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.
Your baby who is born deaf or hard of hearing can learn to listen, talk, read and achieve academic success. How is this possible? When your baby’s hearing impairment is identified early, they have access to the right hearing devices and they can begin early intervention with a knowledgeable professional, you’re doing what it takes to achieve a listening and spoken language (LSL) outcome for your child. LSL is a gift that powers your child’s potential to become a great conversationalist who can easily talk with friends and family, excel in school, interact in a regular classroom with their peers and learn to read at or even above grade level. With LSL, they can participate on sports teams with their siblings and friends, learn multiple spoken languages, pursue any interest or hobby and, one day, have the career of their dreams. When you’re intentional about following the LSL path with your child, you aren’t giving them gifts they’ll move on from or grow out of. By implementing critical LSL strategies today, you’re sharing gifts they’ll cherish forever. We’ve included below just a few of the incredible opportunities you give your child when you begin implementing LSL strategies in their daily routines.
Hearing: Parents need to know the status of their baby’s hearing first. It’s the foundational building block for all other skills, like listening, talking, reading and school success. Today’s advanced hearing devices can provide access to all sounds of speech and be a doorway to the auditory centers of your baby’s brain. Listening: Babies are typically listeners even before they’re born. At birth, they’ve already had weeks of listening. Your baby with hearing loss has the same chance to develop listening and spoken language skills as hearing children. When your baby has the right hearing devices, they can hear you talk, sing, read and play. Talking: Children learn to talk when influential adults share meaningful interactions, such as singing, reading aloud and conversations. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing need repeated exposure to audible and intelligible words to build brain connections that will enable them to easily learn words, produce clear speech sounds and learn to talk. Reading: Babies begin developing their reading skills from day one. The same LSL strategies that lead to your child’s success in listening and talking are building blocks to reading. Reading aloud to your baby every day will grow their language and vocabulary so they will have what it takes to learn to read and read to learn by third grade.Writing: Words, both spoken and written, are the building blocks of communication. The ability to write extends communication beyond the here and now. Written language is critical for school and career success in your child’s future. You can begin making writing connections in daily activities with your baby by looking at the words in a book, pointing out street signs and acknowledging words written on everyday objects.Doing Well in School: Children’s early and continued hearing access, and their interactions with you, are the foundation for developing all of the skills they need to be ready to start school and build on what they have learned from you since birth. Your baby’s school success depends on early brain development and the ability to listen, talk, read and write. Tools for College or Vocational School: It is possible for children who have learned to listen and talk to be successful in college and vocational schools and to fuse academic and time-relevant knowledge. With listening and spoken language, children are able to acquire the skills of critical thinking, collaboration and technology literacy to meet the demands of the world today.Their Dream Job: Listening and spoken language has a long and rich history of success for children who are deaf or hard of hearing that have learned to listen, talk, read and write on the same level as their hearing friends. These children do well in school and experience meaningful careers in any field of their interest.
The gift of listening and spoken language is taken for granted until it’s missing. It takes the collaborative efforts of many - including parents, professionals, family members, friends and the child - to provide the gifts of hearing, listening, talking, reading and writing. These gifts, when all put together, create and enhance the gift of spoken language. This precious gift bursts forth when your child is able to share their thoughts, ideas, stories and conversations with people all around them, giving them the same opportunities to dream big and achieve what they want. With today’s hearing technology, tools and takeaways, the sky's the limit. Give your child the gift of LSL today and every day.