Early Intervention Practices for Children With Hearing Loss

Abstract

Early identification and appropriate intervention services for children who are deaf or hard of hearing significantly increase the likelihood of better language, speech, and social-emotional development. However, current research suggests that there is a critical shortage of professionals trained to provide early intervention services to deaf and hard of hearing infants and toddlers. In an effort to address the shortage, Illinois State University designed an interdisciplinary program aimed at providing the coursework and training needed by professionals to effectively serve infants and toddlers with hearing loss. The current study sought to evaluate the competencies of graduate students employing evidence-based strategies in listening and spoken language development following the completion of the program. It was hypothesized that the training program would lead to an increase in the use of evidence-based early intervention strategies specific to infants and toddlers with hearing loss and an increase in the frequency of their use. The results of the current study did not suggest that there was a significant difference in the use of evidence-based strategies following the completion of coursework; however, they did indicate that the interventionists involved were utilizing the strategies in both the home and the clinic-based setting.

The Impact of Communication Disorders on Discrimination against Deaf Workers

“…Some studies suggest that there is a critical shortage of professionals trained to provide early intervention services to deaf and hard-of-hearing children and toddlers (Martin-Prudent et al, 2016). However, in such cases, alternative forms of communication need to be developed.…”

Developing the Persian Version of Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale

“…To provide good auditory access, there is an absolute need for providing a suitable sensory aid (hearing aid or cochlear implant) as early as possible. Good auditory access is a key component prior to any successful auditory rehabilitation or early intervention [10]. Evaluating auditory access and auditory skills of infants and toddlers can be challenging.…”

Deaf/hard Of Hearing Preschool Students’ Acquisition Of Language Through Dyadic And Triadic Communication Contexts

“…For example, acoustic highlighting was identified in three out of the four articles as a useful intervention for developing spoken language. Acoustic highlighting involves saying a target word louder than the other words in the sentence or saying a phoneme louder than the other phonemes in a word (Leutke-Stahlman, 1992;Martin-Prudent et al, 2016;Simser, 1993). If a child says, "I eating cheese" a teacher could use acoustic highlighting by stating, "I am eating cheese" and emphasizing the omitted word "am".…”

“…If the child does not respond, a visual cue is added to the spoken utterance by a picture, natural gesture, or sign. Next, the child hears a presentation of the information one more time (Garber & Nevins, 2012;Martin-Prudent et al, 2016;Simser, 1993). For instance, if a teacher says, "Tommy, go sit at the table," and there is no response from the child, the teacher may then show Tommy a picture of a child sitting at a table while saying, "Tommy, go sit at the table."…”