GIVING THE GIFT OF LISTENING AND SPOKEN LANGUAGE

By Lynn A. wood

Consultant on the HEARING FIRST TEAM

Republished with permission from Hearing First.

This holiday season, we’re celebrating the gifts that help your child achieve their full potential. When you begin implementing LSL strategies for your child who is deaf of hard of hearing, you are giving them more than just a single gift, you’re giving them opportunities that can set them up for a lifetime of success. Take a look at our favorite gifts that create spoken language.

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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.

Preparing Your Child for the H O L I D A Y S - Listening and Spoken Language Tips

Source

Holidays are about listening to joyous music, lively conversations and spending time with family and friends.  Encourage your child to be the Holiday Host and greet visitors and take their coats. This will boost your child’s confidence while giving him a chance to talk face to face in a quiet setting.  Role-play upcoming holiday situations and practice good listening strategies. Create a secret a signal so your child can notify you when he is having a difficult time hearing. Keep the holiday music off or at a low volume, as your child is likely not the only one bothered by clatter and background music.

Organize an email and send it your family and friends before you gather for the holidays. Write a quick update about your child’s listening and spoken language progress and his hearing technology. Dealing with this before the holidays will allow you to spend time celebrating rather than answering questions of well-meaning friends and family.

Large family dinners are noisy so plan accordingly.  One suggestion is ensuring your child knows the topic of the conversation. Consider using “conversation starter cards” around the table which are always fun. Also, have someone special seated next to your child who can repeat a joke or summarize a story if your child mishears.

Include your child in the holiday preparations and focus on vocabulary that is often specific to the season. What is mistletoe? The Nutcracker? A wishbone? Jelly beans? Spend time reading holiday stories, cooking traditional foods and learning the words to holiday songs.  You child can create decorations to hang around your home and tell guests about them when they visit.

Devices. Keep your child’s Roger or FM charged and ready to use. Role-play so your child is comfortable asking others to wear the FM and can explain how it helps him hear.  At the dining table place the mic in the middle or concealed in the centerpiece. If you attend a holiday performance or a faith-based service, contact the venue to request extra amplification such as a microphone, a hearing loop, and captions. Another important device is your phone's camera. Take photos to include in your child’s Listening and Spoken Language Experience Book.

Arrange seating with your child’s hearing in mind. Encourage your child to choose a good seat for hearing at dinner and for the gift exchange. Is there a seat away from the bustling kitchen, or the room when the teenagers are playing video games? When opening gifts, suggest sitting in a circle so your child can both listen and watch.

Your traditions are an important way to expand your child’s listening and spoken language skills. If gift giving is your tradition, choose presents that will provide hours of creative play and stimulate conversation. Most of your child’s memories will be about people, not presents.

Simplify. Ask your child what traditions he feels are most important. You may be surprised by his reply. Consider skipping old traditions that have lost appeal or that your family has outgrown. Time spent together rather than on activities will be most remembered. Keep a Joy Journal to jot down moments of triumphs, laughter, inspiration and the “hearing” miracles you enjoy over the holidays.

Lynn's article was previously posted at Listening and Spoken Language Knowledge Center and Speech Room News

Listening, Learning and Spoken Language with New Events, Activities or Holidays

This blog post was adapted from the http://www.medel.com article entitled,

Helping Your Child Enjoy New Events with Their Cochlear Implant 

by Donna  Sperandio, Head of Rehabilitation at MED-EL

You can be read the original article HERE 




For any child a new activity or event is an experience, and especially for a child with hearing aids or cochlear implants each new event means new sounds and experiences that may seem overwhelming. But don’t worry, there are a few ways that you can help to make their listening experience, and the whole event, comfortable and enjoyable.

The Key Word: Preparation

Involving your child in preparing for the event in an age-appropriate way is the best method to make everything enjoyable.

First, just introduce them to the general idea of what the event is about. This way they can develop an overall understanding of what to expect.

How should you do this? An easy way would be to explain the big steps that might occur by just talking about them in order. Or, you could get a bit more creative. If you have pictures from similar events, or if it’s a recurring event maybe from the last time it happened, then you can show these to your child to give them an idea of what they might see or be around. Younger children might enjoy acting out the activity with toys or dolls, and this can be especially useful in structured events like a wedding where there’s a clearly defined routine to the whole event.

Then, you can get more into the details. What are specific activities that happen at this event? Will someone be standing up to give a speech, and if this happens how should your child behave? If there will be songs or music, maybe your child would enjoy hearing them in advance so that he or she can better enjoy them during the actual event.
Here are some basic questions that you can think about what to tell your child:

  1. Why is this event happening?
  1. What will happen at the event?
  1. Who will be at the event?
  1. Will there be any surprises, like unexpected events or noises, for which he or she can prepare?
  1. How should your child behave? Is it formal or informal?
  • Will there be speakers, and where will the speakers be located? (This is important because it might influence where your child should sit or stand to hear best.)

During the Event: Enjoy


Depending on your child, you may want to either stay close or give them lots of space. Make sure to talk with them in advance and, if they’re old enough, make a choice that both of you can agree upon. Remember, the goal is to make it enjoyable for them as well as for you. If your child likes to be independent, that’s great! Encourage his or her independence, but also let them know that you’ll always be nearby if needed.

If your child uses any assistive listening devices make sure to grab them before leaving, and don’t forget any other accessories or extra batteries just in case. Again, it’s better to be prepared.
Talking with the event organizers can also help, whether it’s just informing them that your child will be present with his or her cochlear implant or asking about any assistive listening devices they have.
Example questions could be like:

Afterwards: Relax



If you want to reflect afterwards, you could ask your child if they have any questions about what had happened at the event or just ask them how they felt. If you took any photos at the event you could also look through them now.

Knock, Knock Trick or Treat Song For Listening and Singing

Song: Knock Knock, Trick Or Treat?

CD: Super Simple Songs - Halloween
Music: Super Simple Learning
Animation: Tinman Creative Studios

Vocals: Devon Thagard
Lyrics: 


Knock knock, trick or treat? 
Who are you?
I'm a ghost. I'm a little ghost. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a ghost. I'm a little ghost.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a cowboy. I'm a little cowboy.
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a cowboy. I'm a little cowboy.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a witch. I'm a little witch. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a witch. I'm a little witch.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a monster. I'm a little monster. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a monster. I'm a little monster.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a ballerina. A little ballerina. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a ballerina. A little ballerina.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a pirate. I'm a little pirate. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Who are you?
I'm a pirate. I'm a little pirate.



Knock knock, trick or treat?
Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. 
Knock knock, trick or treat?
Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween.





Download this craft Here

Auditory Verbal Tips for Preparing Your Child for Trick-or-Treating and Halloween

I love these suggestions for targeting listening, vocabulary, social skills when preparing  your child for Halloween. Today's blog post is from Donna Sperandio, a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist who currently works as Head of Rehabilitation for MED-EL. Read more of her work at http://www.medel.com/blog/improve-childs-hearing-halloween/

Improve Your Child’s Hearing this Halloween!




It’s almost Halloween! If you’ve got a child hearing implant recipient and want to celebrate today by trick-or-treating or dressing up, here are some tips that you can use to get the most out of the day.

Start Planning Early!

Just like at school, talking with your child in advance will help him or her to build an understanding of what Halloween is about and what will happen on Halloween day. That way, once Halloween gets closer they’ll be able to talk with their teachers and friends with confidence.
Here are some suggestions for how you can use Halloween to help child learn or develop speaking and listening skills:

Learning Halloween-Specific Vocabulary

Like many holidays, Halloween has its own specific vocabulary. While your child might have heard some of these words before, there are also some words that might be completely new.
By introducing these to your child you can help build his or her knowledge of Halloween, as well as his or her vocabulary.
  • Read books about Halloween. Focus on words specific to the holiday, like “trick-or-treat”, “pumpkin”, “ghost”, “witch”, and “bat”.
  • Make Halloween crafts to use as decorations in and around your house, and talk with your child about what you’re making like “masks”, “spider webs”, “skeletons”, and “costumes”.
  • Don’t just say the word and then move on, but rather expand on the names by using lots of descriptive words. Calling it a “scary” mask, a “haunted” house, the “wicked” witch, and the “hairy” spider are all ways to engage your child more and improve vocabulary.

Learning Everyday Vocabulary

In addition to Halloween-specific words, there are lots of words that you can teach your child to use throughout the year.
  • Colors: Halloween is full of colors, and pointing out the “orange” pumpkin, the “white” skeleton, or the “black” witch’s hat is a practical way to help build your child’s knowledge of colors.
  • Textures: The “furry” spider, the “sticky” spider web, and the “shiny” pumpkin skin are all examples of different textures that you can emphasize while making decorations or costumes.

Learning About Sequences and Time

Halloween has lots to do with events happening in a fixed and routine order, so it can be a great way to teach your child concepts that have to do with progression and correlations.
  • Use words like “first we will…” and “then this will happen” to show that separate events are related. When you’re explaining what will happen during trick or treating, you can tell your child, “First we’ll knock on the door, and then when the door opens we’ll say ‘Trick or Treat’!”.
  • You can also use this to explain events that happen over an extended period of time, especially in the weeks leading up to Halloween. So, when you’re preparing your costumes you could say, “This week we’ll get our costumes ready, and then next week we’ll carve the pumpkins so that they look good on Halloween.”
  • Take pictures as you prepare and celebrate Halloween. You can then use these as a sort of memory game where you lay them all out on a table and make a game out of putting them in order of what happened first, what happened next, what happened last.

Learning Memory and Math Skills

That’s just one way to build memory skills, and here are a few more:
  • If you’re making your own costume or mask, talk your child through all the parts that you’ll need: “first we’ll need paper, then crayons, and then scissors, and finally glue”. Then have your child repeat back to you all the supplies you need, to see if they’ve understood and remembered everything, and make a game out of finding all of these supplies in the house.
  • It’s also easy to incorporate math into these exercises. By asking your child questions like “We’ve already made two masks, but three of your friends will come over later. How many more masks do we need?”
  • And, as you’re making decorations you could ask questions like “How many legs does the spider need”, or “How many wings does the bat have?”

Learning Social Skills

Since trick-or-treating is all about going out into public and interacting with people, it can be a great way for your child to learn about social skills.
  • Remind your child to say “thank you!” every time someone gives him or her a treat.
  • If he or she is going out with a group of children, emphasize the importance of taking turns and being nice to other children.
  • More generically, you can explain to your child the cultural aspects or significance of holidays in general. Depending on where you live, Halloween may either be a lighthearted night of candy collecting or a very important night of remembrance for ancestors. It’s a great opportunity to explain a little bit about your own culture to your child, in age-appropriate ways.

Learning About Safety

Even more than social skills, going out in public is a way to learn about safety and how to behave with (or without) parents around.
  • Remind your child to always stay nearby, and not run off from their group unexpectedly.
  • Show the importance of staying with an adult while crossing roads, as well as looking both ways before crossing.
  • If there are animals around, remind your child to always ask if it’s okay to pet or get near them.

Be Prepared, Have Fun!

If you’ve helped your child prepare for and learn about Halloween, it should be easy for them to enjoy the night. But how can you prepare?
  • Make sure that your child has spare batteries, or any necessary spare parts, with them.
  • If you won’t be around, for example if another parent will be leading a group of children including your child, make sure that there’s someone who knows how to help change the batteries—just in case.
  • Take lots of photos! This way you can talk about what happened afterwards, and maybe even play a memory game later.
While some of these tips are specific to Halloween, there are lots that you can use here to help your child prepare for holidays or events in general.