A recent question came in from the childcare sector. How are creche staff taught to manage a child’s hearing-devices (and a sound-field, if relevant)?
This is a valid point. Devices like hearing-aids, cochlear implants and sound-fields can really benefit a child ‘picking up’ information in their environment, and to interact with creche staff and other children in their learning group.
Hearing-device management at creches can be distilled into:
- The parent/s showing the staff how to manage the child’s device/s
- Creche staff having a copy of a hearing-device manual or DVD
- The visiting teacher helping to trouble-shoot any everyday issues
IDK’s Essential Hearing-Aid Tips post is also a useful quick reference.
For a parent’s insight to this issue, an IDK mum has shared her experience.
(The Mum)
My son was diagnosed at about 18 months but it was several months before he got hearing aids. So at around age 2, we were handed these aids, and no-one told us how to use them, let alone the creche! Eventually we figured it out with some help from our visiting teacher. Unfortunately she then went on maternity leave, and her replacement didn’t arrive till just before the summer break. In the early days (first year post-diagnosis, until we were referred to Beaumont) I can’t say there was much support for the parents or the creche, and luckily we survived without doing much damage to C!
(The Creche Owner)
We were shown how to manage the hearing-aids initially. When C got his cochlear implant, his mum gave us a video to watch, and explained all she knew about it to us. By this time C was an expert at sorting himself out. He would come to us if the head-piece fell off, until he managed to sort it himself. C could tell us from an early age if his hearing aid was not working and often used it to his advantage if he did not want to hear you!!!
Further Reading
- Question: Can A Deaf Child Participate At Creche?
- The Creche & Preschool Years (an IDK piece)
- Hearing-Aids + Learning = Education
- Essential Hearing-Aid Tips For Parents & Families
- Sourcing A Soundfield System
- Advice On FM Systems ‘Versus’ Soundfields
