Early interaction with babies and infants from the age of 4 weeks by family, lays their communication foundations, according to a new book, “Small Talk” by UK-based speech teacher Nicola Lathey and journalist Tracey Blake. Read: Early Teaching Helps Babies To Talk Parents of children with newly-found hearing issues can now read the basics about
Ninety-Five Decibels, a crowd-funded US-made film about the emotional choices parents face on learning their baby is deaf, will launch in September 2013 with Goran Visnjic from the TV series ER, in a lead role. This film makes some vital points: Digital hearing aids and cochlear implants give infants who are deaf or hard of
The “Buddy Ears” app was devised for children to practice listening skills after getting a cochlear implant. Educational games have words, links and commands for the children to learn to listen to, and to follow. Read: Local Kids Test iPad App For Listening Practice This app should be on the iTunes store by September if released
Telepractice is used in North Carolina (US) to deliver top-quality audiological and speech (auditory-verbal) services to regional families whose children wear digital hearing-devices for severe to profound hearing issues. Read: CASTLE Centre works with children’s hearing issues In Australia, families access early intervention via telepractice (online service delivery) like CASTLE’s Reach system. An upside is
More parents are asking Sound Advice for the names of apps which families can use with children to listen to, and record their voices to check for understanding of the material, and for playback at a later date as a way to track a child’s learning progress. Here’s a suggestion, with animal sounds and lots
What is the “deaf debate” with cochlear implants? Why can they be seen as controversial? This is one of the best pieces we’ve read on the topic, to date. Read: The Deaf Culture versus Oral-Only Debate Many people are curious about this debate, as a result of the Happy New Ear campaign which is seeking
A new childrens’ book in Australia, “Too Many Cheeky Dogs“, was created by a hearing author and a deaf illustrator, like the Sound Advice childrens’ book was. This hearing/deaf team, believing they might be the first to create a book like this, asked creators of similar projects to post to their Facebook page. Read: Interview with
Over-parenting, or the “misguided attempt to improve [a] child’s current and future personal and academic success”, is a risk for all parents, and not just parents of children with extra needs. Here’s a teacher’s view on the issue: Read: Why Parents Need To Let Their Children Fail We all know parents who won’t let go
With children under 13 years of age most challenged by ambient classroom noise, school acoustics are vital to childrens’ learning in their formative primary or elementary schooling years, says audiologist Jane Madell. Read: How Classroom Acoustics Impact Learning Crucially, Madell notes a major change in deaf education: Maybe only 15 years ago, many children with