H is for Hearing (Can your child hear well?, Importance of hearing correctly to build literacy skills)

CUES: We use facial cues, lip reading, body language, volume and tone to help us interpret the verbal language we are hearing. Sometimes we are so reliant on these additional methods of communication and we become quite proficient with them so that we fail to realize when there are hearing deficiencies.  For those with known hearing loss, environmental adjustments help such as a quiet environment when speaking, speaking carefully face to face and so forth and the use of technology are helpful.

SIGNS:  We are thankful to have infant hearing screening in place. While not perfect, it is a useful screen to help identify early concerns with hearing.  We should also watch for signs of a child not responding to loud noises, to their name or not picking up speech sounds at the appropriate age.  Check with your doctor if there are any concerns and have a hearing test done.  It is painless and valuable.  There may be other causes for these signs, some temporary such as the impact of a single ear infection, but a doctor is the best one to sort that out and a hearing test is a simple first step.

TYPES AND TOOLS:  There are many types of hearing loss that occur for a wide variety of reasons.  Infections, disease, trauma, being born with loss or having been affected by damaging noise levels are examples of causes of hearing loss.  Some of it is at the ear level and some at the brain level.  Each type impacts a person differently.  Some are easier to compensate for than others.  Hearing aids, auditory training, FM systems and cochlear implants are some of the tools in an audiologist's repertoire to help an individual improve their hearing experience.

IMPACT:  In spite of concerns about facing this challenge, early intervention is best.  A lot of children's speech development depends on their hearing and optimizing it early on gives them the best chance to maximize their skills not just in listening but also in speech.  When we try to say and to spell a word, we rely on our hearing to determine the sounds and then optimize our effort to say or spell the word correctly.  At times this is when we realize gaps or subtle challenges with hearing.  For example, a person with a high frequency hearing loss may find it hard to hear s, f and h sounds. As a result, they will miss these letters when trying to say or spell out a word based on what they hear.  

EFFECTS ON OUTPUT:  A common example of not hearing a word correctly is a child who spells YOU as ya, GOING as go'in, WANT TO as wanna.  There is no sign of hearing loss but they are not hearing the words enunciated correctly and as a result they cannot repeat or spell the words correctly.  Some children come from families whose first language is not English.  They may not have all the same sounds in their mother tongue and as a result find certain sounds challenging to master in English. The brain tends to not pay much attention to unfamiliar sounds which makes it harder, but not impossible, to master new languages later.  When intervention for hearing loss is delayed, this also makes it harder for the brain to learn sounds clearly. As with anything, practice helps.  It make require a lot of failed attempts before mastery occurs and that is just fine. Every step forward is a success. 

BUILDING UP LISTENING SKILLS:  If the child in your life has hearing loss, there are so many resources available to help you.  Even if their hearing is determined to be within normal limits, techniques like slowing down speech, talking without background distractions and using good eye contact or supplementing your verbal words with either written words or pictures will support their efforts.to improve.  To build up their listening skills, you can play games such as asking them what sound they hear you say or to repeat a phrase back to you: real or nonsense ("The dog's bone is lost" or "dabagamaba oo"). You can integrate music into their day and do character voices to help them decipher whispers, shouts, gruff voices, high voices and so forth. 

If you have any further questions on this topic and how to build their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills with an ear towards their hearing, please ask.  I also suggest that you speak to a doctor or speech pathologist about any concerns you may have.