan, B. E. (1992). Read to Me: Raising Kids Who Love
to Read. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2003). Einstein Never Used
Flash Cards. How Our Children Really Learn – and Why They
Need to Play More and Memorize Less. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Inc.
Horacek, P. (2005). Run, Mouse, Run! London, United
Kingdom: Walker Books Ltd.
Karp, H. (2004). The Happiest Toddler on the Block.
New York, NY: Bantam Dell.
22
Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., De Jong, M. T., & Smeets, D. J. H. (2008).
Added Value of Dialogic Parent-Child Book Readings: A MetaAnalysis. Retrieved from https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/
bitstream/handle/1887/16211/Chapter3.pdf?sequence=8
Celebrating
100 years.
Singer, D., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (Eds.) (2006).
Play=Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s
Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Humpty Dumpty (1996). Montreal, Canada: The Five Mile
Press Pty Ltd.
Lonigan, C. (2011). Research on Dialogic Reading. [Video
File] Retrieved from http://community.fpg.unc.edu/
connect-modules/resources/videos/video-6-2
Whitehurst, G. (1992). Dialogic Reading: An Effective Way
to Read to Preschoolers. Retrieved from http://www.
readingrockets.org/article/400/
23
THE AG BELL BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECENTLY SELECTED THREE NOTABLE
INDIVIDUALS TO RECEIVE THE PRESTIGIOUS AG BELL AWARDS.
Jeanine Gleba, a mother of a daughter with hearing loss, was selected for the 2013 AG Bell Award of Distinction for her advocacy
effort to pass Grace’s Law—New Jersey’s hearing aid insurance mandate. Jacob Landis, a young man with a cochlear implant and
a passion for baseball and biking, is the 2014 recipient of the AG Bell Award of Distinction for his Jacob’s Ride, a 10,000-mile bike
ride to 30 Major League Baseball stadiums to raise funds and awareness for cochlear implants. The AG Bell Award of Distinction
recognizes an individual or organization outside the field of education or (re)habilitation of individuals with hearing loss that has
made an outstanding contribution to hearing loss issues.
John Stanton, Esq., a lawyer who is deaf and the current chair of the AG Bell Public Affairs Council, is the recipient of the Honors of
the Association Award for his extraordinary contributions to AG Bell and its mission of advancing listening and spoken language for
individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. The Honors of the Association Award is presented in recognition of an outstanding
individual in the field of listening and spoken language who has advanced the goals of AG Bell over many years of committed service.
These individuals are united by their perseverance, enthusiasm and magnanimity in the face of obstacles to bring about positive
change for all individuals with hearing loss who use listening and spoken language whether through a grassroots legislative effort,
a 10,000-mile bike ride, or deep, committed legal expertise in the field of disability advocacy.
Join us in learning more about and honoring these remarkable individuals and their visions!
2013 AG BELL AWARD OF DISTINCTION: JEANINE GLEBA
Jeanine Gleba’s daughter,
Gleba initiated a grassroots advocacy effort. It took nine years
Grace, was born with a
and numerous bills that had been introduced in six legislative
severe sensorineural hearing
sessions since 1999 until her legislative effort won the support
loss in each ear, which was
of 57 sponsors in both houses of the state legislature, which was
discovered during a voluntary then signed into law on December 30, 2008.
hearing screening that was
She used strategies gathered from an advocacy summit hosted
performed when she was
by AG Bell to garner support for the bill, which was later renamed
born in 1999 (mandated
“Grace’s Law” in honor of her daughter. She mailed flyers with
hearing screening in New
updates and advocacy action items to supporters. Taking advantage
Jeanine Gleba, right, and her
daughter Grace. credit: gleba family
Jersey took effect the
following year). When Gleba
began her journey to obtain early intervention services for her
daughter, she found out that her employer’s self-funded health
plan would not cover the cost of hearing aids for Grace. Gleba
filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, which ruled in her favor a year later.
Gleba lives in New Jersey where approximately 1 in 1,000
children are born with a hearing loss. With newborn hearing
Grace speaks at the Governor's
Office as New Jersey Governor Jon
screenings required by law in her state starting in 2000 and the
Corzine looks on. credit: tim larsen
subsequent identification of hearing loss for many children at
birth, Gleba felt that newborn hearing screening by itself was
futile if children with hearing loss could not get appropriate and
of the burgeoning use of the Internet, she put together e-bulletins,
affordable amplification.
built a website with the help of a volunteer, and launched an
After reading a newsletter article about a proposed hearing
Internet petition that garnered 8,400 signatures. Gleba harnessed
aid coverage law in her home state of New Jersey and befriendthe support and enthusiasm of other families, sought and gained
ing Carol Granaldi, who founded the initial movement to enact
media coverage, participated in awareness and fundraising activities
hearing aid insurance legislation in New Jersey, Gleba became a
related to hearing loss, and she and her daughter Grace never missed
“mom on a mission.”
a committee hearing related to the bill.
24
25
Despite opposition from insurance companies and a general
unwillingness among legislators to pass any legislation with a
fiscal impact, the bill finally passed the full assembly in 2008,
gaining sponsors from every district in the state.
Signed into law on December 30, 2008, Grace’s Law requires all
health insurers in the state of New Jersey to provide up to $1,000
coverage for each hearing aid prescribed for children 15 years old
and younger, with the exception being self-funded plans which
are protected federally under the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA) and do not have to follow state mandates.
Gleba continues to work for expanded hearing aid coverage
for children. Her dream is for insurance coverage for hearing
aids to become a reality on the national level and to be standard
inclusion for all policies.
For more information on Grace’s Law and Jeanine Gleba,
visit www.graceslaw.com.
2014 AG BELL AWARD OF DISTINCTION: JACOB LANDIS
Jacob Landis started Jacob’s Ride in
2012, an effort to raise money for
people who need a cochlear implant
but cannot afford it. Jacob’s Ride
combined his love of baseball and
cycling and aimed to “hit a home run
for hearing” by raising awareness of
the difference cochlear implants can
make in the life of people who are deaf
Jacob Landis
and hard of hearing.
The ride, which encompassed 30 Major League Baseball parks
stretched out over 10,000 miles, began at National’s Park in
Washington, D.C. on April 3, 2013 and was scheduled to end on
September 24, 2013 at Marlins’ Stadium in Miami, Fla.
On September 22, 2013, four miles from his hotel and with only
2 days and 180 miles left to go, he was struck on U.S. Highway 27
South while cycling towards his last destination in Miami. Landis
suffered a severe concussion along with other injuries. He still
attended the finale at Marlins Stadium, though walking his bike
in instead of pedaling. His endeavor raised over $150,000 and
continues to receive donations.
Landis has come to believe that his deafness has a special
purpose. He is fully aware of the difference the implant has made
in his life. Landis had progressive hearing loss as a child, which was
identified at age 2, after his mother felt his speech development
was slow. Over the next three years, Landis’s hearing continued to
deteriorate and he was fitted with hearing aids. When hearing aids
no longer provided him with a benefit, Landis went through the
cochlear implant process and received a cochlear implant at age 10.
Landis went on to attend middle school, high school and
college in the mainstream. He earned an associate degree from
Anne Arundel Community College. Landis now works full time
at Whole Foods in Annapolis, Md., while pursuing his Business
Administration degree at the University of Maryland.
Over the years, Landis has met with hundreds of cochlear
implant candidates and their families. He has spoken at medical
conferences and to college engineering students about the
designing of devices for those with special needs.
During his teenage years, Landis became a passionate baseball fan, holding season tickets with the Baltimore Orioles and
attending between 20 and 30 games a year. He is also an avid
cyclist, and by combining twin passions for baseball and bicycling,
Jacob's ride was born.
Landis is making plans
for the future but knows
that he will be working in
some way to raise cochlear
implant awareness for the
rest of his life.
To learn more about
Jacob Landis, visit his website www.jacobsride.com.
Jacob Landis with Dylan, a
9-year-old cochlear implant
recipient, at the Brewers
game in Milwaukee, Wisc.,
during Jacob's Ride.
credit : jacob landis
26
also guided the association in cases where the association chooses
to file amicus briefs or other petitions on behalf of individuals with
hearing loss pursuing appropriate accommodations. He has worked
with the association on the development of many of its position
statements, including on the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the first international
treaty to address disability rights.
One of Stanton’s most recent publications is a law review
article on the history of lawyers who are deaf and hard of
hearing. “Breaking the Sound Barriers: How the Americans With
Disabilities Act and Technology Have Enabled Deaf Lawyers to
Succeed” published in the Valparaiso Law Review recounts the
history of lawyers who are deaf in the 19th century and discusses
the obstacles that aspiring lawyers and law students who are deaf
have encountered throughout most of the 20th century until the
Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. Stanton provides
numerous examples of how increased awareness, greater legal
protections and advanced technology have removed many of the
barriers that lawyers who are deaf have faced throughout the
decades by sharing his own experiences as well as those of many
AG Bell members, including Rachel Arfa, Michael Tecklenburg,
Bonnie Tucker, Laura Gold, Mac Gibson, Susan Harris, Michael
Stein and Caitlin Parton.
Look for more information about AG Bell awards in upcoming
issues of Volta Voices.
Don’t Throw Out Your
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2014 HONORS OF THE ASSOCIATION
AWARD: JOHN STANTON, ESQ.
Jacob Landis, John Stanton and AG Bell board member
Catherine McNally at National's Park in Washington, D.C.
on the eve of Jacob's Ride. credit: ag bell
rights laws. He also has written
extensively about the history
of people with disabilities and
has extensive pro bono experience in the field of disability
advocacy, which he has put to
full use in his tireless commitment to AG Bell’s advocacy and
regulatory efforts.
He graduated from Dartmouth
College and the Georgetown
John Stanton
University Law Center. After
obtaining his law degree, Stanton served as a judicial clerk for Judge
Nathaniel Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, he worked at the Washington,
D.C. office of Howrey, LLP.
Stanton became deaf in early childhood and grew up using
spoken language and speechreading, and received a cochlear implant
in 2001. He has been a member of AG Bell since the mid-1990s and is
a former member of the board of directors. He has drafted numerous
petitions for certiorari, oppositions and amicus briefs filed in the
U.S. Supreme Court. He has been involved in appeals in nearly every
federal appellate court, as well as several state courts.
As chair of the Public Affairs Council, Stanton is instrumental in
establishing the direction of AG Bell’s public policy efforts. He has
John Stanton is the current chair of the AG Bell Public Affairs
Council. Stanton is a longtime volunteer with AG Bell—a tireless
advocate for movie captioning as well as promoting CART in the
classroom. He has generously contributed his legal talents and
expertise over many years to advance issues of critical concern to
people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Stanton is senior counsel at the Washington, D.C. law office of
Holland & Knight, LLP, where he specializes in appellate advocacy litigation and has worked on numerous cases involving civil
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Key health care insurance reforms mandated by the Affordable Care
Act (ACA), signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, went
into effect at the start of this year. These reforms enable individuals,
including individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, to compare and
purchase state and federally regulated health insurance products which
KETPLACE
R
A
M
by law must meet a number of new requirements.
HEALTH CARE
REFORM
AND HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
FOR HE ARING SERVICES
BY THERESA MORGAN
28
For example, issuers are no longer
allowed to deny people with hearing loss
or other pre-existing conditions coverage
under most new health insurance plans;
certified qualified health plans (QHPs)
must cover a minimum benefits package
(including an array of hearing services
which vary by state); and coverage limits
under these plans cannot include annual
and lifetime monetary coverage caps on
essential health benefits (EHBs).
On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, states
and the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) opened their
health insurance exchanges, otherwise
known as “marketplaces.” The marketplaces exist online and, when operating
as intended, provide one-stop shops at
which individuals and small groups can
compare and purchase health insurance
plans. Issuers display the various plans
they are offering and consumers should
be able to see what benefits are covered
and at what cost, and choose the right
plan for their circumstances.
Although all states have the authority to run their own marketplace, over
30 states have elected or defaulted to a
federally-run or “partnership” exchange
in which HHS will have significant
operational and legal responsibility over
the state activity. Only 18 states will
run their own exchange in 2014. In the
first days and weeks of their debut, both
HHS and state exchanges experienced
significant technical difficulties, rendering the exchanges at least temporarily
inaccessible.
To date, HHS is reporting that at least 2
million individuals have purchased private
insurance through the federal exchange.
States are reporting varied success with
enrollment. Starting this year, non-exempt
individuals must show consistent enrollment
in health insurance coverage or pay a fine.
The ACA provides premium subsidies
for individuals earning between 100
percent and 400 percent of the federal
poverty level (FPL). These subsidies will
vary in value depending on where the
individual’s income falls within these
limits. For those earning between 100
percent–250 percent of the FPL, subsidies
for deductibles and copayments will also
be available.
Coverage purchased on the exchanges
by individuals and small groups before the
December 2013 deadlines became effective
on January 1, 2014. For each successive
month, the deadline is the 15th in order to
have coverage effective by the first of the
next month. It is important for consumers
to note that issuers only have to guarantee
coverage during the initial enrollment
period; after that initial deadline is passed,
only consumers who have qualifying life
events (i.e., marriage or having a baby),
are guaranteed issue until the next open
enrollment period.
Essential Health Benefits, the
Benchmark Plan Process and
Hearing Health
The ACA requires that all non-grandfathered individual and small group health
insurance plans, as well as Medicaid
benchmark and benchmark-equivalent
plans, cover essential health benefits
(EHBs); most new small employer and
individual plans must cover EHBs regardless of whether these plans are offered on
an exchange.
By law, there are 10 categories of
EHBs, including ambulatory patient
services, emergency services, hospitalization, prescription drugs, rehabilitation
and habilitation services and devices,
29
Health Care Reform and
equal benefits to the benchmark plan
Fluctuation in Medicaid
in that state. Many states allow plans to
Covered Services
substitute actuarially equivalent benefits
As of January 1, states have the option of
within EHB categories. When they
compare and purchase plan coverage, it is expanding Medicaid eligibility to all adults
important for consumers to look carefully below 133 percent of the FPL. In states
which expand Medicaid, newly eligible
at the types of benefits covered within
the EHB categories, as there will be some individuals will have access to Alternative
Benefit Plans (ABPs) which must cover
variation between plans even within the
EHBs, including rehabilitative and habilisame state. Individuals who are deaf and
hard of hearing should review plan docu- tative services and devices. Individuals
ments which detail specific service cover- who are medically frail (i.e., have serious
disabilities or chronic conditions) will have
age, including coverage for rehabilitative
a choice of the standard Medicaid plan in
and habilitative services and devices.
their state or an ABP. Some ABPs might
States and the federally facilitated
cover EHBs that would be considered
exchanges have identified “navigators” in
the community who can assist consumers “optional” for adults under the state plan
(cochlear implantation, for example).
with comparing and purchasing plans.
States can use existing benchmark
These navigators are independent of insurand benchmark equivalent plan authorance plans, and are not allowed to accept
ity to develop ABPs to target a specific
payment from consumers or insurance
population. Just over half of the states
plans. In addition, many states have offiare expanding their eligible Medicaid
cials within the Department of Insurance
population this year. But even those states
who can answer consumer questions.
chronic care management and other
categories of benefits.
Neither the law nor the federal EHB
regulations stipulate the specific benefits
within each category that plans must
cover. Instead, federal guidance to the
states has directed state officials to select
an existing typical small group plan to
become that state’s benchmark plan for
health care reform. When a benchmark
plan within a state fails to cover one of
the EHB categories (for example, habilitation services), the state and the issuer
are required to ensure that the category
is sufficiently covered moving forward. In
addition, if a benchmark did not cover a
state benefit mandate (such as hearing
aids) in the past, the benchmark must
include the benefit mandate as an EHB
moving forward. However, this requirement only exists for mandates passed
before January 1, 2012.
All “qualified health plans” or “QHPs”
in a state must cover substantially
which are not expanding can build ABPs
which must cover EHBs. States will
remain extremely busy this year as they
regulate—and legislate—differences into
their Medicaid plans.
Marketplace Tiered Coverage
and Small Employer Exchanges
The marketplaces will offer five different
categories of insurance plans: catastrophic, bronze, silver, gold and platinum.
Catastrophic plans have low premiums,
high cost-sharing and are available to
individuals under the age of 30 who cannot
find affordable insurance coverage elsewhere. Bronze, silver, gold and platinum
plans cover 60 percent, 70 percent, 80
percent and 90 percent of the cost of care,
respectively. Bronze tier coverage will have
the lowest premiums and platinum tier
coverage will have the highest premiums.
All of the plans cover the 10 essential
health benefits required by the ACA.
The ACA provides for the creation of
health insurance marketplaces exclusively
for small businesses, known as the Small
Business Health Options Program (SHOP).
For most states operating their individual
market exchanges through the federally
facilitated exchange, HHS will run both
a SHOP and an individual marketplace.
Premium subsidies will be available for
some employers on the SHOP marketplace. The subsidies scale with the size
of the employer and the annual wages
of their employees.
Useful Links
Information on the health
insurance exchanges
https://www.healthcare.gov/getcovered-a-1-page-guide-to-thehealth-insurance-marketplace/
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) Frequently
Asked Questions
http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/
Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/
HHS ACA information
http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/
rights/index.html
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Chapter News:
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2014 Events to Look For:
Family Zoo Event, Spring
Walk 4 Hearing with the CO AG Bell Team, June
Fundraising at Cherry Creek Arts Festival, July
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experience. With EarTech TV Audio, you’ll
hear what you see and love what you hear!
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DRYCADDY VIDEO
Visit us at: www.coloradoagbell.org
800.327.8547
www.EarTechTVAudio.com / [email protected]
31
WHAT’S NEW IN THE KNOWLEDGE CENTER
Family Needs Assessment
Survey Data
The sky is the limit for today’s children with
hearing loss whose families are pursuing
a listening and spoken language outcome.
Universal newborn hearing screening,
timely and appropriate amplification with
hearing technology, and sufficient and
committed early intervention services help
children who are deaf and hard of hearing
to reach their full potential.
Despite the success stories, many children are not receiving the full spectrum
of services needed to ensure successful
outcomes. Families have indicated that
they often experience stress related to
their chosen communication outcome
for their child. There is a fear that at any
moment the “rug will be pulled out from
under them” and their child’s success
will be in jeopardy. This stress has been
expressed by parents through postings on
AG Bell social media pages, emails sent to
the AG Bell national office and discussions at the local level. Families also
indicate a perceived lack of understanding as to how their child could be served
throughout his or her developmental and
educational years.
32
There have been no recent studies
conducted as to how families feel about
services or the lack of services they receive
in regards to their child’s hearing loss.
Recognizing this need, AG Bell commissioned the Family Needs Assessment
survey in an effort to gain insight on the
perceptions of families with children who
are deaf and hard of hearing about the
quality and availability of services received,
from both private and public providers.
The goal of the assessment was to
understand the needs of families as they
progress through the major phases of
their child’s journey. The main topics
addressed in the survey were:
• Access to information
• Emotional and support services
• Early Intervention services (IFSP)
• School-age years and the IEP
• Financial considerations and barriers
Results from the survey are now available on the Listening and Spoken
Language Knowledge Center at
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/
FamilyNeedsAssessment. This section
provides a wealth of information and
resources, replete with data and graphics,
for families, professionals, students, policymakers, the media and the general public.
The landing page introduces readers to
the survey and how AG Bell is working to
address the many needs of families noted
in the survey. On the right side of the page,
visitors will find links to other resources,
including a booklet summarizing the
survey as a downloadable PDF as well as
AG Bell’s strategic plan finalized in late
2013 that addresses the needs of families.
Navigation through the survey sections is
easy and intuitive—visitors can use the menu
on the left to select the specific section they
would like to review or use the “previous” and
“next” buttons at the bottom of each page.
Section 1—Respondent
Demographics
Examine the methodology behind the
survey and the target population that AG
Bell wanted to learn more about.
Section 2—Access to Information
The first weeks or months after a child’s
diagnosis of hearing loss are emotionally difficult for families. Families have
to make important decisions early in
the child’s life, making access to timely,
unbiased, relevant and culturally sensitive
information a fundamental need for
families. Information in this section
reveals how parents gathered and received
information in the weeks and months
after their child’s initial diagnosis of
hearing loss.
Section 3—Emotional and
Support Resources
Availability of emotional, counseling and
support resources in the local area varied
widely. More than a quarter of respondents
noted a challenge associated with the availability of such resources. In this section,
visitors will learn how families used
emotional and other support resources.
Section 4—Early Intervention
Resources
After a child is diagnosed with hearing loss
and found eligible for Early Intervention
services, the family and a team of providers meet to develop the Individualized
Family Service Plan (IFSP) administered
under Part C of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) with
services focused on the needs of the entire
family. This section details families’
experience with the development and
implementation of IFSPs.
ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/FamilyNeedsAssessment
Section 5—School-age Years
Once the child turns 3 years old, educational
services are provided under Part B of IDEA
with the development of an Individualized
Education Program (IEP), which serves
as the foundation of a child’s access to the
general curriculum under special education.
The IEP is focused on the needs of the child.
This section discusses public school placement and the educational support services
made available by the local public school.
Section 6—Financial Considerations
In this section, visitors will learn about the
areas posing the most significant financial
barriers to families and where financial
assistance would be most valuable.
Survey Highlights
Overall, there were two primary findings
drawn from the survey. The first was
the variability in responses in terms of
geography. The survey shows that there
are significant differences both between
states and within states. Further, while
rural areas are often a challenge in terms of
resources and service availability, a number
of respondents from major cities also noted
a lack of services and/or support.
The second finding was that responses on
many questions were quite polarized—with
a bimodal distribution of responses for some
questions. Many questions asked respondents to provide a rating on a scale of one to
five. On a number of these questions, ratings
of one or five dramatically outweighed
ratings of two, three and four. This means
families had a strongly positive or a strongly
negative response to the same question.
This polarity is important because it is
a reminder to celebrate the successes that
families pursuing a listening and spoken
language outcome are finding as we also
seek to understand and meet the challenges that still exist for other families.
Go to ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/
FamilyNeedsAssessment today to learn
more about the Family Needs Assessment
and spread the word through your social
networks! Also, please remember to tell us
what you think and provide your thoughts
and feedback at [email protected].
JWPOSD is celebrating 47 years of
helping children who are deaf and hard
of hearing to listen, to speak, and to
communicate in the world around them.
• Educational Programs—Mommy & Me,
Toddlers, Preschool, K/1
• Mainstream Preschool and Support Services
• Parent Education
• Therapy Services
• Audiology—HA, CI, & FM
• BabyTalk—Teletherapy Services
3518 Jefferson Avenue, Redwood City, CA 94062
Tel 650-365-7500 • Fax 650-365-7557
Email [email protected] • www.deafkidstalk.org
33
TIPS FOR PARENTS
Finding Language Inside Life
There are 365 days in a year, 24 hours in
a day, 60 minutes in an hour... How are
those minutes, hours and days spent? They
probably feel busy and you are probably
wishing on a regular basis that there were
more hours in a day. My days certainly
feel busy. I live in a household where I
am the only one with typical hearing. My
husband and youngest son are deaf and use
bilateral cochlear implants. My oldest son
has unilateral moderate swinging up to
mild hearing loss, diagnosed only recently
through genetic testing, and he currently
uses no amplification. And then there is
me—the keeper of their schedules.
As a parent, I know that you might feel
overwhelmed and anxious, while doing
the best you know how, to ensure that your
child has every opportunity to reach their
full potential. For our family, that means
juggling classes focused on listening and
spoken language, which are located more
than 90 miles from our home, mappings,
and routine visits to specialists in addition
to soccer practice and a myriad of other
activities for our boys.
Am I doing enough? I know you have
asked yourself this same question many
times. But in the midst of all the busyness,
the juggling of schedules and that little
voice in your head that wonders (and
sometimes nags) if you are doing enough,
there is the knowledge that language is
everywhere you look—it is inside life in
anything that you do and anywhere you go.
The listening and spoken language
professionals who guided our family on
our youngest son’s journey to developing
spoken language taught us to cover our
home with language cues using sticky
notes. Reminders to say “up, up, up” as
we walked up the stairs and “down, down,
down” as we walked down the stairs. And
while that is a tried and tested way of
cultivating language, its real power was
34
in empowering me to find language all
around me and transmit it to my children!
A few months into our youngest son’s
cochlear implant journey, my husband,
who has had a profound hearing loss since
birth, decided that he too wanted to make
the move and get a cochlear implant at
age 31. He did not want our son to feel
different, and he wanted him to have a
role model in growing up with a cochlear
implant. High five, Dad, because that set
the tone for what was to come!
The impact of my husband’s decision
on our life has been amazing. We have
watched their listening lives explode over
the past year and a half. My youngest son
received his cochlear implant at 13 months
old and very quickly went through the
stages toward spoken language and on to
the typical funny toddler sentences. Some
of my best hours are spent with him—four
hours on the road, two days a week taking
him to class—as I watch him brighten the
world with his sweet voice.
My husband has become an adult
reporter in our circle of friends. He is able
to share his experiences and often shed
light on that of our children.
and share the things we hear. That might be
a tiny pebble that rolls across the sidewalk or
a plane roaring overhead.
After both my husband and our son had
their first activations, we took a trip to a local
farm. They were able to explore the sounds
of chickens, cows and sheep, and even heard
the neighing of a horse! The memories of
this day are special—I can still see them
enjoying these new sounds together.
by jillian tweet
As you can imagine, the age at which
my husband and my youngest son received
their cochlear implants makes their
experiences very different. Similar to the
way a piece of chewing gum feels as you
begin to chew, the ease and smoothness
changes over time. The brain’s elasticity is
explained in a similar way. For my husband,
his excitement is in the small sounds that
are all around us. Trickling water, bacon
sizzling on the stove, the ocean waves
crashing or coins in the pocket of someone
walking by. Though he has always used
listening and spoken language to communicate, the cochlear implant has amplified
his life, positively improving his spoken
language and overall self-confidence.
The professionals that work with our children have only a slice of time with them; we,
as parents, have the rest and we can use it in
Taking a "Listening Walk" at the beach.
credit : jillian tweet
simple but creative ways that don’t involve
finding more hours in a day or scheduling
your own home therapy sessions. We, as a
family, look for language everywhere and
below are some ways that we encourage
language through everyday activities.
Getting Dressed
It is something we all do every day, so why
not put words to it. Shirt, pants, socks and
shoes are all names of things that children
need to learn along with their body parts.
“Right leg, left leg, pull up your pants.” Used
repetitively and consistently it becomes
second nature to talk through these steps
and although this may seem so ordinary and
even unnecessary, it gives our children more
language and knowledge of their world.
Grocery Store
Tweet boys reading and learning together.
credit: jillian tweet
Exploring the grocery store is one of my
favorite activities to do with the boys. It is
a whole new world for sound and language.
There are fruits and vegetables of every
color to explore, not to mention things
to listen to as well. The freezer sections
lend themselves to discussions of cold, and
invite the introduction of new sounds like
“brrr.” There are things to shake such as
cereal boxes and bags of lentils, and listening for the sounds that come from inside
the box or the packet. I am not suggesting
you start squeezing the bread, but do have
fun exploring!
Listening Walks
Tweet family photo.
credit : inspired and enchanted
photography
Birds that chirp and wind that blows, leaves
that crunch and dogs that bark. Just looking
outside your window will give you plenty to
talk about, but getting out and enjoying it
will take you one step further. As a family,
we go on “Listening Walks” where we listen
ihear
®
online therapy
Riding in the Car
I remember the first time I was able to
hold a conversation with my son as I was
driving down the road and he was buckled
safely in his car seat behind me. Although
I never imagined this being possible for
him or even my husband, we now make
sure to hold lots of conversations in the car.
Talking through the sound of a car motor
while not facing your child is a very useful
way to introduce him/her to listening in
situations with background noise where
the acoustic environment is not ideal.
Testing these boundaries together will help
to prepare your children for times when
they will need to advocate for themselves if
they aren’t right by your side.
Exploring Books Together
Reading books is a childhood must.
They explore worlds outside of our
imagination and present us the lessons
of everyday life. Books cultivate literacy
during every stage of life. Cuddling in
with my boys at the end of a day with a
story is something I plan to do for years
to come, long after they have learned to
read on their own. In addition to building
knowledge and providing language,
reading also encourages sharing, creating
and exploring together.
At the end of the day, instead of asking
yourself “Am I doing enough?”, ask yourself “What is life really about?” For me, it
comes down to two things: learning and
having fun, and finding ways to combine
learning with fun and fun with learning.
Language and listening are the perfect
opportunities to show your children,
regardless of their hearing ability, where
learning and having fun meet in this thing
called life. My days are busy, but having a
front row seat in this experience is worth
every moment.
family centered,
convenient,
outcomes oriented,
HIPAA compliant
online therapy
using a computer,
webcam and high
speed internet
connection.
ihear is
changing livesare you ready?
ihearlearning.org
636.532.2672
A program by St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
35
HEAR OUR VOICES
Using My Voice: From Public
Speaking to Law School
by kate georgen
The power of the human voice has always
inspired me. Perhaps my greatest joy
growing up was when I finally learned
how to speak.
I was born with moderate-to-severe
bilateral hearing loss and received my first
pair of analog hearing aids at 18 months
old. Sign language was my first mode
of communication; my teachers used
it to teach me how to talk. The delight
at understanding that my hands could
convey meanings and ideas heightened
my desire to use my voice in the same way,
and I quickly transformed from shy hand
gestures to piping out full sentences.
It took me much longer to learn how to
follow a conversation, let alone contribute
to one. My path to spoken communication
was nonetheless transformative and it
helped inspire my choice to pursue a law
degree. The capacity to understand the
needs of people and, more importantly,
their stories, has long been a personal joy
and strength in many aspects of my life.
My Early Life: Learning to Talk
& Finding My Way
In elementary school, I wore an FM system,
a box that was strapped to my chest with
cords running up to my ear molds; my teachers all wore microphones. As a child wanting
to make new friends, the device was my
enemy. It was embarrassing to wear and it
failed to adequately capture my collaborative
classroom experiences. I spent most of my
time at lunch and on the playground trying
to guess if people were talking to me and, if
so, what they were saying.
To make matters worse, shortly after
reaching middle school I unexpectedly
lost all residual hearing in my left ear. The
doctors speculated that the loss was due to
Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome
(EVAS), a condition that makes the fluid sac
in the ear larger than normal. With EVAS,
abnormal pressure in the head heightens
the risk of hearing damage. I was left with
one hearing aid, increasing the challenge to
keep up in group discussions. I became wary
The George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy is for fulltime graduate students with a prelingual bilateral hearing loss in the
moderately-severe to profound range who use listening and spoken
language as their primary method of communication, and who are
attending an accredited mainstream law school or a master’s or doctoral
program in public policy or public administration.
The George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy was
established to recognize George H. Nofer’s service and generosity to the
Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and
to the fields of law and deafness research and education. Mr. Nofer, a
retired partner of the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP in
Philadelphia, is a former member of the AG Bell board of directors. He is a
former co-trustee of the Oberkotter Foundation and served for more than
15 years as its executive director.
To learn more about the scholarship, visit the Listening and Spoken
Language Knowledge Center at ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org and
search for Nofer.
36
Kate with her brother, Josh, at the Indiana
State Speech Tournament in 2000.
credit: paul georgen
of talking in group settings, for fear that my
comments would be off-topic or repetitive of
something that was already said.
My Brother, My Spark
To overcome this limitation, my older
brother Josh was a tremendous help.
He sparked my motivation to become
involved with public speaking. Josh was
not only talented, he was someone who
took the time and care to make sure I
caught the sounds around me. He would
often paraphrase or repeat what others
said. I adored him.
Naturally, I wanted to be just like my
brother. It was thus unsurprising that I
joined speech and debate—and a host of
other activities, including sports, acting
and marching band—after watching Josh
participate in these activities in high school.
Public Speaking = Conversation
Much to my delight, I fell in love with public
speaking. For most people, public speaking is one of their greatest fears. For me,
it was a chance to talk to people without
feeling afraid that what I said was somehow
stupid, irrelevant or misplaced. Through
weaving together stories and facts in front
of audiences, I learned to define my voice,
shaping it as a powerful tool with which
to communicate arguments in a clear and
relevant way. I found the stage in front of
an audience to be an oddly safe place where
I could speak boldly and share my thoughts.
It was also a much-needed training ground;
my coaches were ceaseless in correcting
my diction and my audiences taught me
with their silent cues how to wield my voice,
expressions and body language.
In addition to learning how to deliver a
speech, I also discovered that I had a knack
for connecting with my audience. After
years of watching people closely to help
bluff my way through conversations, paying
attention to and reading my audience felt
like second nature. I naturally sought to
relate to them and adjusted my delivery
based on their nonverbal responses.
As my speaking style matured, my ability
to emotionally engage with my audience set
me apart during competitions. By the end
of high school I had delivered speeches
from New York to California, twice receiving the honor of Indiana’s state title and, in
2002, the NFL National Championship in
Oratory. Interestingly, even in light of these
formal awards, my high school speech
coach still swears that I never really gave
a “speech” in my life—I simply engaged in
meaningful conversations.
The experience as a public speaker gave
me an entirely new sense of self-confidence
in my own ideas and my ability to effectively
express them to a variety of audiences. In
college, I shared my capacity for communication with others, teaching the art
of speech writing and oratory to high
school students across the nation. Public
speaking became more than simply a way
to converse with an audience. My students’
ability to be a voice—for themselves and
others—struck me as a vital link between
these young citizens and their communities.
The priceless value of this skill became
readily apparent once I left college.
The Decision to Go to Law School
After receiving a degree in history and
political science from Rutgers University,
I accepted a job as a policy analyst and
program coordinator at the Disability Law
& Advocacy Center of Tennessee (DLAC).
The job at DLAC appealed to me because,
at the time, I thought I might want to
pursue a career in disability education.
At DLAC, I easily found a passion for
advocacy. My job required meeting with
lawmakers to educate them on particular
legislative issues. Exposed to a wide range
of issues, I clearly saw the importance of
expert legal knowledge and my interest in
law strengthened. At first, it seemed challenging to establish my credibility with
older legislators. I was in my early 20s,
fresh out of college—I seemed young to
them. For the first time in a professional
setting, I drew on the confidence and skill
I gained from public speaking. It enabled
me to interact with representatives in an
articulate and poised manner, and allowed
me to build relationships. Working
alongside DLAC attorneys, I watched
as businesses, law firms and medical
practices changed their policies through
the use of dialogue rather than litigation.
With every conversation, I came to
embrace dialogue as a way to contribute
to my community. But I was also restless
with the limited depth of expertise that I
could offer. While I felt comfortable in my
ability to converse with legislators and other
lawyers, I wanted to offer more. I needed to
couple my skill of conversation with a solid
foundation in the language of law as I realized that this was the way I could transform
social problems into fair and well-balanced
solutions. I decided to pursue a J.D.
Life at Law School
To my delight, I found law school to be a
vibrant discourse on every subject imaginable. In the first year alone, I learned to
understand the language of property, tort,
criminal, constitutional and contract law.
It is precisely the foundation I wanted.
Kate (third row from the bottom, far left) and
the 2013 Cornell Law Moot Court Board.
credit : 2013 cornell law moot court board
I also jumped at the chance to engage
in moot court, an extracurricular activity
where students participate in simulated
court arguments. The experience pushes
my public speaking training to a new
level: my audience—the court—can ask me
questions and challenge my arguments.
It is a great way for me to learn how to
be an effective speaker while listening
for questions and delivering a persuasive
response. I am thus learning to fuse my
ability to write and deliver words with an
equally strong ability to listen and think
quickly on my feet.
I am grateful to AG Bell for receiving
the George H. Nofer Scholarship Award
for Law and Public Policy (see box on page
36) in 2012 to help with my second year
of law school. I am now in my last year of
law school, having transferred from the
University of Iowa Law School to Cornell
Law School.
At the time of this writing, my next
steps after law school are still undetermined. Regardless of where they take me,
I am excited to employ my penchant for
communication and persuasive argument
in a new and impactful way to bring about
positive community change.
The Programs of
THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
Changing Lives Through Language & Learning
300 East Swissvale Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
412.371.7000
WPSD.ORG
37
DIRECTORY OF SERVICES
Directory of Services
Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc.—Atlanta,
Macon, Teletherapy—1901 Century Boulevard,
Suite 20, Atlanta, GA 30345 OFFICE: 404633-8911 FAX: 404-633-6403 EMAIL: Listen@
avchears.org WEBSITE: www.avchears.org The
Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc. (AVC) is a premier
provider of comprehensive Auditory-Verbal
and Audiological Services to infants, children,
adults, and their families. Through the auditory
verbal approach, we teach children with mild
hearing loss to profound deafness to listen and
speak WITHOUT the use of sign language or lip
reading. AVC provides auditory-verbal therapy
through their two main locations in Atlanta and
Macon but also virtually through teletherapy.
AVC also has a full Audiology & Hearing Aid Clinic
at the Atlanta location that provides diagnostic
testing, dispensing and repair of hearing aids
and cochlear implant mapping for adults only.
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is not responsible for verifying the credentials of the service providers below.
Listings do not constitute endorsements of establishments or individuals, nor do they guarantee quality.
California
Echo Center/Echo Horizon School, 3430
McManus Avenue, Culver City, CA 90232 •
310-838-2442 (voice) • 310-838-0479 (fax)
• 310-202-7201 (tty) • vishida@echohorizon.
org (email) • www.echohorizon.org (website)
• Vicki Ishida, Echo Center Director. Private
elementary school incorporating an auditory/oral
mainstream program for students who are deaf
or hard of hearing. Daily support provided by
credentialed DHH teachers in speech, language,
auditory skills and academic follow-up.
HEAR Center, 301 East Del Mar Blvd.,
Pasadena, CA 91101 • 626-796-2016 (voice)
• 626-796-2320 (fax) • Specializing in
audiological services for all ages. AuditoryVerbal individual therapy, birth to 21 years.
HEAR to Talk, 547 North June Street, Los
Angeles, CA 90004 • 323-464-3040 (voice) •
[email protected] (e-mail) • www.hear2talk.
com • Sylvia Rotfleisch, M.Sc.A., CED, CCC,
Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist®, LSLS
Cert. AVT, Licensed Audiologist, California NPA
Certified. Trained by Dr. Ling. Extensive expertise
with cochlear implants and hearing aids.
Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School
for the Deaf, 3518 Jefferson Ave. Redwood City,
Ca. 94062 • [email protected] (email) • www.
deafkidstalk.org (website) • Kathleen Daniel
Sussman–Executive Director–Pamela Hefner
Musladin–Director of School
A listening and spoken language program
where deaf and hard of hearing children listen,
think and talk!
Cognitive based program from birth through
Kindergarten. Students develop excellent
language, listening and social skills with
superior academic competencies. Services
include educational programs, parent/infant,
speech/language/auditory therapy, mainstream
support, educational/clinical audiology,
occupational therapy and Tele-therapy.
John Tracy Clinic, 806 West Adams Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90007 • 213-748-5481 (voice)
• 800-522-4582 · [email protected] • www.jtc.
org & www.youtube.com/johntracyclinic.
Early detection, school readiness and parent
empowerment since 1942. Worldwide Parent
Distance Education and onsite comprehensive
audiological, counseling and educational
services for families with children ages birth-5
years old. Intensive Summer Sessions (children
ages 2-5 and parents), with sibling program.
Online and on-campus options for an accredited
Master’s and Credential in Deaf Education.
Training and Advocacy Group (TAG) for
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Children and
Teens, Leah Ilan, Executive Director • 11693 San
Vicente Blvd. #559, Los Angeles, CA 90049 •
310-339-7678 • [email protected] • www.tagkids.
org. TAG provides exciting social opportunities
through community service, field trips, weekly
meetings, college prep and pre-employment
workshops, guest speakers and parent-only
workshops. site in the community. Group
meetings and events offered to oral D/HoH
children in 5th grade through high school seniors.
Colorado
Rosie’s Ranch: Ride! Listen! Speak!
303-257-5943 or 720-851-0927 • www.
rosiesranch.com • [email protected]
• Our mission: To provide a family centered
atmosphere where children with deafness or
oral language challenges will expand their
listening, verbal and reading skills by engaging
in activities with horses, under the guidance of a
highly trained and qualified staff. Our programs:
Mom and Tot: A 90-minute parent and tot group
pony activity; ages 1-5. Pony Camp: Daily riding
and camp activities; age 6-13. Saturday Riding
Club: For riders of all skill levels; ages 6-16.
Out of state families welcome to experience
ranch life; accommodations will be arranged!
Connecticut
CREC Soundbridge, 123 Progress Drive,
Wethersfield, CT 06109 • 860- 529-4260 (voice/
TTY) • 860-257-8500 (fax) • www.crec.org/
soundbridge (website). Dr. Elizabeth B. Cole,
Program Director. Comprehensive audiological
and instructional services, birth through postsecondary, public school settings. Focus on
providing cutting-edge technology for optimal
auditory access and listening in educational
settings and at home, development of spoken
language, development of self advocacy–all to
support each individual’s realization of social,
academic and vocational potential. Birth to Three,
auditory-verbal therapy, integrated preschool,
intensive day program, direct educational and
consulting services in schools, educational
audiology support services in all settings,
cochlear implant mapping and habilitation,
diagnostic assessments, and summer programs.
New England Center for Hearing
Rehabilitation (NECHEAR), 354 Hartford
evaluation, pre- and post-rehabilitation, and
creative individualized mapping. Post-implant
rehabilitation for adults with cochlear implants,
specializing in prelingual onset. Mainstream
school support, including onsite consultation
with educational team, rehabilitation planning
and classroom observation. Comprehensive
audiological evaluation, amplification validation
and classroom listening system assessment.
Florida
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech/
Jacksonville, 9803 Old St. Augustine Road,
Illinois
Suite 7, Jacksonville, FL 32257 • 904-880-9001
• [email protected] • www.clarkeschools.
org. Alisa Demico, MS, CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert AVT,
and Cynthia Robinson, M.Ed., CED, LSLS Cert.
AVEd, Co-Directors. A member of the Option
Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing
and Speech provides children who are deaf and
hard of hearing with the listening, learning and
spoken language skills they need to succeed.
Comprehensive listening and spoken language
programs prepare students for success in
mainstream schools.
Services include early intervention, toddler,
preschool, pre-K, kindergarten, parent support,
cochlear implant habilitation, and mainstream
support. Summer Listening and Spoken language
Program provides additional spoken language
therapy for toddler and preschool-aged children.
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech has
locations in Boston, Bryn Mawr, Jacksonville,
New York City, Northampton and Philadelphia.
Alexander Graham Bell Montessori School
(AGBMS) and Alternatives In Education
for the Hearing Impaired (AEHI), www.
agbms.org (website) • [email protected] (email)
• 847-850-5490 (phone) • 847-1!50-5493 (fax) •
9300 Capitol Drive Wheeling, IL 60090 • AGBMS
is a Montessori school educating children ages
15 months-12 who are deaf or hard of hearing
or have other communicative challenges in a
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf–
Indianapolis. 9 192 Waldemar Road,
Indianapolis, IN 46268 • (317) 471-8560
(voice) • (317) 471-8627 (fax) • www.sjid.org;
[email protected] (email) • Teri Ouellette,
M.S. Ed., LSLS Cert AVEd, Director. St. Joseph
Institute for the Deaf–Indianapolis, a campus of
the St. Joseph Institute system, serves children
with hearing loss, birth to age six. Listening
and Spoken Language programs include early
intervention, toddler and preschool classes,
cochlear implant rehabilitation, mainstream
therapy and consultation and daily speech
therapy. Challenging speech, academic
programs and personal development are
offered in a nurturing environment. (See
Missouri for other campus information)
Maryland
The Hearing and Speech Agency’s
Auditory/Oral Program: Little Ears, Big
Voices, 5900 Metro Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215
• (voice) 410-318-6780 • (relay) 711 • (fax) 410318-6759 • Email: [email protected] • Website:
www.hasa.org • Jill Berie, Educational Director;
Olga Polites, Clinical Director; Erin Medley,
Teacher of the Deaf. Auditory/Oral education
and therapy program for infants and young
children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Early
CAPTIONS FOR YOUR
PHONE CALLS.
Atlanta Speech School—Katherine Hamm
Center, 3160 Northside Parkway, NW Atlanta,
SPRINT CAPTEL 840i
®
Captioned Telephone Service from Sprint offers the ability for anyone* with
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Phone service and high-speed Internet or WiFi service required.
CAPTEL 840i
75
Turnpike, Hampton, CT 06247 • 860-4551404 (voice) • 860-455-1396 (fax) • Diane
Brackett. Serving infants, children and adults
with all degrees of hearing loss. Speech,
language, listening evaluation for children using
hearing aids and cochlear implants. AuditoryVerbal therapy; Cochlear implant candidacy
Child’s Voice School, 180 Hansen Court, Wood
Dale, IL 60191 • (630) 565-8200 (voice) • (630)
565-8282 (fax) • [email protected] (email) •
www.childsvoice.org (website). Michele Wilkins,
Ed.D., LSLS Cert. AVEd., Executive Director. A
Listening and Spoken Language program for
children birth to age 8. Cochlear implant (re)
habilitation, audiology services and mainstream
support services provided. Early intervention
for birth to age three with parent-infant and
toddler classes and home based services
offered in Wood Dale and Chicago. (Chicago–
phone (773) 516-5720; fax (773) 516-5721)
Parent Support/Education classes provided.
Child’s Voice is a Certified Moog Program.
Indiana
RECONNECT.
Georgia
GA 30327 • 404-233-5332 ext. 3119 (voice/
TTY) • 404-266-2175 (fax) • [email protected]
(email) • www.atlantaspeechschool.org (website).
A Listening and Spoken Language program
serving children who are deaf or hard of hearing
from infancy to early elementary school age.
Children receive language-rich lessons and highly
individualized literacy instruction in a nurturing
environment. Teachers and staff work closely with
parents to instill the knowledge and confidence
children need to reach their full potential.
Early intervention programs, audiological
support services, auditory-verbal therapy,
mainstreaming opportunities and independent
education evaluations. Established in 1938.
mainstream environment with hearing peers.
Teachers of Deaf/Speech/Language Pathologist
/ Reading Specialist/Classroom Teachers
emphasize language development and literacy
utilizing Cued Speech. Early Intervention Services
available to children under 3.
AEHI, a training center for Cued Speech,
assists parents, educators, or advocates in
verbal language development for children
with language delays or who do not yet
substantially benefit from auditory technology.
$
Retail value $595
To purchase, go to sprintcaptel.com
877-805-5845
Code for free shipping: ABG14
Limited time offer.
* CapTel callers must register to use this service.
When not using captions, max amplification is capped at 18dB.
38
Although CapTel can be used for emergency calling, such emergency calling may not function the same as traditional 911/E911 services. By using CapTel for emergency calling you agree that Sprint is not
responsible for any damages resulting from errors, defects, malfunctions, interruptions or failures in accessing or attempting to access emergency services through CapTel whether caused by the negligence
VO LTA
VO I CE S Sprint
M A R /A
P R 2014
of Sprint
or otherwise.
CapTel
Phone Offer: While supplies last. The CapTel telephone is intended for use by people with hearing loss. Other restrictions apply. Sprint reserves the right to modify,
extend or cancel offers at any time. See www.sprintcaptel.com for details. ©2014 Sprint. Sprint and the logo are trademarks of Sprint. CapTel is a registered trademark of Ultratec, Inc. Other marks are the
property of their respective owners.
39
intervention services are available for children
birth to age 3 and a preschool program for
children ages 3 through 5. Cheerful, spacious,
state-of-the-art classrooms located in Gateway
School are approved by the Maryland State
Department of Education. Services include
onsite audiology, speech-language therapy,
family education and support. Applications are
accepted year-round. Financial aid available.
(itinerant and consulting). Children and families
come to our campus from throughout Eastern
and Central Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Rhode
Island, Maine and New Hampshire for services.
Massachusetts
Northampton, MA 01060 • 413-584-3450 •
[email protected] • www.clarkeschools.org.
Bill Corwin, President. A member of the Option
Schools network, Clarke Schools for Hearing
and Speech provides children who are deaf and
mainstream schools.
Services include early intervention, preschool,
day school through 8th grade, cochlear implant
assessment, summer programs, mainstream
services (itinerant and consulting), evaluations
for infants through high school students,
audiological services, and a graduate degree
program in teacher education.
Boston, 1 Whitman Road, Canton, MA 02021
• 781-821-3499 (voice) • 781-821-3904 • info@
clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools.org.
Barbara Hecht, Ph.D., Director. A member of
the Option Schools network, Clarke Schools
for Hearing and Speech provides children who
are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening,
learning and spoken language skills they need to
succeed. Comprehensive listening and spoken
language programs prepare students for success
in mainstream schools.
kindergarten, speech and language services,
parent support, cochlear implant habilitation,
and an extensive mainstream services program
Minnesota
Northeast Metro #916 Auditory/Oral
Program, 1111 S. Holcombe Street, Stillwater MN
Northampton, 45 Round Hill Road,
55082 • 651-351-4036 • auditory.oral@nemetro.
k12.mn.us (email). The purpose of Northeast
Metro 916’s Auditory/Oral Program is to provide
a listening and spoken language education to
children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Services
strive to instill and develop receptive (listening)
and expressive (speaking) English language skills
within each student. Well-trained specialists
carry the principles of this program forward using
supportive, necessary and recognized curriculum.
The program’s philosophy is that children who
are deaf or hard of hearing can learn successfully
within a typical classroom environment with
peers who have typical hearing. This can be
achieved when they are identified at an early
age, receive appropriate amplification, and
participate in an spoken language-specific early
intervention program. Referrals are through the
local school district in which the family lives.
Learning as
a Family.
Discover how to enrich your baby’s life
with meaningful sound and language
through personalized family sessions,
collaborative services, parent groups
and home visits. Clarke’s Birth-to-3
Programs provide strategies to support language development through
play, speech and listening activities in
a supportive environment.
Mississippi
DuBard School for Language Disorders,
The University of Southern Mississippi, 118
College Drive #5215, Hattiesburg, MS 394060001 • 601-266-5223 (voice) • [email protected]
(email) • www.usm.edu/dubard • Maureen K.
Martin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, CED, CALT, QI, Director.
The DuBard School for Language Disorders is a
clinical division of the Department of Speech and
Hearing Sciences at The University of Southern
Mississippi. The school serves children from
birth to age 13 in its state-of-the-art facility.
Working collaboratively with 20 public school
districts, the school specializes in coexisting
language disorders, learning disabilities/
dyslexia and speech disorders, such as apraxia,
through its non-graded, 11-month program.
The DuBard Association Method®, an expanded
and refined version of The Association Method,
is the basis of the curriculum. Comprehensive
evaluations, individual therapy, audiological
services and professional development
programs also are available. AA/EOE/ADAI.
Magnolia Speech School, Inc. 733 Flag
Chapel Road, Jackson, MS 39209–601-922-5530
(voice), 601-922-5534 (fax)–anne.sullivan@
magnoliaspeechschool.org–
Anne Sullivan, M.Ed. Executive Director.
Magnolia Speech School serves children
with hearing loss and/or severe speech and
language disorders. Listening and Spoken
Language instruction/therapy is offered
to students 0 to 12 in a home-based early
intervention program (free of charge), in
classroom settings and in the Hackett Bower
Clinic (full educational audiological services,
speech pathology and occupational therapy).
Assessments and outpatient therapy are also
offered to the community through the Clinic.
Missouri
CID–Central Institute for the Deaf,
825 S. Taylor Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110
314-977-0132 (voice) • 314-977-0037 (tty) •
[email protected] (email) • www.cid.edu
(website) Lynda Berkowitz/Barb Lanfer, coprincipals. Child- and family-friendly learning
environment for children birth-12; exciting
adapted curriculum incorporating mainstream
content; Family Center for infants and toddlers;
expert mainstream preparation in the CID
pre-k and primary programs; workshops and
educational tools for professionals; close
affiliation with Washington University deaf
education and audiology graduate programs.
For more information on Clarke’s
Early Intervention and Birth-to-3 Programs
contact our central office at 413.584.3450
or email [email protected].
The Moog Center for Deaf Education, 12300
Now offering distance services in
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Boston • Jacksonville • New York • Northampton • Philadelphia
clarkeschools.org
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech provides children who are deaf and hard of hearing
with the listening, learning and spoken language skills they need to succeed.
40
Clarke
Early Intervention
Volta Voice
Half page
South Forty Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141 • 314692-7172 (voice) • 314-692-8544 (fax) • www.
moogcenter.org (website) • Betsy Moog Brooks,
Executive Director, [email protected].
Services provided to children who are deaf and
hard-of-hearing from birth to 9 years of age.
Programs include the Family School (birth to
3), School (3-9 years), Audiology (including
cochlear implant programming), mainstream
services, educational evaluations, parent
education and support groups, professional
workshops, teacher education, and student
teacher placements. The Moog Center for
Deaf Education is a Certified Moog Program.
family education services available. Pediatric
audiological services are available for children
birth-21 and educational audiology and
consultation is available for school districts.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf–St.
Louis, 1809 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield, MO
New York
63017 • (636) 532-3211 (voice/TYY) • www.sjid.
org • An independent, Catholic school serving
children with hearing loss birth through the
eighth grade. Listening and Spoken Language
programs include early intervention, toddler
and preschool classes, K-8th grade, ihear
internet therapy, audiology clinic, evaluations,
mainstream consultancy, and summer school.
Challenging speech, academic programs and
personal development are offered in a supportive
environment. ISACS accredited. Approved
private agency of Missouri Department of
Education and Illinois Department of Education.
(See Indiana for other campus information)
Avenue “M”, Brooklyn, NY 11234 • 718-5311800 (voice) • 718-421-5395 (fax) • info@
auditoryoral.org (email). Pnina Bravmann,
Program Director. An Auditory/Oral Early
Intervention and Preschool Program serving
children with hearing loss and their families.
Programs include: Early Intervention (centerbased and home-based), preschool, integrated
preschool classes with children with normal
hearing, multidisciplinary evaluations, parent
support, auditory-verbal therapy (individual
speech, language and listening therapy),
complete audiological services, cochlear
implant (re)habilitation, mainstreaming, ongoing
support services following mainstreaming.
New Jersey
Auditory/Oral School of New York, 3321
HIP of Bergen County Special Services,
Center for Hearing and Communication,
Midland Park School District, 41 E. Center Street,
Midland Park, NJ 07432. • Contact Kathleen Treni,
Principal (201) 343-8982, [email protected].
An integrated, comprehensive pre-K through 6th
grade auditory oral program. Services include AV
Therapy, Cochlear Implant Habilitation, Parent
Education and Audiology services. STARS Early
Intervention for babies, 0 to 3, with Toddler
and Baby and Me groups available. SOUND
SOLUTIONS consulting teacher services for
mainstream students in North Jersey public
schools. Contact Lisa Stewart, Supervisor at
201-343-6000 ext 6511 for information about
teacher of the deaf, speech and audiology
services to public schools. SHIP is the state’s
only 7 through 12th grade auditory oral program.
CART (Computer Realtime Captioning) is
provided in a supportive small high school
environment and trained Social Worker is onsite
to work with social skills and advocacy issues.
50 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10004
• 917 305-7700 (voice) • 917-305-7888 (TTY)
• 917-305-7999 (fax) • www.CHChearing.org
(website). Florida Office: 2900 W. Cypress
Creek Road, Suite 3, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
• 954-601-1930 (Voice) • 954-601-1938 (TTY)
• 954-601-1399 (Fax). A leading center for
hearing and communication services for people
of all ages who have a hearing loss as well as
children with listening and learning challenges.
Our acclaimed services for children include
pediatric hearing evaluation and hearing
aid fitting; auditory-oral therapy; and the
evaluation and treatment of auditory processing
disorder (APD). Comprehensive services for all
ages include hearing evaluation; hearing aid
evaluation, fitting and sales; cochlear implant
training; communication therapy; assistive
technology consultation; tinnitus treatment,
emotional health and wellness; and Mobile
Hearing Test Unit. Visit www.CHChearing.
org to access our vast library of information
about hearing loss and hearing conservation.
Stephanie Shaeffer, M.S., CCC-SLP,
LSLS Cert. AVT • 908-879-0404 • Chester,
NJ • [email protected]. Speech and
Language Therapy and Communication
Evaluations. Auditory-Verbal Therapy,
Aural Rehabilitation, Facilitating the
Auditory Building Blocks Necessary for
Reading. Fluency and Comprehension.
Summit Speech School for the HearingImpaired Child, F.M. Kirby Center is an
exclusively auditory-oral/auditory-verbal
school for deaf and hard of hearing children
located at 705 Central Ave., New Providence,
NJ 07974 • 908-508-0011 (voice/TTY) • 908508-0012 (fax) • [email protected]
(email) • www.summitspeech.org (website) •
Pamela Paskowitz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Executive
Director. Programs include Early Intervention/
Parent Infant (0-3 years), Preschool (3-5 years)
and Itinerant Mainstream Support Services
for children in their home districts. Speech
and language, OT and PT and family support/
New York, 80 East End Avenue, New York, NY
10028 • 212-585-3500 • info@clarkeschools.
org • www.clarkeschools.org. Meredith Berger,
Director. A member of the Option Schools
network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and
Speech provides children who are deaf and
mainstream schools.
Clarke’s New York campus is located on
the Upper East Side of Manhattan and serves
children age birth-5 years old from New York City
and Westchester County. Clarke is an approved
provider of early intervention evaluations and
services, service coordination, and pre-school
classes (self-contained and integrated). There
are typically little or no out of pocket expenses
41
for families attending Clarke New York. Our
expert staff includes teachers of the deaf/
hard of hearing, speech language pathologists,
audiologists, social workers/service coordinators
and occupational and physical therapists.
Cleary School for the Deaf, 301 Smithtown
Boulevard, Nesconset, NY 11767 • 631-5880530 (voice) • www.clearyschool.org Kenneth
Morseon, Superintendent. Offers Parent Infant/
Toddler Program with services of Teacher of the
Deaf, Speech Therapy & AV therapy. Transition
Program into our Preschool Auditory-Oral
Program. The primary focus of the AuditoryOral Program is to develop students’ ability
to “listen to learn” along with developing age
appropriate speech, language, and academic
skills, this program offers intensive speech
therapy services with a goal to mainstream
students when they become school age.
Additional services offered include: Music,
Art, Library, OT, PT and Parent Support.
Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, 40
Frost Mill Road, Mill Neck, NY 11765 •
(516) 922-4100 (voice). Francine Atlas Bogdanoff,
Superintendent. State-supported school: Infant
Toddler Program focusing on parent education
and support including listening and spoken
language training by a speech therapist and
TOD. Certified AVEd and Audiological services
onsite, integrated auditory-verbal preschool
and kindergarten programs; comprehensive
curriculum utilizes play, music, literacy and
hands on experiences to promote listening
and spoken language skills and academic
standards. Speech, occupational and physical
therapies, as well as counseling and Cochlear
Implant MAPpings, are available onsite.
Rochester School for the Deaf, 1545 St.
Paul Street, Rochester, NY 14621 • 585-544-1240
(voice/TTY) • 866-283-8810 (videophone) •
[email protected] • www.RSDeaf.org • Harold
Mowl, Jr., Ph.D., Superintendent/CEO. Serving
Western and Central New York State, Rochester
School for the Deaf (RSD) is an inclusive,
bilingual school where children who are deaf
and hard of hearing and their families thrive.
Established in 1876, RSD goes above and beyond
all expectations to provide quality Pre-K through
12th grade academic programs, services and
resources to ensure a satisfying and successful
school experience for children with hearing loss.
The Children’s Hearing Institute, 380
Second Avenue at 22nd Street, 9th floor,
New York, NY 10010 • 646-438-7819 (voice).
Educational Outreach Program–provides
continuing education courses for professionals
to maintain certification, with accreditation
by American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association (ASHA), American Academy of
Audiology (AAA), and The AG Bell Academy
for Listening and Spoken Language. Free
parent and family programs for children with
hearing loss. CHI’s mission is to achieve the
best possible outcome for children with hearing
loss by caring for their clinical needs, educating
the professionals that work with them, and
providing their parents with the pertinent
information needed for in-home success.
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Jefferson Street, Suite 110, PO Box 17646, Raleigh,
NC 27605, 919-715-4092 (voice)–919-715-4093
(fax)–[email protected] (email). Joni Alberg,
Executive Director. BEGINNINGS provides
emotional support, unbiased information, and
technical assistance to parents of children who
are deaf or hard of hearing, deaf parents with
hearing children, and professionals serving
those families. BEGINNINGS assists parents of
children from birth through age 21 by providing
information and support that will empower
them as informed decision makers, helping
them access the services they need for their
child, and promoting the importance of early
intervention and other educational programs.
BEGINNINGS believes that given accurate,
objective information about hearing loss,
parents can make sound decisions for their child
about educational placement, communication
methodology, and related service needs.
3405 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia 19104
• (800) 551-5480 (voice) • (215) 590-5641 (fax) •
www.chop.edu/ccc (website). The CCC provides
Audiology, Speech-Language and Cochlear
Implant services and offers support through
CATIPIHLER, an interdisciplinary program
including mental health and educational services
for children with hearing loss and their families
from time of diagnosis through transition into
school-aged services. In addition to serving
families at our main campus in Philadelphia,
satellite offices are located in Bucks County,
Exton, King of Prussia, and Springfield, PA and
in Voorhees, Mays Landing, and Princeton, NJ.
Professional Preparation in Cochlear Implants
(PPCI), a continuing education training
program for teachers and speech-language
pathologists, is also headquartered at the CCC.
CASTLE- Center for Acquisition of
Spoken Language Through Listening
Enrichment, 5501 Fortunes Ridge Drive, Suite
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 • 610-525-9600 • info@
clarkeschools.org • www.clarkeschools.org.
Judith Sexton, MS, CED, LSLS Cert AVEd,
Director. A member of the Option Schools
network, Clarke Schools for Hearing and
Speech provides children who are deaf and
mainstream schools. Locations in Bryn Mawr and
Philadelphia.
parent education, individual auditory speech and
language services, cochlear implant habilitation
for children and adults, audiological services,
and mainstream services including itinerant
teaching and consulting. Specially trained staff
includes LSLS Cert. AVEd and LSL Cert. AVT
professionals, teachers of the deaf, special
educators, speech language pathologists and a
staff audiologist.
BEGINNINGS For Parents of Children Who
Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Inc., 302
A, Chapel Hill, NC 27713 • 919-419-1428 (voice)
• http://www.med.unc.edu/earandhearing/
castle (website) • CASTLE is a part of the UNC
Ear & Hearing Center and the UNC Pediatric
Cochlear Implant Team, Our mission is to provide
a quality listening & spoken language program
for children with hearing loss; empower parents
as primary teachers and advocates; and train
and coach specialists in listening and spoken
language. We offer toddler classes, preschool
language groups, Auditory-Verbal parent
sessions, and distance therapy through UNC
REACH. Hands-on training program for hearingrelated professionals/university students.
Oklahoma
Hearts for Hearing, 3525 NW 56th Street,
Suite A-150, Oklahoma City, OK 73112 • 405-5484300 • 405-548-4350(Fax) • Comprehensive
hearing health care for children and adults with
an emphasis on listening and spoken language
outcomes. Our family-centered team includes
audiologists, LSLS Cert. AVTs, speech-language
pathologists, physicians and educators working
closely with families for optimal listening and
spoken language outcomes. Services include
newborn hearing testing, pediatric and adult
audiological evaluations, hearing aid fittings,
cochlear implant evaluations and mapping.
Auditory-verbal therapy as well as cochlear
implant habilitation is offered by Listening
and Spoken Language Specialists (LSLS®), as
well as an auditory-oral preschool, parenttoddler group and a summer enrichment
program. Continuing education and consulting
available. www.heartsforhearing.org.
42
Center for Childhood Communication at
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 455 South Roberts Road,
Delaware County Intermediate Unit # 25,
Hearing and Language Programs, 200 Yale
Avenue, Morton, PA 19070 • 610-938-9000, ext.
2277, 610-938-9886 (fax) • [email protected] •
Program Highlights: A publicly funded program
for children with hearing loss in local schools.
Serving children from birth through 21 years of
age. Teachers of the deaf provide resource room
support and itinerant hearing therapy throughout
Delaware County, PA. Services also include
audiology, speech therapy, cochlear implant
habilitation (which includes LSLS Cert. AVT and
LSLS Cert. AVEd), psychology and social work.
DePaul School for Hearing and Speech,
6202 Alder Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206 •
412-924-1012 (voice) • 412-924-1036 (fax) •
www.depaulhearingandspeech.org (website)
• [email protected] (email) •
Mimi Loughead, Early Childhood Coordinator.
DePaul School is the only school in the western
Pennsylvania tri-state region that provides
Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) education
to children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
DePaul School serves children in Pennsylvania
and from Ohio and West Virginia. A State
Approved Private School, most programs are
tuition-free to approved students. DePaul
School provides early intervention services for
children (birth to age 5); a center-based toddler
program (ages 18–36 months); a preschool
program (ages 3–5) and a comprehensive
academic program grades K-8. DePaul School
provides clinical services including audiology,
Auditory-Verbal and speech therapy, cochlear
implant MAPping and habilitation, physical
and occupational therapy, mainstreaming
support and parent education and support
programs. Most children who participate in
DePaul School’s early intervention programs
gain the Listening and Spoken Language (LSL)
skills needed to succeed and transition to
their neighborhood schools by first grade.
South Carolina
The University of South Carolina Speech
and Hearing Research Center, 1601 St. Julian
Place, Columbia, SC, 29204 • (803) 777-2614
(voice) • (803) 253-4143 (fax) • Center Director:
Danielle Varnedoe, [email protected]. The
center provides audiology services, speechlanguage therapy, adult aural (re)habilitation
therapy, and Auditory-Verbal Therapy. Our
audiology services include comprehensive
diagnostic evaluations, hearing aid evaluations
and services, and cochlear implant evaluations
and programming. The University also provides
a training program for AV therapy and cochlear
implant management for professional/university
students. Additional contacts for the AVT or
CI programs include Wendy Potts, CI Program
Coordinator (803-777-2642), Melissa Hall (803777-1698), Nikki Herrod-Burrows (803-7772669), Gina Crosby-Quinatoa (803) 777-2671,
and Jamy Claire Archer (803-777-1734).
Tennessee
Memphis Oral School for the Deaf, 7901
Poplar Avenue, Germantown, TN 38138 •
901-758-2228 (voice) • 901-531-6735 (fax) •
www.mosdkids.org (website) • tschwarz@
mosdkids.org (email). Teresa Schwartz,
Executive Director. Services: Family Training
Program (birth-age 3), Auditory/Oral Day
School (ages 2-6), Audiological Testing, Hearing
Aid Programming, Cochlear Implant Mapping
and Therapy, Aural (Re)Habilitation, SpeechLanguage Therapy, Mainstream Service.
43
Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center National Center for Childhood Deafness
and Family Communication, Medical
Texas
Center East South Tower, 1215 21st Avenue
South, Nashville, TN 37232-8718 • 615-9365000 (voice) • 615-936-1225 (fax) • nccdfc@
vanderbilt.edu (email) • www.mc.vanderbilt.
edu/VanderbiltBillWilkersonCenter (web).
Tamala Bradham, Ph.D., Associate Director in
Clinical Services. The NCCDFC Service Division
is an auditory learning program serving children
with hearing loss from birth through 21 years.
Services include educational services at the
Mama Lere Hearing School at Vanderbilt as
well as audiological and speech-language
pathology services. Specifically, services includes
audiological evaluations, hearing aid services,
cochlear implant evaluations and programming,
speech, language, and listening therapy,
educational assessments, parent-infant program,
toddler program, all day preschool through
kindergarten educational program, itinerant/
academic tutoring services, parent support
groups, and summer enrichment programs.
1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX 75235 • Main
number: 214-905-3000 • Appointments:
214-905-3030. Callier-Richardson Facility: 811
Synergy Park Blvd., Richardson, TX 75080 •
Main number: 972-883-3630 • Appointments:
972-883-3630 • [email protected]
(email) • www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter. For
half a century, the Callier Center has been
dedicated to helping children and adults with
speech, language and hearing disorders connect
with the world. We transform lives by providing
leading-edge clinical services, conducting
innovative research into new treatments and
technologies, and training the next generation
of caring clinical providers. Callier provides
hearing services, Auditory-Verbal therapy,
and speech-language pathology services for
all ages. Audiology services include hearing
evaluations, hearing aid dispensing, assistive
devices, protective devices and tinnitus
therapy. We are a partner of the Dallas Cochlear
Implant Program, a joint enterprise among
the Callier Center, UT Southwestern Medical
Callier Center for Communication
Disorders/UT Dallas, Callier - Dallas Facility:
Center and Children’s Medical Center. Callier
specializes in cochlear implant evaluations
and post-surgical treatment for children from
birth to 18 years. Our nationally accredited
Child Development Program serves children
developing typically and allows for the inclusive
education of children with hearing impairments.
The Center for Hearing and Speech, 3636
West Dallas, Houston, TX 77019 • 713-523-3633
(voice) • 713-874-1173 (TTY) • 713-523-8399
(fax) - [email protected] (email)
www.centerhearingandspeech.org (website)
CHS serves children with hearing impairments
from birth to 18 years. Services include: auditory/
oral preschool; Audiology Clinic providing
comprehensive hearing evaluations, diagnostic
ABR, hearing aid and FM evaluations and fittings,
cochlear implant evaluations and follow-up
mapping; Speech-Language Pathology Clinic
providing Parent-Infant therapy, Auditory-Verbal
therapy, aural(re) habilitation; family support
services. All services offered on sliding fee
scale and many services offered in Spanish.
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf
As international leaders in listening and spoken language (LSL) based education, our highly
trained staff of certified deaf educators, speech therapists and audiologists help children develop
oral language without the use of sign language. SJI is the only school for the deaf to be fully
accredited by the prestigious Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS).
Visit us at sjid.org & ihearlearning.org
for more information on our locations and services
Indianapolis Campus ihear- Internet Therapy St. Louis Campus
AGBELLAD.indd 1
44
ihearlearning.org
(636) 532-2672
Utah
TX 78212; 210/824-0579; fax 210/826-0436.
Founded in 1947, Sunshine Cottage, a listening
and spoken language school promoting early
identification of hearing loss and subsequent
intervention teaching children with hearing
impairment (infants through high school.)
State-of-the-art pediatric audiological
services include hearing aid fitting, cochlear
implant programming, assessment of children
maintenance of campus soundfield and FM
equipment. Programs include the Newborn
Hearing Evaluation Center, Parent-Infant
Program, Hearing Aid Loaner and Scholarship
Programs, Educational Programs (preschool through fifth grade on campus and in
mainstream settings), Habilitative Services,
Speech Language Pathology, Counseling,
and Assessment Services. Pre- and postcochlear implant assessments and habilitation.
Accredited by the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation
and School Improvement, OPTIONschools
International, and is a Texas Education Agency
approved non-public school. For more
information visit www.sunshinecottage.org.
1000 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-1000 • 435797-9235 (voice) • 435-797-7519 (fax) • www.
soundbeginnings.usu.edu • stacy.wentz@usu.
edu (email) • Stacy Wentz, MS, Sound Beginnings
Program Coordinator • Kristina.blasier@usu.
edu (email) • Kristina Blaiser, Ph.D., CCC-SLP,
Listening and Spoken Language Graduate
Program. A comprehensive listening and spoken
language educational program serving children
with hearing loss and their families from birth
through age five; early intervention services
include home- and center-based services, parent
training, toddler group, pediatric audiology,
tele-intervention and individual therapy for
children in mainstream settings. The preschool,
housed in an innovative lab school, provides
classes and research opportunities focused
on the development of listening and spoken
language for deaf/hard-of-hearing children
aged three through five, parent training, and
mainstreaming opportunities. The Department
of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education
offers the interdisciplinary Listening and
Spoken Language graduate training program in
Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology, and
Sound Beginnings at Utah State University,
Deaf Education that emphasizes listening and
spoken language for young children with hearing
loss. Sound Beginnings is a partner program
of the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind.
Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind
(USDB), 742 Harrison Boulevard, Ogden UT
84404 - 801-629-4712 (voice)
801-629-4701 (TTY) - www.udsb.org (website).
USDB is a state funded program for children
with hearing loss (birth through high school)
serving students in various settings including
local district classes and direct educational
and consulting services throughout the state.
USDB language and communication options
include Listening and Spoken Language.
USDB has a comprehensive hearing healthcare
program which includes an emphasis on
hearing technology for optimal auditory
access, pediatric audiological evaluations, and
cochlear implant management. Services also
include Early Intervention, full-day preschool
and Kindergarten, intensive day programs, and
related services including speech/language
pathology and aural habilitation.
Make AG Bell your first stop for resources to help
children with hearing loss learn to listen and talk.
At St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf (SJI), we believe that children with hearing
loss deserve the opportunity to listen, speak and read.
9192 Waldemar Rd.
Indianpolis, IN 46268
(317) 471-8560
Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf
Children, 603 E. Hildebrand Ave., San Antonio,
1809 Clarkson Rd
St. Louis, MO 63017
(636) 532-3211
Shop online at www.listeningandspokenlanguage.org
for everything you need for your practice or
classroom on these topics and more:
n
Auditory-Verbal Therapy
n
Early Intervention
n
Educational Management of
Children with Hearing Loss
n
Speech Development
n
Consumer and Physician
Education Materials
TEL 202.337.5220
•
TTY 202.337.5221
•
Don’t forget to check
out our specials
and clearance section!
W W W. L I S T E N I N G A N D S P O K E N L A N G U A G E . O R G
4/4/2012 8:37:08 AM
45
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LIST OF ADVERTISERS
Advanced Bionics Corporation................ Inside Front Cover
I NTERNATIONAL
Canada
Children’s Hearing and Speech Centre
of British Columbia, 3575 Kaslo Street,
Vancouver, British Columbia, V5M 3H4, Canada
• 604-437-0255 (voice) • 604-437-0260
(fax) • www.childrenshearing.ca (website) •
Janet Weil, Principal and Executive Director,
[email protected]. Celebrating our
50th year, our listening and spoken language
clinical educational centre serves children and
families from birth through Grade 12 including
audiology, SLP, OT, First Words family guidance,
preschool and primary classes, itinerant
services and video-conferencing/tele-therapy.
Montreal Oral School for the Deaf, 4670
St. Catherine Street, West, Westmount, QC,
Canada H3Z 1S5 • 514-488-4946 (voice/ tty) •
514-488-0802 (fax) • info@montrealoralschool.
com (email) • www.montrealoralschool.com
(website). Parent-infant program (0-3 years
old). Full-time educational program (3-12 years
old). Mainstreaming program in regular schools
(elementary and secondary). Audiology,
cochlear implant and other support services.
England
The Speech, Language and Hearing
Centre–Christopher Place, 1-5 Christopher
Place, Chalton Street, Euston, London NW1
1JF, England • 0114-207-383-3834 (voice) •
0114-207-383-3099 (fax) • info@speechlang.
org.uk (email) • www.speech-lang.org.uk
(website) • Assessment, nursery school and
therapeutic centre for children under 5 with
hearing impairment, speech/language or
communication difficulties, including autism.
• We have a Child Psychologist and a Child
Psychotherapist. • Auditory-Verbal Therapy
is also provided by a LSLS Cert. AVT.
Auditory-Verbal Center, Inc............................................................13
Boys Town National Research Hospital.....................................16
CapTel.......................................................................................................... 3
Central Institute for the Deaf..........................................................23
Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech....................................40
Cochlear Americas.............................................Inside Back Cover
Colorado AG Bell..................................................................................31
Ear Technology Corp. (Dry & Store)...........................................30
Hal Fishbein............................................................................................27
Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf........33
MED-EL Corporation.......................................................Back Cover
National Technical Institute for the Deaf—RIT.......................42
Oticon..................................................................................................... 4–5
Sprint CapTel..........................................................................................39
St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf...........................................35, 44
Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children............................46
UT Health Science Center San Antonio....................................... 6
Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.............................37
AG Bell 101 FAQs.................................................................................10
AG Bell Bookstore................................................................................45
AG Bell Convention............................................................................... 8
ZAMAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 48
to enjoy the little things in life—high
frequency sounds I had never heard
before such as birds chirping, being able
to listen to Yankee games on the radio
and have telephone conversations. Career
wise, I knew I wanted to either be a
lawyer or a doctor and taking advantage
of the best available technology for my
hearing would help to reduce some of
the potential challenges I could face in a
field that is heavily dependent on good
communication.
As a physician, you are expected to
control the communication encounter
with your patients. It helps that most of my
interactions are in a one-on-one setting in an
environment with reduced background noise.
Additionally, communication assistants are
part of the medicine culture today, whether
they are providing translation services for a
non English-speaking patient or serving as
a medical assistant. While a noisy hospital
environment may give you less control, it is
all about helping each other and working
together to provide the best care.
he was very inspired and told me that I
would make a big impact on patients. He
even wrote a letter of recommendation
later on my behalf, which was unexpected
and caught me off guard. From that
moment on, I knew I could become a
doctor and never looked back. I am now
constantly reminded of that day.
At first, I was fearful about going into
medicine because of my hearing loss. Ten
years ago, I sat in Dr. Oz’s office and told
him about growing up deaf, my new life
with a cochlear implant and that I wasn’t
sure if I was crazy for trying to become a
doctor. I was expecting to hear the blunt
truth that it would be very challenging,
take a physical toll and that I should
consider law school instead, but somehow
My advice to teens, tweens and young
adults with hearing loss is be proactive
academically and introduce yourself to
teachers and school staff before the start of
the school year. Always believe in yourself
and find a way to stay connected with your
peers whether it is through a sport or an
after-school organization. Don’t forget
to take advantage of the resources and
support systems available to you!
Discussing patients with Dr. William Lipsky (right).
credit : jen garcia
In Grand Teton National Park with Bernie,
a 2-year-old Labradoodle. credit: annie robertson
46
I chose the University of New England
for my medical studies because of its
track record, cohesive study body, and the
willingness of the school administration
and faculty to work with me. They were up
to the challenge and a few weeks before
I started classes, the administration even
organized a training to prep the faculty for
my arrival. This gave me the opportunity to
introduce myself and meet with different
professors. It was a smooth transition.
In class, I received remote captioning, a
notetaker and an FM system.
Prior to my surgical rotation, my school also
helped arrange a day in the operating room
to allow me to experiment with different
communication strategies such as sign
language interpreter vs. clear surgical mask
vs. FM microphone. It was also important for
me to have a good working relationship with
the dean’s office so that they would be easily
accessible if I encountered any barriers
to obtaining medical information. I truly
enjoyed living on the coast of Maine and visit
often—if you have the chance, go visit!
47
Shehzaad
Zaman
On Asking for and Receiving
Support, Becoming and Being
a Physician, and Believing
in Yourself
interview by
anna karkovska mcglew, m.a.
The people who inspire me the most are
those who believe in themselves despite
adversity. One example I love to use is Jim
Abbott, a major league pitcher born with
one hand and despite many people telling
him along the way that there was no way
he could play pro ball, he not only became
a pitcher, but also tossed a no-hitter for
the Yankees. He believed in himself and
paved the road for others.
I chose to go into medicine because
I received support from countless
individuals who helped me get to where
I am today. I love learning about people,
how the human body works, the challenge
of trying to solve an illness and being
given an opportunity to transform a
patient’s worst fears into strength and
hope. It is a very gratifying feeling when
you know that you are making a difference
and have an opportunity to give back.
I have to start with thanking my parents
first and foremost—it is not an easy task
to raise a child. Add to that raising a
child with a severe to profound hearing
loss prior to the availability of cochlear
implants. My parents always wanted to
make the most of the resources and never
once told me that there was something I
could not do because of my hearing loss.
They always supported me 100 percent.
48
Enjoying Tuolumne Meadows at Yosemite National Park. Top: Shehzaad, left, practicing in the
operating room during medical school.
credit: annie robertson
While I initially felt conflicted about
transitioning into a mainstream school
environment and leaving the comfort where
my classmates were also deaf and in the
same boat as me, it was the best decision
my parents ever made. I quickly learned how
to adapt and be comfortable in the hearing
world. My parents were proactive and would
meet with the school district to ensure that
my teachers were prepared from the get-go.
As for the social aspect, I was athletic and
played a variety of sports, which allowed me
to make friends easily and it was important
to have a good sense of humor.
I was diagnosed with a severe to profound
hearing loss at 18 months old. I wore
hearing aids from the time of diagnosis
until I received my first cochlear implant
when I was 17. I finally decided to get a
second cochlear implant when I was 30 as
I had nothing to lose. While I felt I did well
enough with one cochlear implant, I felt
that becoming a bilateral cochlear implant
user would further fine tune my brain to the
world of sound. I have noticed improvement
in localizing voices, better understanding
in environments with background noise
and better ability to deal with accents. In
addition, the quality of sound is much
richer to me and I now love being able to
use the Bluetooth in my car for phone calls.
I’m always listening to talk radio such as
ESPN radio, NPR or the latest traffic report,
although I still end up getting stuck in traffic!
Prior to getting my first cochlear implant,
I was in high school when I realized
what my life was going to be like ahead
and I wasn’t satisfied. I had zero speech
discrimination and I wanted to be able
to understand spoken language without
needing to speechread. I also wanted
CONTINUED ON PAGE 47
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©2013 Cochlear Limited. All rights reserved. Hear Now. And Always and other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of Cochlear Limited.
UP FRONT ON THE BACK PAGE
THEY SAID NOTHING COULD BE
DONE ABOUT HEARING LOSS.
GOOD THING HE DIDN’T LISTEN.
WE WANT YOU ON THE BACK PAGE!
Read the entire interview online on the Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge
Center at ListeningandSpokenLanguage.org/BackPage. If you have stories to tell,
experiences to share and a perspective on hearing loss for this column, please send
an email to [email protected] and tell us a bit about yourself.
What drove Dr. Graeme Clark to invent the first multi-channel cochlear implant over 30 years ago?
What kept him going when others called him crazy and sometimes worse? His father was
profoundly deaf and growing up, all he wanted was to find some way to help. His invention came
too late for his dad, but for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives he helped change,
it’s been nothing short of a miracle. Let there be sound.
Today they can hear because one man chose not to listen. Read their stories at Cochlear.com/US/Hear.
Or to connect with a Cochlear Concierge call 800-483-3123 or email [email protected].
SPECIAL OFFER!
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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Transcription

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