Share How You Live and Love LSL

This article was published in 2016 as part of Hearing First’s annual Live, Love, LSL celebration in February. 

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) isn’t just an approach that allows children who are deaf or hard of hearing to learn to listen and talk – it’s a way of life. It’s a way of life that has afforded countless families the opportunity to realize their dreams for their child. Together families and LSL professionals have shared the LSL journey to achieve those LSL milestones. While each journey may be different from that of another family or professional, we can all celebrate and learn from one another. It is through sharing our stories that we can encourage each other and inform and inspire others on the journey.  

At Hearing First, we believe that individual family and professional LSL stories are one way to power the potential for other families to learn what’s possible and realize LSL outcomes. The impact of our collective stories can be far reaching. Personal stories enlighten and inspire. 

We know that if families and professionals do what it takes to live LSL every day, more children will have a powerful LSL story to tell. Hearing First wants every family to know the status of their child’s hearing, receive complete information when hearing loss is diagnosed, and know what is possible today for children with hearing loss. We want to work in partnership with other LSL families and professionals to make Listening and Spoken Language accessible to all children, even in the most remote areas. 

During the month of February, join us in expressing the love of LSL and celebrating all that is possible today through sharing your personal stories and first-hand accounts. We believe that “Live, Love, LSL” are words that LSL families and professionals can rally around to extend the LSL message. You can help spread the LSL message by sharing your story!  

What Is It? 

We’re rallying the LSL community for a month-long celebration of LSL. #LiveLoveLSL is a message we believe encompasses all that families and professionals experience on their LSL journey. Share how you live LSL every day, your win for the day, or something you have learned along the way.  Share anything that may help spread your love of LSL. 

What's Happening?  

We’re currently gathering stories from families and professionals. We invite you to share your story, and we’ve made it easy to do so. 

It’s easy to share your story with the hashtag: #LiveLoveLSL. 

Why? 

There are so many good reasons to help spread the love of listening and spoken language: 

Make LSL mainstream. 

This helps get the word out, which can reach more and more parents who aren’t aware of what LSL can do. Remember, in order for families to choose LSL, they need to know about LSL.    

Support LSL families on the journey. 

Your story may be just the message another family or professional needs to hear to help them maintain their momentum, persevere, and feel encouraged. Just knowing that others have experienced the same challenges and finding out how they solved those challenges can make a difference. Sharing our stories tells families and professional that they can and will get through it.   

Improve outcomes.

All families who choose listening and spoken language outcomes for their child deserve to have an equal opportunity to receive quality LSL services. There is more for the LSL community to do to make this happen, but for this month, sharing stories is one more step toward improving LSL outcomes. When we work together, we can increase instances of positive LSL outcomes. For LSL families, a big part of this is sharing your journey with others. For professionals, a big part of it is collaborating with others to share knowledge and information. 

We invite you to share how you power potential with LSL every day. You are the key to #LiveLoveLSL.