Hearing Center: Techniques to Help Children Listen and Communicate

Whether born deaf or having developed auditory difficulties through illness or injury, it can be very challenging for a child with impairments to listen and communicate effectively. This is a time in a child's life where listening and communicating can be a struggle even when they are perfectly healthy. A hearing center built around helping children and parents cope can be a first step towards taking charge and giving a child the best chance they have at dealing with the disability. Here are some tools and techniques that have proven effective. Speech Reading Sometimes simply called lip-reading, this technique can help a child incorporate both their sense of sight and whatever limited ability to hear they have to listen to speech more effectively. A person moves their lips in very predictable patterns when they speak. Between the ability to read lips and training that helps them interpret every day hand gestures and facial expressions, children can become proficient in getting the gist of what is being said even when they can't hear every word. Even those with moderate auditory impairment can benefit from learning some of these techniques. Sign Language For those who are mostly or completely deaf, it is a good idea to become familiar with sign language. Compared with learning a foreign language, learning ASL is easy, though it does take immersion and practice to become proficient. Obviously, simply knowing sign language is of little help if there is no one else to talk to. This is why many in the hearing center industry recommend that the parents and siblings of deaf children learn sign language as well. This can boost communication immensely. Enrollment in a school for the deaf can also ensure that the child does not fall behind in their studies. Closed Captioning If you've ever watched a TV program and wondered what the black bars with text on the bottom were for, you're familiar with closed captioning. The concept is basically this: a typist transcribes the dialogue of the show and this dialogue is displayed along the bottom of the screen. This is how most deaf people choose to enjoy their programs, although the benefits of the captions are not only for the deaf. Even those with moderate or light auditory impairment can have a difficult time following television and movies. Using the captions along with what sounds they can hear can make a big difference when it comes to how much they can get out of the program.