Hearing First - Family Support Community


Dear All,
 
Over the last year, I have been serving as an ambassador for an online platform for Listening and Spoken Language professionals who work with children with hearing loss and their families called Hearing First.
 
I am reaching out to families because there is a new platform just for you. I know every one of you has had an amazing journey and could potentially provide support to those who may just be starting out.  This community is designed for families to share resources, tips, successes, failures, fears and to ultimately provide support wherever you feel you can or would want to assist.. 

There is no agenda. There is absolutely no commitment and you wouldn’t have to do anything you didn’t feel comfortable doing. So if you have a little one or years of experience join in the journey.  

Here is the link to sign-up. https://hearingfirst.org/familyregistration 
 
Take a peek when you have some time. 
 
Warmly,
Lynn 
 
 

Talk Time Not Screen Time - 2017 App List for Speech and Language Pathologists


Thanks to Omazing Kids for Sharing An iPad and APP List for 2017





Coming soon each month Hearing First Professional Learning Community will highlight a favorite app, share an associated LSL technique, and Explode the APP*
to promote listening, language and literacy to power lifetime success.


ABOUT HEARING FIRST
The Hearing First website is a multimedia digital experience and connection point designed to link families who have chosen Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) for their children with hearing loss and the professionals who work with them with the resources, information, tools, community and learning experiences they need to ensure the children in their lives succeed. 
Visit www.hearingfirst.org or click here to learn about the Hearing First Communities.

KEY TAKEAWAYS - Minimal Hearing Loss Should Not Result in Minimal Intervention

Key TakeAways 


ABOUT HEARING FIRST
The Hearing First website is a multimedia digital experience and connection point designed to link families who have chosen Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) for their children with hearing loss and the professionals who work with them with the resources, information, tools, community and learning experiences they need to ensure the children in their lives succeed. 
Visit www.hearingfirst.org or click here to learn about the Hearing First Communities.

Research Summary - Minimal Hearing Loss Should Not Result in Minimal Intervention

HERE


Minimal Hearing Loss: From a Failure-Based Approach to Evidence-Based Practice
 Allison M. Winiger, Joshua M. Alexander, and Allan O. Diefendorf

Am J Audiol. 2016 Sep 1;25(3):232-45. doi: 10.1044/2016_AJA-15-0060.
__________________________________________________________________

A review of literature on minimal hearing loss (MHL) published from 1950 to 2013 using the keywords minimal hearing loss, unilateral hearing loss, and mild hearing loss was sampled. The purpose was to provide evidence of challenges faced by children with MHL and to establish the need for evidence-based options for early intervention.
__________________________________________________________________

A Minimal Hearing Minimal Loss Should Not Result in Minimal Intervention 

The very word minimal brings to mind trivial, negligible, insignificant and inconsequential. This does not describe the impact of Minimal Hearing Loss (MHL) on children with unilateral, mild, and high-frequency hearing losses according to this current representative sample of the literature.

The purpose was to identify challenges faced by these children and to establish the need for evidence-based options for early intervention. Six challenges associated with MHL emerged; Speech Recognition, Language Development and Competence, Academic Performance, Psychosocial and Emotional Well-Being, Listening Effort, and Localization. Six interventions were indicated for children with MHL: Preferential Seating and Classroom Modifications, FM Systems, Hearing Aids, CROS Hearing Aids, BAIs, Special Services (provision of audiological, educational and speech and language therapy) and Monitoring (hearing sensitivity and for the development or progression of negative effects of MHL). Due to the large individual variability in outcomes and performance, a universal protocol for intervention for children with MHL was not recommended...

About Hearing First
The Hearing First website is a multimedia digital experience and connection point designed to link families who have chosen Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) for their children with hearing loss and the professionals who work with them with the resources, information, tools, community and learning experiences they need to ensure the children in their lives succeed. 
Visit www.hearingfirst.org or click here to learn about the Hearing First Communities.

30th Anniversary Oberkotter Foundation Video

Oberkotter and Hearing First are dedicated to supporting families throughout their LSL journey. 

Enjoy this video celebrating Oberkotter Foundation’s 30th year. The Foundation grew out of one family’s journey with their daughter who is deaf. The video is a version of a home movie to pay tribute to that family and to the amazing gift they have given to so many other families and children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Every family follows its own unique path, but all families share similar steps along the way, and even journeys that are separated by decades of time resonate with similar emotions, feelings, successes and struggles.